12/07/2017
William Kenneth “Ken” Meeker, 92, of Des Moines, passed away peacefully on Thursday, December 7, 2017 at Ramsey Village, in the presence of his loving family and pastor.
A visitation will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, December 16, 2017 at Westminster Presbyterian Church, with a funeral service to follow at 11 a.m. There will be a luncheon held in the fellowship hall following the service. Inurnment will be at Iowa Veterans Cemetery at a later date.
Ken is survived by his wife Elsie; two children Don Meeker and Jeanne Meeker (Tom Nemetz); one granddaughter Keela (Brad) DeGeest; one great-grandson Tieren DeGeest; and his extended family.
Ken is preceded in death by his mother, father, and step-father.
Ken was born on January 18, 1925 in Columbia, Iowa, the son of Howard and Elizabeth Meeker.
He attended Knoxville High School and graduated from Burlington High School in 1944 and from there went on to serve in the United States Army during WWII and was in the 71st Infantry Division in Europe. When he enlisted, he was placed in a new special program that sent him to Utah State College for 6 months, when the program ended, he went onto to Europe where he was a Jeep driver in Germany and France.
Ken returned to the United States in 1946 and enrolled at AIB for accounting and business management. This is where he met Elsie Marie Ackermann from Amana, Iowa, for she was also enrolled at AIB as well. Ken asked Elsie to go dancing with him at the Val Air Ballroom and they were married on June 15, 1947 in Columbia at a Methodist church, where Ken’s grandfather was the pastor.
After graduation from AIB, Ken accepted a job as an accountant in Newton at Automatic Washer, Co. Ken knew the business was not doing well, so him and Elsie decided to move back to Des Moines where he then took a job as an accountant and office manager and Elsie was a secretary. Shortly thereafter, Ken was offered a job to sell calculators for Frieden, Inc. and this was the perfect job for him. He won numerous awards for his sales and eventually became branch manager.
The same year, they had their son, Don on October 4, 1955. Ken became a very hands-on dad with Do, through church involvement at Trinity Methodist, Indian Guides at the YMCA, little league, playing in the creek, hunting, fishing, and trapping. On October 2, 1959, Ken and Elsie welcomed into this world, their daughter Jeanne. Ken stayed active with her through church and Indian Princesses at the YMCA.
In 1965 he became president of Electronic Office Systems, representing the company Sharp, Inc. He won many yearly trips and was able to go to Japan, Hawaii, Spain, Greece, Germany, Washington D.C., New York City, Florida, New Orleans, and California.
Ken liked diversity in his life, so in 1977, he decided to try his hand as a real estate agent. After dappling in buying and selling some rental property, he decided to study for the test and get his license, which led him to selling real estate for Iowa Realty for over 20 years.
He made many friends through his time at Iowa Realty. Ken also worked for the office of Preferred Risk, Inc. for many years and enjoyed the many friends he made there as well, over the years.
He worked for many years in accounting and business machine sales, representing the Sharp Company, then later on he worked at Preferred Risk and then Iowa Realty for 20 years.
Ken enjoyed family get-together’s and learning about his ancestry. He belonged to many organizations, including Issac Walton, Hi-12 Club, Za-Ga-Zig Shrine, Trinity Methodist Church, Westminster Presbyterian Church, and other professional organizations. He also volunteered at the church and the blood center.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to the Westminster Foundation.
The family would like to thank all the caretakers and staff at the VA Hospital and Ramsey Village for their wonderful care of Ken.