John K. “Kenny” McBride of Kalamazoo, died Sunday morning, Nov. 11, at Borgess Hospital. He was 88.
Ken was born Jan. 25, 1930, to Howard and Cleo (Ryder) McBride on the McBride family farm in Hopkins. He was united in marriage to JoAnn Helen Amborski on Oct. 2, 1954.
Ken served in the U.S. Army during the Korean Conflict, where he was educated in the refrigeration trade. He then worked and retired from Tony’s Refrigeration. Ken was an avid hunter, fisherman and gardener, spending much of his time at the Pole Barn with his family He enjoyed teaching his children and grandchildren all he knew. He also loved a good ball game, spending much of his retirement in the stands of the many sporting events of his grandchildren, rarely missing a game.
In recent years, he could be found tapping the local maple trees to make his family an endless supply of maple syrup.
Surviving is his wife of 64 years, JoAnn; their children, John McBride, Sally (Rick) Berner, Tom (Connie) McBride, Mike (Pam) McBride, and Jill (Wally) Schneidenbach, all of Kalamazoo, along with 14 grandchildren, 9 great-grandchildren, his sister-in-law, Arlene (Rich) VanEizenga, the entire Johnson family and Harold Heikes, and many nieces and nephews.
Ken was preceded in death by his parents, siblings; Dan (Ann) McBride, Maurice (Phyllis) McBride and Ruth (Dale) Lyth; Martha Siedel, who raised him following his mother’s death at his birth, and his best friends and neighbors of 60 plus years Harry & Helen Johnson and Eleanor Woodhams-Heikes.
A memorial services will be held at 1 p.m. Friday from the Langeland Family Funeral Homes, Westside Chapel, 3926 South 9th St., Kalamazoo. Friends may meet the family from 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday at the chapel. Private interment will take place at a later date.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Kalamazoo Gospel Mission where Ken would often take his garden vegetables and many turkeys.
