Kenn passed away peacefully on Wednesday, November 13th with family by his side.
Kenn was born on a small farm in Saskatchewan in 1934, one of four children born to Gus and Min Schoenroth.
After graduating from the University of Saskatchewan with a degree in Civil Engineering, Kenn moved to Ontario with his wife, Lenora, where their daughter Lorna was born.
Family was very important to Kenn and for many years the three of them would travel back to Saskatchewan in the summer to visit his mother, his sister Trudy and his younger brother, Fred, as well as Lenora’s family. Kenn’s hero and older brother, Paul, had been tragically killed in an airplane accident at age twenty-one while serving in the Air Force.
To honour his hard-working parents, Kenn held onto the family farm after his parents’ death. He looked forward to hearing about the weather (never enough rain) and the harvest from the neighbour who farmed the land for him.
Kenn worked for many years in sales for the 3M Company, both in Toronto and in London, Ontario. He made good friends at 3M and was very proud of his association with the company. Kenn was an avid tennis player and tennis fan and loved driving his sports car after retirement.
Kenn and Lenora enjoyed travel, playing Bridge, and were dedicated church-goers. Their greatest thrill, however, was to watch their grandsons, Evan and Jack, perform at a sporting event or musical concert.
Lenora was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in the 1990’s and Kenn took great care of her until her death in 2015. After suffering a stroke in 2018, he moved from London to the Kingsway Retirement Residence in Toronto. His sister, Trudy, also moved to the Kingsway and for several years they enjoyed playing cards and visiting in the garden together.
Kenn was much loved by his family, especially by his grandsons Evan (Kate) and Jack (Zoe), his nieces and nephews, his brother Fred (Betty), and by Lorna and her husband Jay.
Lorna would like to thank the staff at the Kingsway for their support and assistance to Kenn over the years and would also like to thank her cousins, Heather and April, for all of their cheerful visits and their excellent baking.
A small service will be held in Toronto in the spring and then Kenn’s family will take his ashes to Saskatchewan.