Obituary of Kenneth H. Gies

No Service Kenneth Henry Gies Kenneth Henry Gies was born to Mollie and Henry Gies on 6/23/1930 in Wheeler, Washington. He was a long awaited only child. In high school in ‘48 his folks bought him a new Buick convertible. Ken took money he had earned working in a gas station and hired a fellow high-school kid as a chauffeur. He dressed the guy up in a fancy uniform complete with cap, and sat in the back seat while he was driven around town in style. Only Ken would have gotten a bigger kick out of that than of driving his new car himself. In the early 50’s he moved to Portland Oregon and became a woman’s shoe salesman. He was a natural salesman almost immediately out-selling all other staff. In Portland he met his first wife and together they had three children, Sharon, Larry and Joanne. From Portland they moved back to Moses Lake and lived and worked on the family’s wheat and cattle ranch. The next move was to Lakewood where Ken, at 26, became the youngest manager of the Lakewood Thriftway store, managing over 100 employees. A few years later, he opened his own store in the Lake City area of Lakewood, "Ken’s Supermarket". That store was a short-term endeavor, but Ken's love of and knack for the grocery business remained with him for life. He was a salesman for Crescent Spices and worked at Ralph’s Thriftway in Lacey. At the time of his retirement he was a salesman for FFV Cookies-true to his nature, one of the best. He proudly wore a custom-made baseball cap inscribed: "FFV, Cookie Cowboy". Ken was a very hard worker all his life, and took pride in getting the job done, "no matter what!" Ken married Adrienne Whirol in 1972. She preceded him in death in 1995. Ken would be the first to tell you that his addiction to alcohol caused many problems in his life and was very proud that he had been sober for over 30 years. Until the last few years of his life when dementia began to slow him down, Ken had a great life. He enjoyed his social time, traveling in his RV, snowbirding in Arizona and frequenting the flea markets purchasing many useless articles, especially anything with a cowboy motif. He was charismatic and charming, traits which served him very well throughout his life. No one was a stranger to him. He will be dearly missed. Please sign the guestbook below and leave a favorite memory