Kathleen June Wrench Waters

William Edward Waters, Jr.

7-16-1923 to 2-17-2005

Kathleen June Wrench Waters

6-5-1926 to 1-25-2019

You are reading this because our parents are both gone. Dad was born and raised in Lexington, Kentucky to Eddie & Irene Waters; his father a typesetter for the Lexington Leader and his mother a pianist and community volunteer. Mom was born in Florida and raised on a Carlisle, Kentucky tobacco farm; her mother, Ruby Buchanan Wrench, was a lawyer.

After Dad returned from serving in the US Army during WWII, he met Mom at the Univ. of Kentucky as Mom finished her degree in Music (piano) and Dad in Electrical Engineering. They married in Lexington in 1947. Dad completed his Master’s Degree, then they moved to Washington, DC where Dad worked for the Bureau of Standards. By 1958, they had three young daughters and Dad had finished a PhD in Physics at the Univ. of Maryland. They headed across the country to California for a post-doc year at Stanford University, returned to the East Coast for a year, then returned to California, had a son, and stayed.

While Mom was busy raising 4 children, she involved herself in their schools, music lessons, scouts, church, camping trips, and numerous activities. Dad continued his engineering career, first working at a start-up, Microwave Electronic Corp., in Palo Alto developing microwave tubes and later at Varian Associates, then Physical Electronics Laboratory, when he transformed his career from microwave tube research to transistors and integrated circuits. He earned 4 patents and authored 2 technical books. Moving on to the Ford Motor Company in Palo Alto, Dad did research in space communication, the development of satellites and ground stations, solar energy projects, and digital communications. He completed his engineering career working for the US Air Force as a civilian. Mom worked at Antekna as a data processor after raising us until her retirement.

Family hobbies included car camping in many state and national parks in California, sailing San Francisco Bay, exploring the natural wonders of the West, and supporting the music and other activities of their children. Dad was a ham radio operator all his life; now AC6MA (formerly WA6OLW) is silent. He made beautiful furniture for the family using walnut, laurel, mahogany, and burl woods. Mom was an amazing seamstress and tailor, excellent cook and family organizer, and an outstanding pianist.

Retirement found Mom and Dad moving from Sunnyvale to Windsor, keeping up with their grandchildren, traveling the US and Canada in their RVs, and driving an adventuresome trip on the Alcan Highway to Alaska. They circumnavigated the globe three times, visiting many countries on 6 continents, in conjunction with communications projects in India and Malawi Dad was involved with through the United Nations International Telecommunications Organization. We treasure the painstaking and detailed genealogy research of our family they documented.

Mom’s brother, William Buchanan Wrench, died in 2016. Dad’s sister, Julia Ann Waters Drenan Hurst, died in 2017. Mom and Dad are survived by 4 children: Jennifer (Ray) Rydberg, Evelyn (Mike) Harris, June (Mike) Thompson, and Phillip (Colleen) Waters; 9 grandchildren: Dr. R. Robert (Lynsey) Rydberg, Christopher Rydberg, David Spencer, Dr. Sandra Spencer, Gregory Thompson, Marc Thompson, Margaret (Maria) Fox, Sean Waters, and Matthew Waters; step-great-grandson Duncan Fox; and great-grandson Benjamin Rydberg.

Dad’s life was overcome by multiple system atrophy; Mom’s by vascular dementia. Remembrances are requested to the Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology.

Dad was buried at sea by the US Navy in the Strait of Juan de Fuca; Mom will soon join him there. A celebration of life is planned on Sunday, August 3, 2019 near Seattle, WA.; arrangements through Hudson Funeral Home, Durham, NC, 919-596-8269.