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Note: Ford Kaiser, 90, died Sunday, May 29, 2016, on what would have been his mother-in-law Leota Archer Pate's 115th birthday. He died after a short visit to the hospital for severe dehydration and complications related to diabetes. He was born August 15, 1925 in Los Angeles, CA to Ford M.S. Kaiser, Sr. and Marguerite Rusk Kaiser.
Ford was a graduate of John C. Fremont High School, Los Angeles. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy the day before his 19th birthday in 1943 and served aboard the USS LST 225 during WWII. His friends and family will never forget the many stories of Ford's time in the Navy, including being hit by shrapnel when ships exploded in the West Loch disaster at Pearl Harbor.
After the war, Ford earned a degree in Fine Arts from the University of California, Santa Barbara and later a Masters in Fine Arts from the University of Southern California. He came to Ventura and met the love of his life, Arleen Pate Kaiser, when applying for a teaching job in the summer of 1953. They married in Ventura on August 14, 1954.
Ford taught art at Oxnard High School for 31 years and also ran an interior decorating business for many years. Although he retired from teaching in 1987, he had a lifelong passion for art and continued to paint and sculpt until late in his life. He was also an avid dancer and long time member of the Ventura Dance Club.
The art that Ford created as well as the lessons he taught of how to live life to the fullest, with a glass overflowing and an ever-present smile, are something that will be cherished forever.
He was predeceased by his wife of 47 years, Arleen Pate Kaiser, in 2001. He is survived by his sister and brother-in-law Patricia and Chuck Lusin of Murrieta, and his four children and their spouses: Jeffrey and Drew Kaiser of Escondido, Gregory and Carolyn Kaiser of Carlsbad, and twins girls, Karen and Scott Welcher of Templeton and Kathryn and Jeffrey Nix of Burlingame. He is also survived by his 10 beloved grandchildren.
A private memorial service will be held in August. In the meantime, Ford will be at Stanford Medical School where medical students will be trying to figure out how a boy who had almost every childhood disease, including polio, could live to be almost 91, the last 6 years of which were spent happily in Templeton with his daughter Karen and family.
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