Kenneth Ludwig Kaiser

Kenneth Ludwig Kaiser, honorable father, respected businessman, and faithful friend, passed to his heavenly home on Saturday, June 12, 2010, after a short battle with cancer.
Ken was born August 17, 1941, in Kansas City, Kansas, to German immigrants, Leo and Dorothy Kaiser. He graduated from McPherson High School In 1959. He married his high school sweetheart, Kathryn Schierling on February 11, 1961, and the couple moved to Emporia, Kansas, where Ken earned his Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Emporia State University. After graduating college, Ken brought his young family to the Dallas area and began his career in sales with IBM in 1964. Ken went on to work for S & K Church Furniture where he developed a passion for the industry of church furnishings. With a desire to start his own company and raise his family in a smaller community, Ken brought his wife and children to Gainesville in 1977, where he and Kathy established Chancellor Manufacturing, Incorporated, in their garage apartment.
Ken started Chancellor by constructing all forms of church furniture, but focused the latter part of his career on designing and producing church chairs. A gift and love for woodworking fueled Ken’s entrepreneurial vision and he received three patents for chair design in his thirty-plus-year career. Examples of his work can be found in churches of most denominations, educational institutions, funeral homes, and many other businesses throughout the United States and abroad.
A devoted and loving husband and father, Ken and Kathy raised six children. Ken was a lifelong learner, an avid reader and researcher, a man of many words, and always ready to impart his wisdom to his children and grandchildren. Through his lessons and by example, Ken taught his family the importance of loyalty, hard work, and faith. He was very proud of the legacy he is leaving. He was an active parishioner at St. Mary’s Catholic Church for over thirty years.
After the passing of Kathy, his wife of forty-six years, Ken was fortunate to meet and fall in love a second time with Janice Vogt. The two were married June 20, 2009. They enjoyed traveling, spending time with their combined families and most of all they shared the gift of love, laughter and daily life. A few of his other hobbies and interests included golfing, walking, and performing magic and card tricks.
He is survived by his wife, Janice; and by his 6 children and their spouses: son, Mark and his wife, Kim, of Stephenville, Texas; daughter Susie Williams and husband, Johnny, o f Gainesville; daughter, Jackie Kaiser of Pflugerville, Texas; son, Scott Kaiser, and wife, Melanie, of Round Rock, Texas; daughter, Diana Thomson and husband, Sean, of Frisco, Texas; and daughter Kari Paegle and husband, Chris, of Cedar Park, Texas; and his step-son Jason Glotzbach and wife Shelly. Surviving grandchildren are Dustin and Kristin Kaiser; Mindy, Luke, Lance, and Molly Williams; Morgan, Anna, Sarah, and Clay Kaiser; Abby Thomson; Kieran Paegle; Hannah and Sophia Vogt; and great-grandson Jacob Brown. Surviving also are siblings and their spouses: Harold and Carol Kaiser; Imogene and Tom Gagliardi; Tom and Donna Kaiser, and Steve Kaiser; along with several nieces and nephews.
He is preceded in death by his parents, Leo and Dorothy Kaiser, and his first wife, Kathy.
Services are set for 10:00 a.m. Tuesday, June, 15, 2010, at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Gainesville. Interment will follow at Fairview Cemetery. Visitation will be at Geo. J. Carroll & Son Funeral Home in Gainesville from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday, June 14, 2010. Memorial contributions may be made to Trinity United Methodist Church in Denton and/or St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Gainesville.
Pallbearers are grandsons, Luke Williams, Dustin Kaiser, Lance Williams; step-son, Jason Glotzbach; sons-in-law, Johnny Williams, Chris Paegle, Sean Thomson and close friend, Chris Bayer.
The family would like to acknowledge their dad’s special influence and lasting impact on their lives.