Kenneth Riley Burd was the oldest of 4 children born to Riley and Ann Burd on January 17, 1940 in Cement, OK. His brothers and sister – Timmy, Diane, and Gary – loved him dearly and looked up to him, literally, though not by much. Daddy was 6’7”, while Timmy and Gary were just a few inches shorter. Daddy used to say his mama would tell him to lean over so she could slap him when he did something wrong. When anyone asked him how tall he was, he would say 5’19”. He did that just to make everyone puzzle over what he said, and then he’d chuckle at their reactions when they figured it out.
Because of his height, Daddy was a natural for playing basketball. He played in school at Oilton and also at Pawhuska, OK. Daddy wasn’t all about sports; he was extremely smart and graduated as Salutatorian of his high school class. The combination of being an excellent athlete and student, led to his receiving a basketball scholarship at the University of Oklahoma in 1958.
During his college years, Daddy played against Wilt Chamberlain once. Chamberlain played for Kansas State. This was Daddy’s big claim to fame. Unfortunately, basketball was not to be in Daddy’s future. While defending the goal with his arms up, other players were constantly hitting his shoulders, loosening his muscles. His left shoulder kept dislocating until he finally had to leave the basketball program.
Without scholarship money, he could not continue school on his own. Daddy joined the Air Force and was stationed at Randolph AFB, Universal City, TX. At a summer baseball game, a mutual family friend, introduced Daddy to Rochelle Jordan. It was love at first sight. Mama said she couldn’t even take a shower because Daddy would sit on her doorstep and wait for her. They dated a week when he asked her to marry him. They were married within a month on the next payday, July 15, 1961. They had to wait until payday, so they could pay the preacher.
Moving was a normal part of military life. Daddy was transferred to Castle AFB in Merced, CA where I was born in 1962 and my brother, Kenny in 1964. Daddy showed an aptitude for engineering, and was assigned to work on simulators. One of my first memories of Daddy’s work was when I was 5 and he had picked me up for a dentist appointment. He took me to his office in a hanger, and taught me how to play chess while we waited for my appointment time. How many dads teach their 5-year-old daughters chess? He wore green fatigues and big black boots, with an embroidered blue rectangle saying Burd above his left pocket.
In 1969, the Air Force sent him back to the University of Oklahoma to finish his BS in Industrial Engineering and his MS in Industrial Engineering – Operations Research. He then went to OTS and became an officer. The next station was Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton, OH. We lived in Ohio for 4 years until Daddy was stationed at Clark AFB in the Philippines for 1 ½ years. He worked in Strategic Air Command, Logistics doing analysis on the logistics and speed of moving resources. For example if a war were to break out, how many men and planes could be in a certain place at a certain time. That’s how he explained what he did to me once. When he returned to the states, he was given his base of choice, Randolph AFB. His Air Force career ended where it began, and he retired in May 1984 after 24 years 3 months of service.
Daddy wasn’t ready to retire from working totally, so he began work at Motorola in Seguin as a Quality Assurance Engineer. This job took Daddy and Mama around the world, while Daddy made sure the parts that were being sent to the Seguin plant were of good quality. They went to Europe, the Far East, and Australia. He worked at Motorola for 5 years, and then another company for 2 more years before deciding he’d had enough, and he quit for retirement.
Woodworking was one of his hobbies. He turned many legs on his lathe making quilt racks for Mama, until one day he didn’t have the wood secured well, and it flew off and hit him in the mouth. That was a trip to the ER. Another hobby was working on equipment with small gas motors. He sharpened chainsaws and worked on chainsaw, weed whacker, and lawnmower motors. With all the money he earned from his small business, and all the money Mama made from making quilts, they went gambling.
There were usually 2 big gambling trips a year to Vegas, with smaller trips to Louisiana and Mississippi monthly. On the trips to Vegas, they hit every casino on the way there and back. Daddy always said gambling was an escape, and he was transported to another world. They played so much, they were Diamond Club Members, and who doesn’t like special treatment like free rooms, upgrades, and fancy meals! They shared all this with family too. I know I benefitted from their generosity many times. Two weeks before Daddy passed away, we were at Winstar with Uncle Gary, Aunt Carolyn, Amy, and Jon and we were winning too! He had the best time!
Daddy LOVED his grandkids! When Alex was little, Papa (as the kids called him) would take Alex out in the cow pasture on the tractor. Alex would see a cow patty and get sick. Papa always thought that was hilarious, and retold that story several times. The story he told on Amy was when he told her there were King Cobras in the fields. She had to stay on the sidewalk or wait for him to drive her down to Grandmommy’s. She was scared to go down to Grandmommy’s for years by herself. We recently asked Papa why he told Amy there were cobras in the fields. He said she kept disappearing, and he didn’t know where she was. She was only 3 and 4, and she kept going to Grandmommy’s on her own. This way he scared her so bad, that she had to come get her Papa to protect her before going down.
Daddy was always taking care of others. When his brother-in-law, Lee, passed away, Daddy flew to California to help his sister and my three young cousins get through the next few weeks. When his mother-in-law and father-in-law were getting older, Daddy helped them build a house on his land, and assisted them with anything they needed for the next 30 years. When Mama had a paralyzing stroke in 2013, he stayed by her side, and helped her through 3 ½ years of pain and dementia until she passed away in 2017. When his son was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer, Daddy stayed by Kenny’s side through it all until he passed away 2 months ago. When I needed a shoulder to lean on, Daddy was always there to listen and give sound advice.
Kenneth Riley Burd was bigger than life, I’m so proud he was my Daddy.
--Teri Burd Everett
A graveside service will be held at 12:30pm, Monday, March 26, 2018, at Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery in Dallas, Texas.