Kenneth R. Elmore, 90, of Tulsa, Okla., died Monday, July 2, 2012.
He was born Aug. 12, 1921, son of William and Louisa Elmore.
He grew up in the Plato area and attended Houston High School in 1935 and 1936. He completed school at Plato.
He returned for the centennial of Plato Baptist Church and visited relatives.
He enlisted in the U.S. Navy after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He served 31 months in Hawaii, the Philippines and Australia before returning home in 1945. He received the Victory Medal Asiatic Pacific Philippine Liberation, two stars. He trained in the Navy and received additional education at then Missouri State Teachers College in Springfield and University of Tulsa.
He was a certified electrical engineer and was hired by Public Service Company of Oklahoma, partially because it needed in a tenor in a quartet. He started in the meter department and ended in engineering before retiring after 42 years.
He loved to sing and minister. He served as worship leader for more than 50 years at several churches. In later years, he was a deacon at First Baptist Church in Tulsa and a choir member.
He was a VFW member and a 32nd degree Mason of Pilgrim Lodge. One of his passions was Gideons International, where he served for more than 30 years and traveled internationally to distribute Bibles. The family suggests memorials to the organization in his honor at gideons.org.
Local survivors include first cousins, Stanley Hicks and Wilburn Elmore, both of Houston.
Services were Saturday, July 7, at Olivet Baptist Church under the direction of Moore’s Southlawn. Burial was in Elmwood Cemetery in Wagoner, Okla.
To send an online memory, visit moorefuneral.com.
