Kenneth Roland Lang

Lang, Kenneth Roland age 76, of Blaine, went to be with the Lord on May 26, 2024. Preceded in death by his parents Roland and Bernice Lang. He is survived by his daughters Gianna (Dennis) Grundtner and Giulia Chatfield; grandchildren Mikaylah and Matthew Grundtner; brother Greg (Connie) Lang; nephew Brian (Amy) Lang and niece Heather (Brad) Spencer. Ken was born in Minneapolis on January 31, 1948 to parents Roland and Bernice Lang. He grew up in both NE Minneapolis and Columbia Heights and graduated from DeLaSalle High School and The University of Minnesota. He married Frances Ferguson on September 7, 1974 with whom he had two daughters. Over the next four years, Ken was employed by S.S. Kresge, the parent company of KMart, where he worked as an Assistant Manager opening new Kmart locations in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Iowa. In 1978, Fran and Ken moved back to the Twin Cities where Ken started his own residential painting business, Northside Painting (later known as Today's Applications) which he owned and operated for 42 years until his retirement in 2020. Amazingly, even with all the advances in technology and social media, Ken's business never had a website but relied solely on word-of-mouth and a few businesses cards. People knew his solid reputation of doing his work with honesty and integrity and that he would do the job right, and it earned him the respect of countless loyal and long-term clients who would then pass along their recommendation of him to others. In the early 2000's, he was briefly married to his second wife, Linda, and they remained friends. In the late 2000's, Ken also took on part-time work at Menards stocking candy and was affectionately known by his co-workers and customers as "The Candy Man" until he retired in 2022. Ken will always be lovingly remembered for his love of Cribbage (and all card games), A&W root beer, pickles, elephants, and ice cream, especially trips to Dairy Queen or a pint of mint chocolate chip ice cream (often adding whole chocolate chips because he insisted that the little chocolate shavings weren't enough). He could whistle any song like a bird and had a spot-on impression of Donald Duck that he would break out at random times, most notably for singing "Happy Birthday" to his daughters. His favorite bands were The Moody Blues and The Doors. Most of all, Ken loved his family. He had an amazing and beautiful gift of being truly present with them and each person he met, and despite being a quiet man, he could talk to anyone and make them laugh and instantly feel comfortable. When you were with him, you knew you had his full, undivided attention and felt he had all the time in the world to talk about anything and everything. Whatever a person's interests were, Ken was deeply and genuinely engaged and invested in learning all he could. This especially carried over to his grandkids, and he adored hearing everything about their friends, school activities, and watching and cheering them on at dance recitals and baseball games. Ken will be extremely missed for his joyful and goofy sense of humor, childlike sense of wonder, and his vivid and playful imagination no matter his age. He had an insatiable thirst for learning, especially anything having to do with astronomy and animals (he loved his National Geographic magazines!). He highly valued simplicity, and his Catholic faith was his foundation throughout his life. Even when life and circumstances were challenging, he always maintained a positive and hopeful attitude. His family would like to extend a special thanks to the staff and medical professionals at Round Lake Senior Living for their love, compassion, and excellent care they provided for Ken during this last year. Mass of Christian Burial on Tuesday, July 2, 2024 at The Catholic Church of St. Paul, 1740 Bunker Lake Blvd. NE, Ham Lake, MN 55304 at 11:00am with visitation one hour prior. Interment at Hillside Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, his family requests donations be made to The Lewy Body Dementia Association (lbda.org).

Tributes

Kenneth Roland Lang

January 31, 1948 - May 26, 2024

Tributes

Kenneth Roland Lang

January 31, 1948 - May 26, 2024

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