Dewaine Ray Kempton Obituary (1927

Dewaine Ray Kempton, 86, passed away on April 13, 2014. He was born May 31, 1927, in Clover Township, Hubbard County, Minnesota to Valentine and Ray Kempton. He married Shirley Maxine Spencer on March 18, 1948, at Mt. Tabor Presbyterian Church in Portland, Oregon. He passed away peacefully after living a long life filled with love. He grew up on a farm in Minnesota where he was raised by his grandparents. At the age of 16, he moved to Portland, Oregon to be with his father and step-mother Leah Kempton. As a young man, he served in the Merchant Marine during World War II and in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. Throughout his life he was a truck driver based in Portland, Oregon. Additionally he started a small pool excavating company named Trans-Global Excavation. After his retirement, Dewaine and Shirley lived on a half-acre of land near Garibaldi, Oregon, where Dewaine loved to spend his time working the land and building their home. They spent several years after retirement traveling around the United States in their RV seeing our great country. They then settled just three blocks from their daughter and her family in Yakima, Washington in 1992. Dewaine was a Jack-of-all-trades. He could fix anything and was a backyard mechanic and inventor, creating all kinds of gadgets to help him do work around the house. His family regards him as the smartest person they knew when it came to figuring out how to fix something. Dewaine loved his grandchildren and great-grandchildren very much and the feeling was mutual. His favorite times were recalling and laughing at the many memoirs the family shared. A fortuitous event occurred when a great-grandson was born on his 84th birthday. Dewaine is survived by his wife and companion of 66 years, Shirley, daughter April Adamson (Bob), son Timothy Kempton (Beth), grandsons Matthew Adamson (Elizabeth), Kyle Kempton, and great-grandsons Caleb and Ethan Adamson. He was preceded in death by his parents, his step-mother, and his grandson Christopher Adamson. Dewaine will be buried at Rose City Cemetery in Portland, Oregon. Dewaine gave his family unconditional love to the end, and we will all miss him dearly!