Kenneth Louis Varela

Kenneth (Ken) Louis Varela, age 59, passed away unexpectant on Saturday, January 23, 2021 at Kaiser hospital in Riverside CA. He DID NOT have Covid! Ken was born and raised in the Clairemont area of San Diego on June 16, 1961. He is survived by his wife Merrilee Varela, his children, Christopher (Marissa) Varela, Matthew (Madison) Varela and Katherine Varela, his parents, Henry and Connie Varela, his sister, Laura Brickley (Kurt), Nieces Shannon Brickley, Torrie Lyons (Mike), and Carlie Brickley. Ken and Merrilee met at a softball field in 1988, a "chance meeting" arranged by their sisters Laura and Valerie. They were married in March of 1991. Two days ago, would have been their 30th anniversary. While still in high school, Ken had talked to a recruiter and was gung-ho on becoming a Marine. However, the next week he was offered a job that led him on his career path. He worked in the construction field working from the ground up starting at Leroy-Crandel and Associates sweeping the floors in the lab and running errands. He became certified in several years of inspection including an American Welding Society Certified Welding Inspector, Ultrasonic Radiographic/Magnetic particle Nondestructive Testing Technician, Precast Prestressed Concrete inspector, and Concrete Testing Technician. He worked on many of the high rises in downtown SD. In 1999, he relocated the family to Corona, and has worked for the last 22 years for the State of California Department of Transportation (CALTRANS). His career demanded a lot of travel over the years which allowed family members to tag along to places such as St Louis, upstate NY, Dallas/Ft Worth, Nashville, Southern Utah, and many other places. He was looking forward to a trip to Italy and Merrilee was tagging along. Ken's greatest joy was spending time with his family, all of them! He had a unique sense of humor and loved to make people laugh. He loved the outdoors. He loved teaching the boys to hunt and fish from a very young age spending lots of time with his cousin Larry Varela in northern CA. He even taught Kat to fish and shoot - no hunting. He taught them all how to take care of a car. When and how to change the tires and oil and just about anything under the hood. He was a master at BBQ and Smoking and loved to try new recipes for family gatherings. He loved his Labradors as part of the family and trained the first two to be gun dogs. He was very proud of all his kids. Christopher went to northern CA to work for a summer and never Came home. He is a hard worker and is looking at purchasing the glass business from Larry and becoming a business owner. Matthew joined the USAF in April of 2016 and never had there been a prouder moment than watching his son as the Guide-on of his unit on graduation day. His FDS was in Burlington VT and has been there since. Katherine has always been the brains (except for math) of the kids. As much as he harassed and teased her about it, Ken was so proud when she was on stage singing with the Madrigal choir or taking center stage with a solo. He was always present with his camera at the concerts and competitions and helping out with fundraisers. He was always very close with his parents. He learned all about working on cars and trucks from his dad. How to tinker with something to figure out how it worked and then to put it back together. Mom taught him how to cook, be honest, respectful, and how to treat a woman! In the last several years, it became more and more important to him to spend time with them being sure to take care of projects around their home and that they were eating well. Strange as it sounds, it is a great blessing looking back now at 2020. As difficult a year it was for all, at the beginning of June, Katherine graduated with distinction from High School with a GPA over 4.0 and was accepted at Sacramento State University where she is studying Criminal Justice. June 20th, Christopher and Marissa were married, and the family spent the weekend at the lovely venue in the mountains near their home in Placerville. Then on September 20th, Matthew and Madison were married in a beautiful back-yard ceremony. The family feels extremely blessed with all the memories and photos they now cherish with Ken present at those important events. The family is grateful for all the love and support that they have received from friends, family, coworkers, church members, and neighbors. They are sorry not all could be present that wanted to be here today. Many of you are watching this on-line as it is being live-streamed. The family asks you to please take a moment and sign the virtual guest book by clicking the "Leave a Message, Share a Memory" button to leave a message for the family so they know you were with them today. Service Location Not Available Friday 3/26