Charles William Kemp

Charles William Kemp, 79, passed away on September 3, 2021, in Arlington, Tx. A visitation will be held from 6 pm to 8 pm on Friday, September 10, 2021, at The First Christian Church in Arlington. Funeral services will be held at 10:30 am on Saturday, September 11, 2021, at the church. The burial will follow at Shannon Rose Hill Cemetery. Born to parents Wanda Gustava and Charles Dempsey Kemp on July 4, 1942, in his grandmother's home in Clay, Kentucky. Charles William Kemp died peacefully Friday, September 3, 2021, in Arlington, Texas after a month-long battle with COVID with his beloved daughters, Heather and Shannon, by his side. Known for his brilliance as well as his kindness, Charles' life was marked by travel and friendship. Charles had a servant's heart and sought out ways to serve others his whole life, whether tending to the needs of Donna Kemp, the love of his life, or shuttling one of his grandkids to a practice or a Boy Scout meeting, or fixing up his daughters' houses, or playing with orphans during his time in the military. Truly a patriot, Charles was dubbed by his family a “firecracker baby,” both because he was born on the fourth of July and because he was clearly infused with the spark of life. After his mom took a tumble down a hill and went into early labor, he was pronounced dead on arrival by the doctors, but his granny took him in her arms and brought him back to life. Charles grew up in a loving family and was the older brother to three other boys, Larry, Paul, and Joe. He had one additional brother, Frank Douglas, who did not survive. A lifelong learner with a genius IQ, Charles was taught by his daddy to read at only three years old. He was clearly a trailblazer in learning and in life: at age twelve he and his brother Larry become charter members of the first Boy Scout troop in Iceland, where his father worked on the new NATO base being built there. His ingenuity as well as his love of travel and adventure would guide Charles for the remainder of his life. Charley graduated from Clay High School in 1960 and enrolled in classes at Henderson County Community College. The following year, on a chance visit back home to see a Clay High School basketball game, he walked in and could see nothing else but the light shining like a beacon around Miss Donna Jane Robertson's (the woman who would eventually become his wife) angelic face. Charley said it was love at first sight. Marriage would have to wait a few years though. Honoring his signature passion to serve and following in his father's footsteps, Charles proudly joined the Army in 1963. Based on his high intelligence level, he was selected for the Army Security Agency and sent to the Defense Language Institute at The Presidio in Monterey where he learned Russian and electronics communications. Eventually, his unit ended up in Korea. Charley loved to talk about his time spent there, from meeting Bob Hope, to fighting a tiger, to not letting the general onto the base because he didn't have clearance, to his Jeep quitting while on the biggest mountain in the area and having to coast it in neutral all the way back down. Charles was honorably discharged, and he and Donna were married in Kentucky just two weeks later, September 25, 1965. They then moved to Evansville, Indiana where Charles had secured a full-time position with Alcoa. It was a move that would prove seminal for the young couple. During the early years in Evansville, Charles and Donna explored the country, roller skates together, and developed a passion for spelunking. Charles also pursued and graduated with his Bachelors' degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of Evansville. Most importantly while in Evansville, Donna gave birth to their two girls, Heather Jane, in 1970, and Shannon Leigh, in 1974. Charles, Donna and their girls made many lifelong friends while in Indiana, including his good friend George Welden who started a photography business with Charles in the late 1960's. Photography became a lifelong passion for Charles who almost always had a camera strapped around his neck or held up to his eye to capture a shot. After moving from Evansville to Bettendorf, Iowa, to Cape Girardeau, Missouri (where he automated the first cement plant in America), Charles and his family finally settled in Texas where he shifted jobs several times and earned his Masters' degree in Information Systems from The University of Dallas in 1988. In Texas, he and Donna became lifelong members of First Christian Church in Arlington where he eventually came to serve as a deacon. An inventor as well as an innovator, Charles had the ability to envision and ultimately create solutions, and his inventions have helped to transform the world. From multi-functional truck bed containers to automatic lights in cars, Charles was granted many patents on his inventions. Still, his great passion was helping others. In fact, after retirement, though he continued to work as a consultant (he developed products for companies in the United States and China over the last decade), his main vocation was caring for Donna—who had suffered several health crises—and supporting his two girls and their families. For Charles, being a Papaw to his four grandsons was the BEST job ever, from taking them fishing to working with them on cars to playing cards with them to helping them with homework. Charles went to every game, event, performance, and celebration that he could possibly attend, taking pictures all along the way. After his beloved Donna passed away in April of 2017, Charles was heartbroken but also determined to remain active and use his mind and skills to help others. He hired a personal trainer and practiced yoga daily. He enjoyed going to breakfast on Fridays with the ROMEOs (Retired Old Men Eating Out!) and spent countless hours working on his ancestry—tracing his lineage back to before Christ! He had planned a trip to Germany in 2022 to retrace his dad's steps in World War II and was determined to finish fixing up his 1965 Mustang. He also continued to serve as a deacon at First Christian. He could fix anything and did - and made sure to teach others how to do it the next time. At 79, he had more energy in his pinky toe than most people do in their whole body. He loved God and his country and especially his two girls and their families. In recent years, Charley and his three brothers grew especially close. They loved to convene and tell stories, go to car shows, and play cards. At the end of July, the four of them spent what they describe as “the best weekend ever” together, traipsing around Kentucky in Larry's '64 Mercury Comet convertible. Charles/Charley/Dad/Papaw was preceded in death by his parents and his wife, Donna. He is survived by his brothers Larry Kemp and his wife Peggy, Paul Kemp and his wife Deana, Joe Kemp and his wife Cindy, as well as his daughters, Heather Jane Morrison and her fiancé, Greg Hubbard, and Shannon Leigh Kowalski and her husband, Robert, his daughters' friend Geni who he considered his own, four amazing grandsons: Branson and his wife Shelby, Camden and his girlfriend Mallory and her son Dayten, Simon, and Sutton, granddaughters Emily and Bethany, and numerous others who loved Papaw so very much. https://youtu.be/pKZnuw9Yiic