Kenneth M. Clements
It is with great sadness that the family of Kenneth M. Clements announces his passing on December 15, 2024. Ken died at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, surrounded by family, at the age of 78 years.
He is survived by his wife Elsbeth, his former wife Gloria and their three children Michele (Scott), David, and Todd (Louise), his sister Karen, his brother Craig (Maureen), and eleven grandchildren Dylan, Bryn, Aiden, Maya, Devan, Noah, Ethan, Zechariah, Joseph, Brendan, and Gabriel. He will also be lovingly remembered by his step-children Julius (Stephanie) and Martin (Kelly) and his four step-grandchildren Gus, Wyatt, Dylan, and Haley, as well as by numerous extended family members and friends. Ken was preceded in death by his parents Leonard and Barbara and by his grandson Morgan.
In January 1946, mere weeks after Ken was born in Galveston, Texas, Ken’s father Leonard moved back to his hometown of Santa Barbara with his wife Barbara and their infant son. Ken and his two younger siblings grew up in Santa Barbara, living with their parents on State Street and then on Coleman Avenue, where Ken resided until his teen years. He graduated from San Marcos High School in 1963, he met Gloria (née Chaney) in 1964, they married in 1965, and together they raised a close-knit and loving family of three children. In the mid-1990s, Ken embraced a new chapter in life, finding love and companionship with Elsbeth Kleen and sharing many years together yachting, travelling, socializing, and volunteering time to organizations such as the Santa Barbara Yacht Club (SBYC) and the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum (SBMM). Ken and Elsbeth eventually married in 2015.
Ken’s first jobs in the 1960s included surveying work with his father Leonard as well as working for the County of Santa Barbara as a soils technician. Over several subsequent years during which Ken and his family were transferred to other cities including Lancaster and Los Altos, Ken earned a business degree and got his civil engineering license. In 1983 he returned to Santa Barbara and opened his own firm, K-C Geotechnical, which was later purchased by Fugro, Inc. He was a licensed Geotechnical Engineer and Civil Engineer until fully retiring from Fugro in 2022.
Ken’s father and grandfather were both avid boaters, and Ken continued this tradition as a passionate yachtsman and an avid yacht racer. He started with SB Sailing Club events and joined the SBYC in 1980, where he continued with competitive PHRF yacht racing, eventually winning two Capri 30 National racing events in 1989 and 1990. Elsbeth became a regular crew member on Ken’s racing yacht Defiant in the mid-1990s, which is how they began to get to know each other. They eventually transitioned from racing Defiant to cruising on Kayak and then motoring on their 41-foot trawler Casa Blanca. As an expression of his passion for sailing, for the ocean, and for maritime culture, Ken volunteered his time to the SBYC and to the SBMM including serving both as SBYC Commodore in 2002 and as SB Maritime Museum Board President in 2006.
Ken also had a wonderful and quick sense of humor, danced with grace and joy, enjoyed golf, played a mean game of cribbage, “creatively” punctuated much of his correspondence, and loved his family with all his heart. May his memory be a blessing.
A celebration of life will be held January 29th, 2025 at Santa Barbara Yacht Club at 5pm. Memorial donations may be made in Ken’s name to the Santa Barbara Youth Sailing Foundation, 130 Harbor Way, Santa Barbara, California 93109.