Obituaries : * Kenneth L. Ketchie Sr.; Educator

A memorial service will be held Friday for Kenneth L. Ketchie Sr., a longtime educator and co-founder of Meadow Oaks School in Calabasas, the school announced. Ketchie was 62 when he died Dec. 21 of lymphoma.

Born in Checotah, Okla., on Dec. 24, 1931, Ketchie moved to the San Fernando Valley with his family when he was a child. As a student at San Fernando High School, Ketchie met his friend and future colleague Vic Cook, with whom he later founded Meadow Oaks.

During the Korean War, Ketchie worked as a radio announcer and program director for the Armed Forces Radio Service. He later attended San Fernando Valley State College (now Cal State Northridge), where he earned a bachelor’s degree in history.

With Cook, Ketchie established the Woodland Hills Swim School in 1958 and Meadow Oaks School in 1963. The following year, the pair started a summer program through the school called Meadow Oaks Camp. Today, Meadow Oaks is one of the Valley’s largest K-eight private schools, with over 500 students at its Calabasas campus.

Ketchie was a founding member of the National Independent Private Schools Assn. He later served as the group’s vice president and on its board of directors, helping to accredit private schools across the country.

Ketchie also served as president of the Woodland Hills Rotary Club, as a director of the Van Nuys American Red Cross Chapter, and as a reserve deputy for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

The memorial service will begin at 11 a.m. Friday at Meadow Oaks’ Reade Field, 23456 Mulholland Highway, Calabasas. Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks Mortuary in Westlake Village handled the funeral arrangements.

Ketchie is survived by his wife, Linda; daughters Teri Pitschke of Santa Cruz and Lynne Savant of Woodland Hills; a son, Ken Ketchie Jr. of Calabasas; two stepsons, Daniel Abrams and Adam Abrams, both of Woodland Hills; a brother, Carl Ketchie of Pullman, Wash., and two grandchildren.

Memorial donations may be made in Ketchie’s name to the Lymphoma Research Foundation of America, 2318 Prosser Ave., Los Angeles 90064.