Funeral services for David Harrison Kaufman, 86, of Paducah will be held at 1 p.m. Friday at Milner and Orr Funeral Home of Paducah. Rev. J. Gottman will officiate. Burial will follow in Woodlawn Memorial Gardens.
Mr. Kaufman passed away on November 23, 2009, at Western Baptist Hospital.
He was born to the late Charles Harrison and Pearl Kaufman on September 12, 1923, in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He served in the United States Army with the rank of T-4 Sergeant during World War II in the Southern Pacific Theater with the 736th Engineer Heavy Shop Company. He returned to the States after the war and learned the art of drafting in trade school. He ultimately moved to Paducah in 1951 to work for F.H. McGraw, the prime contractor for construction of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant before working at the Y-12 Plant in Oak Ridge, Tenn. In 1956, he returned to Paducah to work for Union Carbide at the gaseous diffusion plant, where he eventually was promoted to electrical engineering design supervisor. He retired from that position in 1985.
David married Ruth Smith on April 18, 1953. They moved to their house on Harris Road in Concord in November 1959, where he resided until his death. In addition to his wife, he is survived by two sons, Mark Kaufman of Winston-Salem, N.C., and Scott Kaufman (wife Kris Lantz-Kaufman) of Jacksonville, Ill.; granddaughter, Hailey Kaufman of Jacksonville, Ill.; and siblings Chuck Kaufman of Porter, Ind., Louise Kaufman of Portage, Ind., Lillian Coombs of Crown Point, Ind., and Robert Kaufman of Las Vegas, NV.
He was preceded in death by his parents and siblings, Mary Radinsky of Wyandotte, Mich., and Virginia Kapica of Hobart, Ind.
Visitation will begin at 10 a.m. until the funeral hour on Friday at the funeral home.
Contributions may be made to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105.
You may leave a message of sympathy or light a memorial candle at milnerandorr.com.