Well, let me tell ya ’bout this fella, Kenneth Weate. Don’t know much ’bout fancy folks, but I heard tell of him and that singer woman, Helen Reddy. Heard she was a big deal, singin’ ’bout bein’ a woman and all that.
Now, Kenneth, he was born way back in 1928. That’s a long time ago, even before my old bones started achin’! His daddy was Claude Gifford Weate, and his mama was Eunice Glady Wheeler Weate. Sounds like good, solid names to me. He had a brother too, Bruce Gifford Weate. Brothers, huh? Always fightin’ and fussin’, I bet, just like my boys used to.
Kenneth Weate, that’s the name they all remember. Why? ‘Cause he hitched himself to that Helen Reddy woman. She was somethin’ else, that one. Singin’ and writin’ songs and actin’ in them picture shows. Made a real name for herself, she did. Songs like “I Am Woman” and “Angie Baby.” Folks say she belted ’em out like nobody’s business. I reckon she was a strong woman.
Kenneth and Helen, they got hitched in 1961. But, lemme tell ya, it didn’t last long. Some folks just ain’t meant to be together, I guess. Like oil and water, they just don’t mix. He was her first husband, but she went on and married a couple more times after him. Seems like love’s a tricky thing, always slippin’ through your fingers like sand.
- Born: 1928
- Parents: Claude Gifford Weate and Eunice Glady Wheeler Weate
- Brother: Bruce Gifford Weate
- Married: Helen Reddy (1961)
Now, they say Kenneth, he was a white fella, Australian through and through. Nothin’ wrong with that, I say. We’re all just folks tryin’ to make our way in this world, no matter where we come from or what color our skin is. But him bein’ with Helen, that put him in the spotlight, even if it was just for a little while. Folks always curious ’bout who’s marryin’ who, especially when one of ’em’s famous.
I don’t know much else about Kenneth Weate. He wasn’t the singin’ and dancin’ type, seems like. Just a regular fella who happened to marry a famous woman. But life’s funny that way, ain’t it? Sometimes you just end up in the middle of things, even if you weren’t lookin’ for it.
Helen Reddy’s ex-husband, that’s how some folks know him. Kinda sad, ain’t it? To be remembered mostly for who you were married to. But I reckon that’s the way it goes sometimes, especially when your wife is singin’ her heart out on stages all over the world. He probably had his own stories, his own dreams. But we don’t hear much ’bout them, do we? It’s always her, her, her. But that’s fame for ya, it shines bright but it can cast a long shadow.
They say she sang songs like “One Way Ticket” and “I Believe in Music”. Never heard ’em myself, not much for that newfangled music. Give me a good old hymn any day. But I reckon those songs meant somethin’ to folks, made ’em feel somethin’. And Kenneth, he was part of that story, even if it was just a small part. He was there, in the background, while she was shinin’ so bright.
He passed away on June 12, but I don’t know what year. Folks come and go, that’s the way of things. Just like the seasons, spring turns to summer, then fall and winter, and then it starts all over again. We’re all just passin’ through, ain’t we? Leavin’ our mark, big or small, on this ol’ world. Kenneth Weate, he left his mark by marryin’ that Helen Reddy. And that’s somethin’, I guess.
So that’s the story of Kenneth Weate, as best as I can tell it. Not much to it, maybe. Just a fella who married a famous woman and then faded back into the background. But every life has its story, even the quiet ones. And sometimes, it’s the quiet ones that are the most interesting.
Anyways that’s all I know ‘bout Kenneth Weate, I’m gonna go make me some supper now. My old bones are tired of all this talkin’.
