Kenneth Leon Stutts

Kenneth Leon Stutts, 94, went home to his Lord peacefully and unexpectedly on Friday, May 2, 2025, in Grants Pass, OR. His wife of 72 years, Ann, was by his side. Ken’s memorial service will be held at 1 p.m., Saturday, May 31 at Calvary Lutheran Church, 909 NE A St., Grants Pass.

Ken was born Feb. 13, 1931, in a farmhouse near Poughkeepsie, AR to Hurdle and Ina (Simpson) Stutts. He had two older sisters and one younger brother. He graduated from Poughkeepsie High School in 1949 before joining the Air Force in April 1952. While stationed at Lowry Air Force Base, Denver, CO he met Ann from Nauvoo, IL on a blind date. They were soon engaged and married March 7, 1953. Ken was transferred from Lowery AFB to the 76th Fighter Squadron (F-89 Scorpion aircraft) as a Fire Control Mechanic at Loring AFB in Limestone, ME. During his service in Maine, he was originally assigned to serve the last six months in Korea and but instead was reassigned to Iceland as radar technician. His military service ended in spring of 1956, and the family moved to Inglewood, CA where he began a career at Hughes Aircraft Company in Culver City, CA. He attended night school for nine years at the University of Southern California earning an Electrical Engineering BS degree.

Ken and Ann’s church home and extended family at First Lutheran Church, Inglewood, CA have remained close through these many years. They purchased their first home in 1964, in Hawthorne, CA and lived there until his retirement in 1989. After 33 years at Hughes, Ken and Ann moved to Grants Pass, OR in 1990 and joined Calvary Lutheran Church. Their home on five wooded acres, six miles outside of town, was a quiet, lovely place with wonderful neighbors and lots of room for company and entertaining! They moved to independent living at Countryside Village in February 2022.

Ken’s hobbies included golfing, woodworking, and dove hunting in Arizona over Labor Day weekends with his son, Gerald, and grandson, Ryan. He looked forward to deer and elk hunting in Salmon, ID and fishing in Alaska every year for many years with his best friend, Roger Solaas. Ken was an avid gun collector, reloader and skeet shooter, traveling to many western states for competitions. He was a lifetime member of both the Josephine County Sportsman Association and the National Rifle Association.

Ken lived life large traveling, shooting, competing, gardening, lawn mowing, taking down trees with a chainsaw and fixing things in the homes wherever he and Ann lived. Ken was famous for reciting the “Elmer and the Bear” story, he was a joke teller and all-around country boy at heart. His favorite place was in his easy chair, gazing at a fire in the fireplace, or on the front porch at their house on Cambridge sipping iced coffee or tea in the shade with a breeze. He loved Ann dearly and especially her chocolate meringue pie!

Ken is survived by his wife, Ann (Ammer) Stutts; daughter, Janice Stutts; granddaughter, Elizabeth Anderson Davis (Drew); great granddaughter, Daniella Davis, and grandson, Ryan Anderson (Halley); son, Gerald Stutts (Joy); granddaughter, Katie Wall (Andrew); great grandchildren, Evelyn and Griffin; granddaughter, Erika Hunhoff (Mike); daughter, Julie Stutts Baker; granddaughter, Savannah Baker, and grandson, Sage Baker; brother, Charles Stutts; and sister, Willa Jean Richmond. Ken's sister, Jennie V (Stutts) Anderson, and son, Michael Glen Stutts, predeceased him in passing.

Contributions in Ken’s honor can be made to Calvary Lutheran Church, Grants Pass, OR, or the Alzheimer’s Association.