Ken Rosie Rosencrantz, 65, was born to Mel and Gertrude Rosencrantz in Pine Bluff, Arkansas on May 23, 1943 and went to be with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, on March 5, 2009.
He was the 5th of 7 children and grew up in a farming lifestyle, mostly in Wilder, Idaho, where the family moved to in 1952, that taught him the importance of family, hard work and perseverance. Ken married Virginia Ledbetter, his high school sweetheart, on January 8, 1963, which was the beginning of a wonderful 46 years of marriage that built a family supported in love and God’s Word. In those early years of marriage, Ken spent more time than he would’ve liked, away from home, working as a plane captain aboard the U.S.S. Ranger and the U.S.S. Coral Sea.
Though he loved the excitement, he was missed at home, which helped him make the decision to leave the Navy and find employment that kept him close to his growing family. While stationed at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, he and Virginia fell in love with the Pacific Northwest and decided to make it home. Ken began a new career as an officer with the Sedro-Woolley Police Department in September 1967 and continued that career until retirement as Detective in April 1993. Never one to sit around, Ken went to work for the Burlington Police Department as a Code Enforcement Officer while he learned the locksmith trade from a correspondence course. Once he learned the trade he started his own business from scratch, Sedro-Woolley Lock and Key, which allowed him to leave law enforcement completely and begin a new life as an entrepreneur. This is the business that kept him active and happy until selling it in December, 2008 when fighting cancer became his fulltime career.
Ken’s passions, besides family; included camping, hiking and photography, which led to his involvement with the Pacific Northwest Trail Association PNTA, where he proudly worked alongside friends to make the trail passable to hikers so everyone could enjoy God’s splendor. A piece of the trail on Anderson Mountain named for him, which was deeply satisfying to him. Also, as another way to give back to his community, he participated as a member of the Board of the King County Housing Authority, which runs the Hillsview Apartments in Sedro-Woolley.
Through all of this success in life, Ken has always displayed his everlasting love for God and Family. Even in his dying days he made sure he was able to talk to all of his family and preach the Word of God to those around him. He was a rock-solid husband, father and friend and will be greatly missed by all who knew him.
Ken was preceded in death by his parents, Mel and Gertrude Rosencrantz and a sister-in-law, Dianne Rosencrantz.
Ken is survived by his wife, Virginia; daughter Karmen and her husband, Russ Knott; son, Kraig and his wife Kathy; six grandchildren-James wife Natalie, Eric and Rachel Knott and Jacob, Samantha and Paul Rosencrantz; five brothers-Ray Kay, Ron Betty, Gary Beth, Bob Skip and Randy Julie Rosencrantz and one sister, Melody Warren Cramer; one aunt, Mary Dees along with numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.
A celebration of Ken’s life will be held at Bethel Assembly of God Church in Sedro-Woolley on Saturday, March 7, 2009 at 11:00 a.m. Memorials can be made to the Pinehaven Christian Children’s Ranch http://www.pinehaven.net/ , Bow Church of Christ care of Reba Sutton 513 S. Pine Street, Burlington, WA 98233 or Pacific Northwest Trail Association http://www.pnt.org/ . Ken’s Family would like to give a special thank you to the staffs at North Puget Cancer Center and Life Care Center of Skagit Valley for their unsurpassed support of Ken and our entire family while Ken battled Melanoma.
Arrangements under the care of Lemley Chapel, Sedro-Woolley. Share memories of Ken and sign the online guest register at www.lemleychapel.com
To view the webcast of the service click here.
