KENNETH WAYNEKOSSA

Dec. 5, 1950 - Oct. 26, 2008

Ken was born in Denver, Colo. and because of his height of 6’ 6” nicknamed “Stretch.” A native of Colorado, he always said that the mountains there were the real mountains, not like the mountains we see around Green Valley, yet he still enjoyed looking at our mountains too.

Numbers and reading were problematic for Ken, and not until Junior High School did his teacher, Jim Rome, discover that Ken was suffering from dyslexia. He worked with Ken and eventually Ken understood how to handle reading in his life to overcome this difficulty.

Ken had a great love for dogs, especially Old English Sheep Dogs. Over the years he rescued many abused dogs from shelters including Burt, another Old English Sheep Dog. When he rescued Abby, she had been so badly beaten that he had to put her on dialysis. After she recovered, they were inseparable. After Abby left us, he said no more dogs, but by day’s end he was already looking for another Old English Sheep Dog and found Rugby, not a rescue this time but a puppy. Prior to Rugby he had adopted Chelsea a black lab from a nearby rescue service.

Ken also served in the United States Air Force for four years attaining the rank of Captain. Duties in Vietnam included prisoner of war intelligence.

In Denver, he worked in residential and commercial remodeling and construction. Ken had many wonderful ideas and was very creative with design. His expertise also included landscaping and creating water features that were very soothing to look at and listen to. He loved watching DIY, This Old House and Extreme Makeover. Ken was always looking for new ideas and better ways to implement his ideas.Around the neighborhood, Ken loved helping neighbors do the right thing in remodeling and gave neighbors ideas on how to handle their own remodeling. He served on the Architectural Committee for Fairways I, II and III Homeowners Assoc., and also did handyman work for Premier Properties, Inc.

Ken’s leisure time was devoted to his love of Z cars and working on his computer.

Ken was a very thoughtful and loving individual and will be deeply missed by his fiancee Joyce Mohr, his best friends Leon McNabb, Otto Deckert, Tom Kreutz, Rollin Gueldenzoph, Ed Musson and Riff Schnittker, just to name a few, along with his brother Stephen Kossa and cousin Rose Ann Ebel.

A brief outdoor service will be held at our Green Valley Mortuary on Friday, Nov. 7, 2008 at 1:30 p.m.