John Kay Sterrett

John Kay Sterrett died peacefully at home on January 31, 2024, in Winter Park, Florida at the age of 84.

He is survived by his children, Kay Sterrett Leonard (Greg) of Maitland, Florida, and Jeffrey Moore Sterrett (Eileen Lee) of Spring, Texas, his grandchildren, John Alexander Leonard, Phoebe Anne Sterrett, and Owen Lee Sterrett, his partner, Lila Burke, and preceded in death by his wife of 55 years, Judith Anne Sterrett.

John was born March 28, 1939, in Madison, West Virginia. His childhood was spent growing up on the Kay family farm in Southside, West Virginia, just outside Point Pleasant. While he left the farm for college to become an electrical engineer, he always described himself as a small-town country boy. Those qualities of hard work, family first, and being a good neighbor never left him. Nor did the small-town West Virginia figures of speech. For example, "Coming up a bad cloud" meant the weather was getting bad, God willing and the creek don't rise, Call me whatever you want but don't call me late for dinner, Have one beer a day - for medicinal purposes, Getting a haircut? Why don't you get 'em all cut! And too many more to mention.

He married his high school sweetheart, Judith Anne Jeffries, in 1962, in Gallipolis, Ohio, and graduated from The University of Cincinnati in 1963 with a degree in Electrical Engineering. Upon graduation, John was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army rising to the rank of Captain and they were stationed at Redstone Arsenal where he taught missile engineering for four years. Their daughter, Margaret Kay was born there in 1966. He left the Army and accepted a position in Sarasota, Florida, with Florida Power and Light. He said they just drove south with a snow shovel tied to the roof of the car and when someone said "Hey, what is that?" they decided they were far enough south. Their son, Jeffrey Moore, was born there in 1967.

He spent his career working as an engineer designing and maintaining Florida's power grid. Or as he would say, "playing with electricity." He was instrumental in getting the power restored in Miami after Hurricane Andrew. After retiring, he decided he still wanted to play with electricity and started a successful consulting company, Sterrett Consulting. He worked mostly for Tropicana keeping their physical plant and processing factories energized. Do you know how many oranges it takes to make a carton of orange juice? John did. And he told anyone that was interested. It is 16 by the way. He was also responsible for designing new power grid capacity for the island of Curacao which needed additional electricity for their new desalination plants.

John and Judy spent quite a bit of time being swim team parents. Judy was a carpool mom and scorer and John was often in charge of the electronic timing and fundraising.

John became a Florida State University fan when his children both went to FSU. He and Judy attended many games and college functions and both were huge fans and supporters for the rest of their lives.

John spent his retired years with Judy in Maitland, Florida, an Orlando suburb, to be nearer to family. He threw himself into his grandson's activities and was affectionately known as Gramps all over the town. He cooked burgers for the baseball team, moved equipment around for the middle school band, tutored neighborhood kids in geometry and was always available to assist wherever he was needed - and always in his garnet and gold "GRAMPS" cap. He was known with his two grandsons as Big John/Little John and Big Buddy/Little Buddy. And his granddaughter loved being his Pretty Girl and Sweetie. His favorite title of all was certainly Gramps.

He also always showed up at his kids' home with something he thought was needed - a pack of AA batteries ("You can never have enough"), 9-volt batteries for the smoke detectors ("Need to change those when the clock changes"), a container of cantaloupe ("Cantaloupe looked good today"), or some sort of tool ("Noticed you didn't have a voltmeter.") Sometimes it was even a $20 bill ("Go spend your inheritance.") or an offer to get the oil changed.

John never met a stranger and was known to charm the ladies at the grocery store. He lost his beloved wife Judy in 2018 and shortly thereafter moved to an apartment in a retirement community in Winter Park, Florida. There, he was known for his friendliness and his extensive and colorful polo shirt collection. There, he also met Lila, a loving partner to him until the very end.

John will be remembered for his love for his family and friends, his work ethic ("Love what you do and you'll go to work to play every day"), his warm and endearing manner, and his love of a simple but profound life.

Ultimately, it was not the "semi hauling hogs" that he expected would get him, but the effects of a hard-fought battle with Parkinson's Disease.

He will be greatly missed and lovingly remembered.

A memorial service at his church, The Cathedral Church of St. Luke, Orlando, Florida, will be held at a later date.