Kenneth Milton Spratlin

1962 - 2024

Kenneth Milton Spratlin, age 62, died unexpectedly on May 22, 2024 in Boulder, Colo. Ken was born in Athens, Ga. on February 27, 1962 to parents Milton and Jacqueline Spratlin. He was the oldest of four children and, as the only boy, was a quiet soul in a houseful of girls. He spent most of his childhood in Toccoa, Ga., playing with the Pine Valley neighborhood kids. He was entrepreneurial from an early age - one of his early business ventures with his boyhood friends involved making George Washington hats from newspapers and selling them to classmates for candy money. He was an avid Boy Scout, a member of the Order of the Arrow, and at the young age of 13, he earned the highest scouting rank of Eagle Scout. While as a child he cheered for the family team, the Georgia Bulldogs, all that changed when he graduated from Stephens County High School and went to Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) - this made for fierce family rivalries during the Yellow Jackets/Bulldogs football game each Thanksgiving weekend. #gojackets
While working towards his bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering at Georgia Tech, Ken participated in the NASA Co-Op program at Johnson Space Center in Houston, weathering a memorable hurricane that took the roof off their apartment building. He earned his master's degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), working on more aerospace projects as a Draper Fellow at the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory. He loved the work so much, he accepted a job at Draper Labs after finishing his degree where he met his future wife, Lisa. After falling in love, Ken followed Lisa out West to a career at Trimble, rising through the ranks to a senior leadership position where he worked in a variety of divisions and traveled the world. With computer in one bag and camera in another, he visited Europe frequently, as well as Russia, China, Vietnam, and even lived and worked for two years in Japan with Lisa.
Ken was over the moon when his son Matthew was born in 2008. Together they made pasta and pulley systems, sand castles and steaks. They played with Legos and trains and trains made of Legos. Their adventures together took them to airshows and dinosaur sites, science museums and Broncos' training camps. He adored his caring and curious lit- tle boy and was so proud of the compassionate and hard working young man he is becoming.
Ken rekindled his love for scouting when his son Matthew was old enough to join Cub Scouts. He participated in troop leader- ship as an assistant scout- master for Troop 78 in Boulder, Colo. He especially loved the annual summer camp experiences where he coordinated their "On to First Class" program and helped launch many new scouts into their scouting career with patience and kindness. In addition to scouting, he and his son shared a love of all things tech-related. The local Apple Store will miss Ken as he was an eager early adopter of all things Apple, starting with the first iPod and even waiting in line in the dark to see the first iPhones up close.
In 2014, Ken was inducted into the Stephens County Schools Hall of Fame in his hometown of Toccoa. During retirement, Ken helped coach start-up companies and developed some of his own software apps, including one he made for his son, Super Froggy's Road Trip Bingo. Depending on the season, you could find him cheering on the Atlanta Braves, Denver Broncos, Denver Nuggets or Colorado Avalanche. His love of family and capturing family stories before they were lost led to a deep interest in genealogy. Ever the diligent engineer who loved a good problem to solve, what could be a more interesting puzzle than those posed by genealogy? From following the clues in Colonial American wills and land transfers to looking for patterns and groupings in DNA tests, he was hooked. He developed a family tree of over 22,000 relatives which he diligently searched and verified. He traveled with his family to homestead farm locations around the world, bringing history alive with family connections to these places and times. For fun, he helped others research their family trees, and ultimately held several positions of responsibility in WikiTree, focused on the US Southern Colonies Project and the 1776 Project.
Ken is survived by his wife Lisa, his son Matthew, sisters Cynthia Halbert of Las Vegas, Nev, Sandra Adams of Edmond, Okla., and Susan Carman of Toccoa, Ga., as well as many beloved nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his mother Jacqueline Spratlin and his father Milton Spratlin. Ken lived the Scout law, all 12 points, top to bottom: trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent. Ken was smart, curious, humble, and gentle. He was deeply loved and will be dearly missed.
A memorial service for Ken will be held on June 9, 2024 in Boulder, Colo.
We welcome you to share your stories and photos of Ken at the WeRemember page created in his memory: https://www.weremember.com/kenneth-spratlin/3j7w/memories His family would so appreciate it.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Scouting's Adventure West Council so that more youth can develop a love of the outdoors and benefit from the life lessons of scouting. https://awbsa.org/ and select GIVE at the top of the page.