Obituary of Kenneth Albert Stokes

Kenneth Albert Stokes passed away peacefully on August 16, 2019.  He was born on March 20, 1929, in Rocky River, Ohio, to J. Gibson Stokes and Irene Gertrude Demaline.  He loved to Arizona as a young man, where he met and married the love of his life, Leah Kae Schofield Stokes, on September 23, 1950.

He went to work for the Mountain States Telephone Company and worked for them and their many subsidiaries through out the years until his retirement from Mt. Bell Telephone Company in 1983.  While employed by the phone company the little family lived in Mesa, Tucson, Flagstaff, and finally the town he loved and he called home—Camp Verde.

He loved sports.  As a young man, he coached and played basketball, baseball and softball.  He also officiated high school basketball and football for the A.I.A.  He was an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and served in various positions including Boy Scout Leader, Ward Mission Leader and Bishop of the Camp Verde Ward (1984-1989).  His favorite past time was fishing and camping in Southern Colorado.  He also enjoyed horseback riding, hunting, watching John Wayne Western movies and reading Louis L’Amour books.

To avoid retirement doldrums, he went to work for his boys at Sun Country Woodworks and later worked for the church.  He spent many hours honing his woodworking skills and loved traveling from craft fair to craft fair, displaying his work and visiting with the many people he knew and loved.

Kae, his wife of 67 years, preceded Ken in death; along with his parents; his two brothers (Glen and Teddy Stokes); his sister, Edith Mae Ponting; his grandson Gregory Benjamin; grand-daughter, Raelynn Stokes, and great-grandson, Brody Kleinman.

He is survived by his daughter, Jackie Benjamin (Greg) of Page; Rick Stokes (Brenda) of Cottonwood; Scott Stokes (Michelle) of Cottonwood; Cindy Kleinman (David) of Cave Creek and Diann Cook (Cory) of Clinton, Utah; 18 grandchildren and 29 great-grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren.

Services will be held at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Camp Verde Building, 360 S. 5^th Street, Camp Verde, AZ on Friday, August 23, 2019, with a visitation at 10:00am and services beginning at 11:00am.