Kenneth (Kenny) G. Sterner, 69

Kenneth (Kenny) G. Sterner passed from this world on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2015. He did so reluctantly, fighting a heroic battle with optimism and grace. His family and friends, who he spent his life serving, were faithfully by his side.

Kenny’s life journey began in Arlington Heights, Ill., on Friday, Aug. 13, 1946. He was the first of four children born to Norman and Margaret (Peg) Sterner. His birth home was on the Northern edge of a rapidly approaching greater Chicago at a time when cornfields still peppered the landscape. Although he loved his home, he found his real home on a road trip out “West” in the late 1960s.

His early youth found him immersed in the mysticism of falcons and falconry. He was a “Guest Rider” with Ed Fitch (Kenny’s falconry mentor) to the North American Falconry Meet in Centerville, S.D., circa 1964. This event only fueled his fire for more knowledge and exposure to the sport of falconry.

The early 1970s found Kenny restless. Legend has it that he quit his job and with dear friend Karyn and her young daughter, Carla, loaded the blazer and headed “West.” Childhood friend, Terry Draught, helped by caravanning along with them in his old 1964 Mustang. Hundreds of miles later the trip ended in the open farm country of the Rathdrum prairie in Hayden, Idaho, where Kenny lived until 1990 when he relocated to Sheridan, Wyo. He loved the sunny skies and openness of Sheridan and had at last found his “home.”

Kenny’s professional trade as an electrician led to the purchase of an electrical component company, O.A. Windsor, which he operated for 35 years until June 2014 when he underwent a quadruple bypass. Being self-employed allowed him to pursue his lifelong passion, falconry. In his lifetime he flew, educated, lived, breathed and bred falcons in captivity, ultimately raising hundreds of peregrines until producing one last falcon this spring.

Kenny’s life experiences led to travel throughout the United States and several journeys to Europe, Dubai and Mexico. These trips added new perspective to his falconry knowledge, fostering many lifelong friendships with like-minded people from around the world.

A pioneer toddler in the original western trek, Carla’s devotion to Kenny as “Dad” was invincible. The little girl from the 1970s grew to become wife and mother herself raising three children Cole, Dylan and Sarah, who knew Kenny as “Grandpa.”

As Kenny’s devastating illness, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, which surfaced after his quadruple bypass, began robbing him of his life and memory, Carla moved him from Sheridan to her home in Hayden, Idaho. Without hesitation she lovingly put her life on hold, providing the physical and emotional care Kenny needed, as she opened her heart and home to those who visited their dear friend, Kenny, one last time.

Kenny was preceded in death by his father, Norman Sterner and is survived by mother Margaret (Peg) Sterner of Hayden Lake, Idaho; siblings Kathleen Sterner Quintiliani (Kenneth) of Wyoming, Donald Sterner and Norman Sterner of Hayden Lake, Idaho; daughter Carla Durbin of Hayden, and her children, Cole, Dylan and Sarah Durbin of Hayden; nephews Norman Sterner III, Kenneth Sterner of Hayden Lake, Shawn (Jennifer) of North Carolina, and Christopher and Nicholas (Annie) of Cody, Wyo.; nieces Megan and Melanie Sterner of Hayden Lake, Milla of Cody; and former spouses Karyn Hanson of Priest River, Idaho, and Debbie Berger of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

If Kenny touched your life please plan to attend his “Celebration of Life” ceremony in remembrance of the life of falconry icon, Kenny Sterner, will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, Oct. 30, 2015, at Lake City Community Church, 6000 N. Ramsey Road, Coeur d’Alene, ID 83815. A catered reception to follow.

In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made in the name of Ken Sterner to The Archives of Falconry at The Peregrine Fund, 5668 Flying Hawk Lane, Boise, ID 83709.