Milton Futhey was born to Cecil Futhey and Evadne (Cox) Futhey in a farm house on the northwest corner of 47th St and Rose Hill Rd, Rose Hill, KS on April 25, 1929.. He was the 3rd of 4 boys and was close to his dad-working the farm and learning how to treat people. He learned that “your word is your word” and “a day's work was a day's work”. Milton graduated from Rose Hill High School in 1947. He was always up for a trip to Wichita.
One night while roller skating, he chanced upon Jennie Dean Fauchier and the rest was history. Soon after, he was drafted to the Army and served in the Korean War as Fire Direction Control for the Field Artillery. After returning from Korea, he married Jennie in Wichita on November 16, 1952. Shortly after getting married, they made the decision to move to Ontario, California, the land of opportunity, in 1954.
He worked for Wayne Manufacturing and then General Dynamics of Pomona, California. While at General Dynamics, he was a methods engineer working with the Red Eye and Standard Missile programs and was also highly involved in the Phalanx Program. During his working career, education was important to him. He took college courses from Chaffey College but never had enough credits to get his degree. He retired from General Dynamics after 39 years. Milton became involved with the Masonic Lodge where after receiving his third degree, he became master of the lodge. He was also in the Shriners and Scottish Rite, all of California.
To the marriage of Milton and Jennie came Debra Faye (1955) and Rex Earl (1957). They moved to Upland, California in 1958. Milton was involved in everything that Debbie, Rex, and Jennie volunteered him for. From serving on the PTA, going on field trips, coaching baseball and basketball, to leading the local boy scout and girl scout troops, he was kept busy. While in boy scouts with Rex, he went on a 50 mile hike to Mt. Whitney on the John Muir Trail. He took his camera along and took pictures all week. We have a lot of pictures of that trip.
Milton always had a project going or was fixing things. He was very handy, jack of all trades, master of all. He could fix anything and could figure it out if he hadn’t seen the issue before. His forte was woodworking and made a wide array of furniture from chairs to jewelry boxes, stereo cabinets, picture frames and trophies for the local car show. He even made two slide-in camper shells that the family used on many vacations and weekend trips. He built his own HI/FI with an amp and turntable complete with maple cabinet. Milton was also knowledgeable of automotive mechanics, house wiring and metal work (he always said he could weld but it looked like a blind man did it).
Milton and Jennie followed Rex and his family to Caldwell, Ks in December of 1997. Milton became involved in everything his grandsons Hank and Sam were a part of. He became an active member of the United Methodist Church. Milton was also one of the founders of the Caldwell Recycling Center. He became known as a person that could do or fix just about anything.
After Jennie’s passing, he lived by himself, keeping busy making or fixing whatever for people in town. When Milton turned 90, he had a great year. Milton and his brother Marion went on the Kansas Honor Flight to Washington DC. The biggest gift for him that year was getting to finally ride on the B-29 “Doc”.
Milton continued to fix things and soon became known as “the guy with the mower”. He weedeated and mowed all summer long for years, sometimes having as many as 6-7 yards he took care of for people around town.
By far, Milton’s biggest fan was his great-granddaughter Eleanor. She loved to go for walks to Great Grandpas and ride Prancer, the rocking horse, and spend time playing with him. He was always ready with cookies or chocolate for her. Even when he was in the hospital, he made sure to walk up and down the hallways with her showing her off for everyone.
He had many “Miltonisms” that stuck with us and taught us how to live our lives as we should. A few are: “You have to work before you can play”, “If it's worth building, it's worth overbuilding”, “Don’t do a half-ass job”, “you’re recreating too much”, “you're going to break that thing (referring to a camera)”, “Howdy, Howdy” and “What do you want to be, the richest guy in the cemetery?”
He continued fixing and helping people up until his final days, never missing a step. On Saturday April 20, 2024 the good Lord called him to park his mower, hang up his tools and be reunited with Jennie. Milton was preceded in death by his wife Jennie, parents Cecil and Evadne, and brothers Marshall and Paul.
Milton is survived by a brother Marion, daughter Debbie (Paul), son Rex
(Amy), grandson Hank (Allie), grandson Sam, great granddaughter Eleanor MayDean and many nieces, nephews, cousins, a large host of friends and several lawnmowers. He was known as Grandpa by many.
Funeral Services will be held at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, April 27, 2024 at the Caldwell United Methodist Church with Dr. Matt Johnson officiating. Interment will follow at the Caldwell City Cemetery.
Memorials may be made to the Border Queen Cruisers or to the Caldwell Regional Health Foundation and sent in care of the mortuary.
