Interment:

Obituary:

Kenneth " Jay" Pugh, 71 of Cabool, Missouri, departed this life on May 11, 2018 at home in Cabool. To many of his relatives and classmates, he was known as Jay. He was born in Springfield, Missouri on September 15, 1946 to John W. and Kathleen Fulton Pugh. Although he grew up in Mount Vernon, Missouri, Jay spent most summers with grandparents in Rogersville, Missouri.

After graduating from Mount Vernon High School in 1965, Ken entered the US Navy Nuclear Submarine Service and travelled to the Naval Submarine Base New London located in Groton, Connecticut where he learned about state-of-the-art electronics, nuclear power and nuclear propulsion as well as chemistry. He became an IC Electrician travelling aboard the Nuclear Submarine, Henry L. Stimson. While in the Navy, he travelled all over the world. After his Honorable Discharge from the Navy he returned to Rockford, Illinois and then to Houston, Texas where he met Linda and they were married on January 19, 1980.

Ken was an excellent husband, an astute salesman, as well as a talented inventor. His Navy experience as well as the subsequent VA schooling afforded him with many opportunities to work in many fields from machine tooling to the designing of high efficiency A/C systems to working in the oil patch designing very sophisticated jacketed wire and cable for offshore oil rigs primarily in the Gulf of Mexico. Many of these jobs gave him the opportunity to travel all over the world, and even dine with the King of Norway.

After leaving the oil patch, Ken became very focused on the need to curtail the increasing number of firearm deaths especially regarding children. Within a very short period after hearing about a San Antonio police officer who was shot and killed with his own service revolver after pulling over a car of intoxicated men, he worked for several days with his magic box of parts and the Smart Gun™, a device for the prevention of unintentional shootings, was born.

Through dedication and family support Ken was granted his patent for the invention in 1991, and in 1993 he and Linda travelled to Washington, DC where he took first place at the National Inventors Expo. It was once said of him that he never met an item that he could not improve. Because Ken was constantly thinking about ways to improve just about everything, you would often find him pondering or analyzing something to see if he could make it better. His intellect was the source of many new inventions.

Once he retired, Ken knew that he didn't want to remain in the rat race of Houston, Texas, so he convinced Linda to consider moving to Missouri after she retired. Once they bought the property near Cabool, he started making numerous trip from Houston to get the house underway. Although, the house continues to be a work in progress, he never stopped working to make it a home he could be proud of. Much personal blood, sweat, and tears has gone into the home and property.

Ken is survived by his wife, Linda, of the home, his sister Joanna Kay Rimmer and husband Donald of Houston, Texas, his daughter Stephanie Kay Burkhardt of Portland, Texas, and Jeannene Jo Johnson and husband Bram of Lubbock, Texas as well as 4 grandchildren, and numerous cousins and the many friends who he has met along his life journey.