Kenneth “Kenn” Maxwell Gunn Retired USAF Colonel, 84, died on Tuesday, September 15, 2026.
Mr. Gunn was born on Sept. 26, 1941, to Kenneth Carroll and Anna Hamilton Gunn in Hillsboro. He graduated from Hillsboro High School in 1959 and studied business administration at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in 1963. That same year he married his high school and forever sweetheart, Grace Jewell Blankenship, and was commissioned into the United States Air Force. He went on to earn master’s degrees in logistics and management information systems.
He served his beloved country for 27 years as an officer in the US Air Force. His military career took him and his family to Air Force bases around the country and several foreign countries, giving the family a love of travel, exploration and different cultures. He became fluent in Greek while serving as the Greek embassy liaison in Athens. That assignment inspired a lifelong fondness for the Greek people, their food and their music and dance.
Upon retirement from the Air Force, Mr. Gunn earned his private pilot license and enjoyed attending and volunteering at the Experimental Aircraft Association’s annual fly-in in Oshkosh, WI, for many years.
Mr. Gunn and his wife settled in Fayetteville, GA, in 2008. He thoroughly enjoyed the time he spent volunteering at Piedmont Hospital. He and his wife were devoted members of New Hope Baptist Church, where he led sessions of Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University, sharing his belief in thoughtful financial planning as a means of providing security and, whenever possible, helping others.
He was a skilled marksman and hunter, never missing deer hunting in the fall on his wooded land in Southern Illinois. One of his most memorable hunting trips was to Canada where he successfully hunted for brown bear. His wife wasn’t as enthusiastic about the resulting bearskin that he reverently hung on a wall.
Mr. Gunn was a member of the National Rifle Association, the Veteran’s of Foreign Wars and the Military Officers Association of America. He was a Vietnam veteran having served in Vietnam from 1969 to 1971.
Mr. Gunn is lovingly survived and missed by his wife of 63 years, Grace Jewell; his children, Angela (Ronald) Egan, Audrey (Michael) Steinberg and KC (Sheila) Gunn; brother, E. Thomas (Georgia) Gunn; grandchildren, Emily (Jack) Baker, Ben Steinberg, Christine (Adam) Clark, Courtney (Collin) Morris and Olivia (Jay) Hughes; great-grandson, Charlie Baker; and great-granddaughters, Sophie Nelson, Layla Morris and Baylor Hughes. He is also survived by many nieces and nephews.
What a blessing it is to have someone in one’s life who cheers for them loudly and endlessly, believes in them always and loves them unconditionally. The family had such a blessing in their father and husband.
The family extends a gracious thank you to the Fayetteville Valley Park Assisted Living and Memory Care staff for their care and support of Mr. Gunn. The family will always be grateful to Gentiva Hospice nurses for the sincerity, warmth and guidance given to the family when they needed it most. The family is deeply indebted to Southwestern Christian Care for their compassion, love and respect for their father. They give thanks for making his last hours peaceful and surrounding him and the family with God’s powerful love. Words are not adequate to express the family’s fondness and appreciation to their father’s caregiver, Santonya Couson. Her loving tender care of their father gave them assurance that he was tended to with the respect, affection and humor he so very much deserved.
The family welcomes individuals to provide condolences, thoughts, and memories on their tribute wall at www.mowells.com. Mowell Funeral Home and Cremation Service in Fayetteville, GA, is assisting the family.
