Ricky Eugene Grubbs

Kernersville, NC – Ricky E. Grubbs, born July 17, 1949, passed away peacefully on December 29, 2024, after a brief battle with cancer.

 A native of Forsyth County, Rick grew up in the Sedge Garden area. He was a graduate of East Forsyth High School and Forsyth Tech. While still a student at Forsyth Tech, he began a 34-year career with Duke Power Company, where he worked as a Distribution Engineer. 

 After his retirement from Duke in 2003, Rick was a member of the initial faculty of Forsyth Tech’s Electrical Line Worker Academy, where he spent 15 years teaching hundreds of budding utility line workers basic electricity and safety skills as they began their careers. He was proud to help to build a program directly impacting so many young men and women through career development in a rewarding and lucrative field so critical to our community.

 An avid amateur radio operator (N4QLX), Rick enjoyed many friendships he developed with other “Hams” he met through amateur radio connections.

 Always willing to give of his time, Rick served as a volunteer firefighter with the Kernersville Fire Department in the early 1970s. He also particularly enjoyed working with young people. He spent over a decade coaching Kernersville Little League baseball and served for several years as Troop Committee Chairman for Boy Scout Troop 940. A faithful church member, he served in a variety of roles at Cherry Street United Methodist Church and later, Kernersville Moravian Church.

 While Rick’s contributions to the community were notable, his enduring legacy will be the lessons he taught his family, particularly his children and grandchildren, about love, faith, loyalty, sacrifice and integrity. 

 Rick was preceded in death by his father, I.E. Grubbs and his mother, Imogene Stafford. In addition to his loving wife of 54 years, Gwyn Albert Grubbs, he is survived by a son, Jason T. Grubbs and wife Jayne, of Kernersville; a daughter, Ashley G. Parker and husband Chad of Raleigh; and four treasured grandsons: Harrison and Hampton Grubbs, and Holden and Grant Parker.

 A service celebrating Rick’s life will be held Saturday, January 4, 2025, at 2:00 pm at Kernersville Moravian Church, with burial to follow in God’s Acre. After the service, the family will receive friends in the church Fellowship Hall. 

 In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial contributions be made to the Kernersville Foundation (P.O. Box 921, Kernersville, NC 27285) and directed the “Rick Grubbs Scholarship Fund.” Contributions will help to fund a scholarship in his memory for Forsyth Tech’s Electrical Line Worker Academy.

 N4QLX, SK.

 Hayworth-Miller Kernersville Chapel is assisting the Grubbs family.