Rocky Kranz
Lieutenant USN

Today we gather to honor a truly great man, Rocky Kranz. As a young man in Southern California he built high performance cars and spent many weekends at the local drag strip. He left the drag strip for greater calling and joined the Navy on October 22, 1962. He was placed on temporary retirement February 9, 1966.

Rocky returned to California where he attended UCLA and received his Associate Civil Engineering Degree. He then returned to Millington Tennessee where he became the Director of the Water/Waste Water Departments for the City of Millington. Rocky also attended Tennessee State Technical Institute and received an Environmental Engineering Degree in December of 1985.

In his “spare time” he was the president of the NAS Memphis Flying Club teaching many young Sailors how to fly.

Rocky left the city of Millington to move to Florida where he became a Project Engineer for Wal-Mart and constructed the local Super Centers in Gulf Breeze and Pace. He then moved south and constructed the Sam’s and Super Centers in Vero Beach and a Super Center in Ft. Pierce. He left Wal-Mart and became the building official for the City of Ft. Pierce, Florida.

In 2004 Rocky retired and he and Deb settled in Navarre. His love of flying brought him to the Holly Flyers RC club. He became an accomplished pilot participating in numerous national competitions. He served with distinction as president of the Holley Flyers. The Club hosted the AMA national Jet Event at Navy OLF Santa Rosa and once again Rocky stepped up and did an excellent job as Event Director for this national event.

Rocky had a great sense of humor and regaled us for hours with his life stories. He was a friend to many.

Rocky served the United States Navy with pride and grace. He was a devoted husband and a very dear friend.

Rocky lost his battle with cancer on April 9th, 2017. He is survived by his wife Debra Kranz of Navarre; and a sister, Katheryn (Robert) Fisher of Las Vegas, Nevada.

A Memorial Service will be held at 11:30 a.m., Tuesday, May 2, 2017, at Barrancas National Cemetery, with Navy Honors.

Lewis Funeral Home, Navarre, has been entrusted with arrangements.