Robert J. “Bobby” Stratton 86, died Saturday, June 7, 2008, at Baptist Hospital Northeast Hospice Unit in LaGrange. A native of Bagdad, KY, he was born on the 29th of September, 1921 to the late Robert E. and Kate Miles Stratton. He graduated from Bagdad High School in 1938, and served in the U. S. Army for 39 months during World War II, earning a Bronze Star. The owner and operator of Stratton Sporting Goods in Shelbyville for over 25 years, he served as the Shelby County Judge Executive from 1981-2002. Active in church, civic, political, educational and governmental affairs, Judge Stratton was a member of Shelby Christian Church, and a former member of First Christian Church in Shelbyville where he was a former elder and former chairman of the Board. He was a member and past master of the Solomon Lodge No. 5, Free and Accepted Masons, a member of the Shelby County Farm Bureau, and was currently serving on the Board of the Shelby County Industrial and Development Foundation. Judge Stratton, along with Elmo Head and Hubert Briscoe, founded the first Little League program in Shelby County. He received the "Friend of the Boy" award from Optimist International. Stratton was a coach of American Legion Baseball and a Kentucky Commissioner of American Legion Baseball. Judge Stratton was a member of the old Shelbyville School Board, serving four years as chairman and receiving the "S" Award and the Shelbyville High School Yearbook Dedication in 1970. He also received the Friend of Education Award from the Shelby County teachers in 1979. He was a past Chairman of the Board of Masonic Homes of Kentucky, past President of the Kentucky County Judge's Association, past Chairman of the Kentucky Indiana Planning Development Agency, past Chairman of the Multi-Purpose Community Action Agency, and past Chairman of the North Central Health District. Survivors include his wife of 62 years, Helen Harrod Stratton, of Shelbyville; four children, Wayne Stratton (Susan), of Shelbyville, Joy Lynn George, of Indianapolis, Mary Stratton of Shelbyville, and Mark Stratton (Lawre), of Cleveland, Ohio; one sister, Nell Samples of Bagdad; one brother Eddie Stratton (Helen), of Shelbyville; seven grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren. Funeral services will be conducted at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at Shelby Christian Church with Rev. Dave Hamlin officiating. Interment will follow in Grove Hill Cemetery in Shelbyville. Friends may call at the church from 11a.m.-8 p.m. Tuesday. Masonic rites will be conducted at 8 p.m. Tuesday at the church. Arrangements: Hall-Taylor Funeral Home. Expressions of sympathy may take the form of contributions to the Shelby Christian Church Memorial Fund.