Piecing together a retirement

People might very well think of Ken St. Sure as the madman of Newport Beach.

What makes him a neighborhood curiosity is not that he likes tinkering in the garage. It’s what he likes devoting so much time and space to in the garage.

The 75-year-old usually will keep his door open when he’s working in there, his project a sight to see as it takes up nearly half of the three-car structure.

St. Sure regularly invites in curious neighbors, who he assumes look at him as “crazier than a $3 bill,” to talk about his creation — a 33,600-piece jigsaw puzzle manufactured by Educa Puzzles that he has been working on for nine months.

The jungle-themed picture is already taking shape, the images of various animals and vegetation coming into view. When completed, it will span nearly 19 feet by 5 feet. He believes it’s the largest puzzle currently available on the market.

So far, he has eight out of 10 panels completed and sitting atop six large rectangular tables. St. Sure expects he’ll need two more tables before he’s done, which he hopes will be before the end of March.

The hobbyist picked up puzzle building as a serious pastime when he retired from the restaurant business eight years ago.

First, the games started with several hundred pieces. Then 3,000. Then 6,000. Then 9,000. Then the 33,600-piece monstrosity, which his daughter purchased for him online for $387 a year ago.

“I was looking for maybe a 12,000- or 15,000-piece puzzle, but I couldn’t find anything I liked,” St. Sure said. “Then I saw this, and I knew I had to have it.”

Jennifer Burks, the daughter who ordered it for him, said she was somewhat in disbelief that her father wanted the puzzle.

“I don’t think there were ever really any doubts that he would do it,” said Burks, 40. “I just was thinking more about the time that he would have to put into it.”

A few people have shown that they’ve completed the puzzle in YouTube videos. That’s OK with St. Sure. He’ll happily join their ranks.

His wife, Judy St. Sure, said she used to help her husband with the “smaller” puzzles — still consisting of as many as 9,000 pieces — but for this one, he’s largely been on his own.

“I used to do the puzzles with him when they were reasonable,” said Judy St. Sure, 73. “Now this is his thing.”

Still, Ken St. Sure has enlisted help from his grandchildren and neighborhood kids captured by the sight.

Mostly, the kids will place a few pieces before getting tired and asking him if there are any cookies in the kitchen, he said, laughing.

“You think this is a solitary thing, but it’s not,” Judy St. Sure said. “We’ve lived here 45 years, and we didn’t really know many of our neighbors. Now, everybody that walks by comes in to check out what he’s doing. He’s always talking to somebody about his puzzles.”

Sometimes his son-in-law, Gannon Burks, who lives across the street with the St. Sures’ daughter, Jennifer, will come by to assist.

“It’s been a journey,” said Gannon Burks, 45. “He’s been doing puzzles since I met him. I’m very impressed that he’s moved up gradually. They’re going to have to make a new puzzle for him after this.”

Putting together puzzles is like reading a good book, Ken St. Sure said.

Both take time and patience, and it’s easy for the participant to get lost in the activity.

“It’s like a book that you just come back to when you want a break,” he said. “Like a good book, you pick it up and five hours later, you’re still reading.”

He added that putting together puzzles is great exercise for the brain.

“As far as focusing, you pick up details,” he said. “It’s amazing what it does for your mind and your patience.”

He said he’s counted all the pieces and knows that he is missing four of them. He considers this not a big deal since the game is insured, and he can just order extra pieces from the manufacturer.

Despite all the time and effort put into the puzzle — which the St. Sures hope to eventually donate framed to a children’s hospital — Ken St. Sure said it’s not something to take so seriously that you get angry or frustrated over it.

An adult neighbor once came by to help and accidentally knocked over some pieces, which had been carefully placed together. St. Sure assured him it wasn’t a big deal.

When asked what he would do if his work fell over or otherwise got destroyed, St. Sure shrugged his shoulders.

“It’s just a puzzle,” he said, smiling.