Frank Willis Irwin, age 89, passed away Friday, January 16, at Boulder Community Hospital, surrounded by his loving family. Frank was a friendly, gentle man who was well known in the Nederland area as a member of the Nederland Community Presbyterian Church and as a B & F Mountain Market employee, because he loved to be around people and considered Dan Ball and his children as members of his family.
Irwin was a full-time resident of Nederland since 1996. He was born on February 5, 1925 in Emporia, Kansas to Frank L and Anna W. Irwin. He grew up in Stafford, Kansas, where his father was the superintendent of schools.
Frank dropped out of high school, going to work for Boeing Aviation in Wichita, Kansas, before joining the Navy as a gunner in WWII in 1944. After returning from the war he earned his G.E.D. and attended college at the Colorado State University in Ft. Collins, where he was a part-time driver for Shell Oil and a tour bus driver at Yellowstone National Park in the summer.
Frank met Justine while driving a 1927 White Bus for the U.S. Mail service from Estes Park to Longmont, Colorado. They returned to Iowa, where Justine was in school, and were married on August 6, 1955. It was 1957 when the couple returned to their beloved Colorado and Frank completed his Bachelor of Arts in Education at University of Northern Colorado in Greeley.
His first teaching job was in Grand Lake, Colorado, in 1959. Frank also began working with the National Park Service at Rocky Mountain National Park the summer of 1960, the year his son Thayne Laird was born on Frank’s birthday, February 5th.
In 1961 the family moved to Meeker, Colorado, where Frank and Justine were both teachers in the Meeker schools until Frank retired in 1989. Frank continued to work each summer for the Park Service through 1978.
The summer of 1968 kept the Irwins in Meeker as they adopted their sons Charles Anthony and Tomas Sabino Irwin. They returned to Rocky Mountain National Park the following year.
In 1979, Frank transferred to the National Forest Service and ran the campground at Trappers Lake as part of the White River District. He honorably retired from duty in 1995.
In 1989, the Irwins moved to Green Valley Country Club in Arizona, where they built a home and were members until 1996. It was at this time they returned to Nederland and the family homestead. Frank insisted on working and joined the B&F Mountain Market family, where he worked for 11 years.
Frank was an avid sportsman, golfer, and pool player. He was a dedicated Christian and a man of great integrity; beloved by all that knew him. He is preceded in death by his parents, step-sister Neva Belle Wilcox, his son Thayne Laird Irwin, and adopted son Tomas Sabino Irwin.
Frank is survived by his loving wife of 60 years, Justine Fritze Irwin; his son, Charles Irwin of State College, Pennsylvania; granddaughters Rachel Diane Lounlyvongsa and Theresa Ann Irwin; one great grandson, Brendon Serna; brother Robert Irwin of Green Valley, Arizona; and numerous extended family members and friends.
Please direct donations in Frank’s memory to New Tribes Mission Aviation at http://usa.ntm.org/go/missionary-aviation/ or to the American Indian Christian Mission at www.aicm.org, or 924 Mission Lane #1, Show Low, Arizona 85901, 928-537-5912.
