David Eugene Batt

David Eugene Batt of Fort Collins died early on the morning of November 1, 2022, while camping with a friend near Wellington, Colorado.

Dave was born on July 12, 1956, in Rochester, NY, to Eugene Robert Batt and Barbara Mary Schneider of Rochester, NY. He grew up in Rochester, but frequently visited a farm owned by his grandparents in nearby Kendall, NY, near Lake Ontario. He learned mechanics by fixing tractors and many other things around the farm. He also loved sailing on the big lake. Dave also took music lessons at the prestigious Eastman School of Music in Rochester and became an accomplished trumpet player. Dave moved to Fort Collins in the early 1970s when his father's job with Kodak moved to Windsor, Colorado.

Dave attended Poudre High School, where he was known for being an excellent athlete, skier (who often encouraged his friends to ditch school to hit the slopes), and trumpet player in school bands and several local musical groups.

Dave married Carin Vetter of Fort Collins in May 1984. The couple divorced in 2002 but had two children together, Steven Batt, of Wellington, CO, and Sarah Batt Delarosa (Nick) of Loveland, CO. Dave is survived by his children; his mother; two grandchildren, Dalton and Wyatt Delarosa; and his brother-in-law, Vern Willson of Phoenix, AZ. Dave was preceded in death by his father and his sister, Barbara Willson.

Dave had worked many jobs ranging from lumberjack to miner to heavy equipment operator, sometimes living outdoors between jobs. After an on-the-job injury cut short his career as a mason, Dave trained to be an airplane mechanic, receiving an Airframe & Powerplant Mechanic degree. Just married and unable to find any airplane-related jobs without relocating, he eventually found a stable niche career as a golf course mechanic, working at golf courses in Fort Collins, Greeley, and Loveland. He found constant work maintaining the many oddball machines required to keep a golf course groomed and running—although for years Dave also had to get up very early every morning during golf season to prep the courses for 7 AM tee times! A number of injuries and surgeries eventually forced his retirement.

Dave was generous with his time, tools, building skills, and mechanical skills and frequently fixed other people's cars for little more than a six-pack of beer. One friend observed that all he had to do to get Dave to fix a car was to ask to borrow Dave's tools and driveway, show up with any needed parts, and then start work on the car. Dave would watch, knowing that he could do the same job twice as fast. Unable to restrain himself, Dave would soon offer to take over. He would quickly finish the work while his friend just handed him tools and an occasional beer!

Over the years, Dave also used his knowledge of carpentry, masonry, plumbing, and wiring to help his friends in the Stitzel family remodel their 1895 railroad station in Victor, Colorado, a place that Dave came to love.

Dave was known for being extremely funny, generous, cantankerous, and sometimes difficult. He described his own manner as "vulgar, unrefined, and socially unacceptable vernacular." Although this style could be off-putting, Dave could sometimes cut to the heart of matters, speaking truths that other people were afraid to say. However, a friend observed that while Dave could be very perceptive about others in this way, he struggled to turn that perception inward onto his own life.

Almost miraculously, Dave had as a young man survived a pair of horrific accidents, including getting struck by a freight train in Rochester, NY, while riding in a pickup truck with his father. Later, he also survived a collision with a logging truck while working in the mountains near Aspen, Colorado. Dave believed that these incidents had let him glimpse the spirit world and that he had survived because it was not yet his time to go.

Dave faced many other trials with injuries and chronic health problems, and he often struggled with tobacco addiction or self-medicating with drugs and alcohol. Always outgoing, though, Dave would turn a stay in medical rehab into a chance to make friends. He would then make special efforts to get his new friends a break from the care facility to do errands, go camping, or go out for Christmas dinner. Living outdoors once again after a series of changes in his housing, Dave was sitting at a camp fire on the prairie on a cool but beautiful fall night when he collapsed, likely due to one of his underlying health conditions. Just a few days earlier, he had remarked that dying outdoors somewhere would be a good death.

Dave asked for his ashes to be scattered in the Colorado mountains that he loved. No services are planned, but his family plans to hold an informal gathering July 12 (Dave's birthday) where friends can share memories and tell stories. Please leave a comment on this forum if you would like to be contacted with details.