Harold "Curly" Eugene Waag

On Monday, September 23, 2024, Harold “Curly” Eugene Waag passed away at the age of 87. He was the first child of Rhiny and Lucy (Utz) Waag, and was born in Sacramento, California on October 2, 1936. When he was ten years old, he moved to the Windsor, Colorado area with his father, mother, and brother, Robert “Bob” Duane Waag. At that time, his father began his career as a farmer in the Windsor area. Harold was his father’s “farmhand” through his younger years and acquired a love of farming. In his later teens, Harold joined the Naval Air Reserves and served for eight years, from 1954 until 1962, which enabled him to visit various interesting places in the world. On December 24th, 1961, he married Sharon Kay Coomes in the little town of Wiota, Iowa. Because of blizzard-like weather, snowplows were out opening the roads the morning of the wedding. Fortunately, the wedding didn’t have to be postponed! Immediately after marriage, Harold and his new bride settled on a farm in close proximity to his parent’s south of Timnath, Colorado. There, their two children were born . . . Lynnette Kay and Steven Eugene. In the course of 20 years, he farmed, and raised and fed cattle in the Fort Collins area and ended up retiring from a farm in the Greeley, Colorado, area in 1980. He was a devoted, conscientious farmer, always striving to excel in his efforts to improve his farm operation/production and was among the high 10 sugar beet growers in 1973, and 1978 when living in Larimer County. He took pride in a job well done. Even though much time was required in the farming part of his life, he found time to relax and enjoy mountain trips with his family and friends “jeeping”, camping, motorcycling, snowmobiling, and four wheeling . . . and fishing . . . ice fishing included! He also found time to pursue a love of skeet and trap shooting . . . and hunting . . . and enjoyed reloading ammunition for his own guns, and for other individuals, too. He enjoyed introducing family, and especially the many friends, to traveling the off roads and trails of our mountains, always watching for wildlife and scenic mountain views . . . and he always had his camera handy, too. Many trips were made to Yellowstone in the wintertime to snowmobile in the Park and areas outside of the Park with friends and family. Traveling Yellowstone in the summer, then seeing it in the winter was a whole new experience . . . like traveling two different worlds . . . so many wonderful memories. After retiring from farming in 1980, he started working at Woodward Governor Company in Fort Collins. During this nineteen year period, he met many new friends and enjoyed sharing with them his many interests and outings mentioned above. He and his wife, both, retired from Woodward in March 1999. After retirement, he was employed at Co-op along I-25, Fort Collins, for a short time, and then went back to work part time at Woodward for several years until his actual, permanent retirement. He was very serious about providing for his family and helping others whenever needed. In contrast, he was fun loving, enjoyed telling a story or a joke or two, teasing, being ornery . . . grinning when he got a reaction!! He left a lot of good memories and was dearly loved by his family and friends. Harold’s parents preceded him in death, father, Rhiny Waag, 1981, and mother, Lucy (Utz) Waag, 1992. He is survived by his daughter, Lynnette Henning (Eric) and children Leif, Kristof, Alyssa living in Wellington, CO; and his son Steven Waag living in Timnath, CO; his brother and sister-in-law, Bob and Elaine Waag of Greeley, CO, and their sons, Mike (Kim) of Seattle, WA, and boys, Jacob and Alexander; and Nate (Shawna) of Severence, CO and boys, Carter and Ryan; Harold has cousins living in Arizona, California, and Washington with whom he tried to keep in touch. He will be missed. Our feeling of comfort is that he finally has found peace after diligently fighting health problems for a period of one and a half years. He put forth a determined fight, still maintaining his unique sense of humor clear up to the end of his earthly life. There will be a Celebration of Life at the Timnath Presbyterian church on April 26, 2025 from 1:00p.m. until 3:30p.m. If you are unable to attend, please share a story, a memory, or a picture on Harold's tribute page!