Harry Jean Kahler

Many of our Dad's wishes and dreams came true. He lived long enough to celebrate his 65th wedding anniversary to our Mom, Clara Lou, (Moss) with a catered Italian dinner from one of his favorite restaurants, Canino's. Another dream he was able to fulfill was that of visiting the WWII Memorial in Washington, D.C. for the Veteran's Honor Flight, where he enjoyed being treated like a king. There he received his WWII Veteran's hat, that he proudly wore everywhere he went. That hat brought him many gracious acknowledgements from strangers who would shake his hand, thank him for his service to our country, and often pick up his tab for lunch or dinner.

A caring father, Dad actively participated in the lives of his three daughters and their husbands, Bev Chavez, Marilyn and Chuck Gross, and Wendie and Mike Robinson, along with his 7 grandchildren, Matt and Jenna Chavez; Sadie (Gross) Peters; Jake Gross; and Taylor, Lauren and Blake Robinson. Happily, he had the opportunity to meet his 3 young grandsons, Levi, Joshua and Michael Peters, who live in Texas!

Jovial and good humored, Dad always entertained us with stories of being raised on the family farm. We especially loved the story about the goose that would chase him and nip him in the bum! It was hard for us to relate to all the times he would have to haul the bathwater, and heat the bathwater for all of his siblings, only to be the last one to get in the tub! Other shenanigans included selling produce at the family roadside stand and then getting caught sneaking off to the store with his sister to burn up the profits with cigarettes! One of his most touching stories was how when his cousins and their mother would arrive, his parents and his siblings would load up their car with food, as they were too poor to buy their own. We are sure that this simple act of kindness influenced him greatly throughout his life, as he was always very giving and generous with others.

Harry was the oldest of 6 siblings and was one of the 4 that had carrot red hair and freckles! He always entertained us with stories of being raised by Peter William and Anna (Reisbeck) Kahler and his siblings, Charlotte, Ronny, Margaret Ann (Babe), Roy and Peter. Unfortunately, the family lost Charlotte in 1961, to cancer, and Dad is the second sibling to pass on, along with his parents.

After an eventful childhood, he attended North High School, and when the war broke out, he and his friends were compelled to quit high school to join the Navy. He was only 17 at the time, although far beyond his years in maturity, and he applied. As only he could tell a story, he recalled the most hysterical tale about how, during his physical, the medical officers had him strip down to nothing, only to find that bright red measles had overtaken his entire body! Unable to stop laughing, the officers even brought in their friends to chuckle at his expense. Upon finding out that he was colorblind and that he had the measles, he was accepted into the Navy Seabees.

His naval training took place in Farragut, Idaho, California and Virginia, and he spent a couple of years building hospitals with his Seabee crew in Exeter, England and Londonberry, Northern Ireland. We'd laugh at his Navy stories about having to peel more potatoes than he'd like to remember at "KP" duty, and spending hour-upon-hour fueling mammothships before they launched out to sea.

Harry was a very hard worker and quick learner; a jack of all trades. With the family farm as a backdrop, his Dad taught him to use various pieces of equipment and do a great many things with his hands. Among the things he especially loved were woodworking, building and fixing things while home on leave, Dad was introduced by a friend to our Mom, Clara Lou Moss on a blind date. She was so excited as he looked like Van Johnson, (famous actor) with his red hair, who was quite a "hunk" in his day! They married on August 1, 1947 at the Broadway Baptist Church in Denver. They spent their wedding night at the Northern Hotel, in Fort Collins, (a very high end hotel at the time) and honeymooned in Yellowstone. We loved hearing him tell the story of how he had borrowed a car from his Dad, had about $45 bucks in his pocket and his new bride forgot her shoes, and left her wedding ring in a gas station bathroom! Amazingly, when they returned the ring was sitting on the bathroom sink! Times were tough, and his stories made us roll in laughter!

Other passions included fishing anywhere in Colorado, traveling anywhere anyone would go with him, gardening, cooking, photography, and of course NUMEROUS family celebrations and activities.

A motivated man and a high achiever, Dad earned a law degree from Denver University and spent most of his career in banking. He worked as a successful mortgage loan officer for Colorado National Bank, Golden Savings and Loan. In 1967 he moved our family to Fort Collins, and worked at Home Federal Savings and Loan until his retirement in 1990. There he loved his 3rd floor corner office downtown overlooking the old Steele's Market.

In addition to being an absolutely wonderful husband, father, grandfather, brother, son, and uncle, Dad found time to be very active with the Democratic party. He would often host caucuses at his home. Other activities that he enjoyed included golfing, bowling, jeep driving, playing bridge, Pictionary, spoons and checkers (he always won)! A longtime member of the Breakfast Optimist Club, he loved to organize and run their social events, fund raising activities and basketball tournaments, and volunteering in many different capacities for organizations such as the Food Bank for Larimer County gave him more joy. Additionally, he and our mom had been active members of the First United Methodist Church since 1967.

Some very fond memories of Dad were harvesting the produce he raised in his huge garden; singing "who shot the hole in my sombrero" and playing a memory game of "Last night I went to a restaurant and I ate……" in the car on family road trips; celebrating the holidays with all his special touches; having his support in any of our endeavors; listening and laughing to his many life stories – especially if his brothers and sister were there to supplement the details; enjoying his many feasts of homemade spaghetti sauce and his famous Saturday night meal of gray hamburgers (he insisted on adding eggs), cottage cheese and pork and beans, and his many chocolate and applesauce cakes, and lemon meringue pies, as he could produce. And we can't forget the homemade Krautcoga! That was an all day event with all hands on deck! Every Christmas he and Mom would make about 2 dozen coffee cakes (same recipe each year) to take to neighbors, friends and family. Our family is blessed with so many of these special memories, as Dad has countless traditions, and he was incredibly specific about how things needed to be tackled. His way or the highway!

The last few years of Dad's life became very challenging, as his COPD, Diabetes and Heart Disease were slowly but surely overtaking him, but his will to live and his ability to stay positive, and look forward to each and every day, was inspiring and affirming to all of us. It was most important that our Mom was taken care of, as his love for her was so deep. He needed a lot of help and we finally convinced him to move into an assisted living facility for a one month trial, to make things easier for him and to ensure his safety. Dad had to give up a lot this this past year, his freedom mostly, and he took it all in stride and didn't complain. Dad's life came to an end on October 6th, just forty three days shy of his 87th birthday. How we all loved him! He will be deeply, deeply missed by us and so many others who knew him.

It is impossible to capture a person's essence in words. Dad was simply the best. And we learned so much from him. The amazing sense of humor that he kept until his last day on this earth was one of his greatest attributes and a gift to us all.

Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers, and know that his spirit has found some beautiful mountain stream in which to fish to his heart's content -- without his 3 daughters and wife saying, "It's time to go, Harry!"