Roger Krempel

Roger E. Krempel of Fort Collins, Colorado died Wednesday, January 25th at Pathways Hospice McKee Medical Center in Loveland, Colorado. Roger was in his 86th year and passed peacefully after living for decades with cardiac illness and complications. Roger was born in Waukesha, Wisconsin to Henry and Clara Krempel on October 8th, 1926. He was the youngest of five siblings, Kenneth, Arnold, Arlene and Harold. Roger helped work the family dairy and vegetable farm from an early age. He started a lifelong love of horses working the horse drawn plow and cultivator. He and his father sold vegetables in German and Polish neighborhoods (and languages) in Milwaukee. He collected arrowheads, played softball, rebuilt cars and pin-spotted at the bowling alley. He also played the harmonica for pleasure and bass violin professionally in an old-time dance band, all before he graduated from Waukesha High School in 1944. Roger enlisted in the US Army upon graduating from high school. The army sent him to Ripon College at age 17 and to Stanford University at age 18. He re-enlisted at the end of WWII and was honorably discharged from Camp Campbell, Kentucky in 1946. He continued his college education at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and graduated in 1950 with a B.S. in civil engineering. He was a licensed land surveyor in Wisconsin and a registered professional engineer [PE] in both Wisconsin and Colorado. He was a Life Member of APWA; ASCE; AWWA and NSPE. Roger spent four decades as a public servant. He began in Manitowoc, WI designing the airport and serving as its project engineer. He also designed concrete pavements and a major storm-water system. In 1951 Roger began employment with the City of Janesville, WI, he was later promoted to City Engineer and then to Director of Public Works. All of the engineering to accommodate the almost double growth of Janesville, 1951-1975, was done with city staff; city planning, engineering and traffic, water and wastewater, streets and transportation, parks and forestry. Beginning in 1975 Roger worked for the City of Fort Collins, CO as Director of Water and Wastewater, then Public Works, and lastly Natural Resources. He organized the city's Storm Water Utility and established the Transportation Utility fee before retiring January 1, 1989. While working for the City of Fort Collins, Roger delivered more than 50 professional presentations on a variety of subjects covering public works management, water resources, engineering, project management, financing infrastructure, quality improvement, five-year capital planning and the environment. Twenty-four of these were published in periodicals and magazines. Sixteen of these were made at five universities across the nation. More than twenty-five papers were presented at national and regional conferences and three internationally. He developed numerous workshops and seminars for the University of Wisconsin Engineering and Professional Development Department and presented many there and elsewhere for a period of thirty years. He co-authored a book on public works in Colorado. He presented a guest lecture in 1989 when The University of Wisconsin College of Engineering awarded him a University of Wisconsin Distinguished Service Citation. In 1995 Roger served on the faculty of Colorado State University International School for Water Resources offering a 12-week course on Water Treatment and Administration for Central Asian countries. Roger had a walnut forest of awards and citations. Roger was a passionate genealogist, historian and storyteller. After his retirement he wrote many stories of his early life on the farm. He traveled the United States and Europe tracking down his ancestry. He enjoyed visiting and photographing scenic and historic places from Florida to Alaska, and coast to coast. He enjoyed many of the Wildlife Refuges and National Parks, especially Yellowstone and Grand Teton, returning often. He married Shirley Ann Gray in 1948 and they had three children, four grandchildren and one great granddaughter. Roger is survived by his wife Shirley and children; John Krempel and wife Susan Wirch in MT, Sara Krempel in OR, Peter Krempel and wife Tamara in WI; four grandchildren: Aven Julye and husband Isaak in ID, Zane Krempel in MT, Karl Krempel and wife Amber in MT and Kate Krempel in WI, one great-grandchild, Ella Julye in ID, four nephews in WI; Randy (Trudy) Krempel, Mark Krempel and wife, Nick (Vicki) Leifeld, David (JoAnne) Krempel. He was preceded in death by his parents, four siblings and their three spouses, one niece and two nephews. A service was held at Pathways Hospice at McKee Medical Center. Cremation has taken place and no visitation is scheduled. A private service will be held with the family at a later date. Memorial donations may be made to Pathways Hospice at McKee, 305 Carpenter Road, Fort Collins, CO 80525; the American Public Works Association Historical Society, P.O. Box 802-296, Kansas City, MO 64180-2296 or the charity of your choice