Fred Grigsby

Fred Grigsby of Wheat Ridge, Colorado, passed away peacefully at home surrounded by his loving family on July 28, 2019, two weeks after his 87th birthday and less than a month before the 66th anniversary of his wedding to Dorothy Bryan Grigsby.

Fred was born on July 10, 1932, in Plainview, Texas, to James E. and Agnes M. (Glabasnia) Grigsby. Fred spent his youth in Plainview working on model airplanes, cars, and most any other mechanical or electronic device he could get his hands on. In 1950, he graduated from Plainview High School where he played clarinet in the high school marching band and met his future bride.

After a year at Texas A&M University where he played in the Aggie band, Fred transferred to Texas Tech University, in part to facilitate visits with Dorothy. He graduated from Texas Tech with a BS in Geology and Geophysics in 1955, and began a long career that involved the search for petroleum, perlite, uranium, and towards the end of his career, for contaminated soil groundwater.

Fred and Dorothy honored her father's wish/requirement and did not marry until August 1953, days after she finished her college degree, but before he finished his. After his marriage, his long association with geology and geophysics kept him outside, fostered an abiding interest in rocks and untamed spaces, and moved him variously from Texas (several times) to North Africa to New Mexico and eventually in 1978 to Canon City, Colorado.

Throughout his life, he was an amazing and devoted family man who, with Dorothy, guided his children by his work ethic and high moral principles. Not only did he fix everything that broke, he was active in every community he lived in, whether volunteering time with the Boy Scouts, his church, or his children's (and grandchildren's) many repair and (re)building projects.

In addition to Dorothy, Fred is survived by his children, Bryan and his wife Anne Dougherty, Joe, Paul, and Dorothy Marie, by 1 grandson who was followed by 7 granddaughters, and by 3 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents and by his brother, James, Jr.

A Memorial Service that will be open to all of Fred's friends and family will be held on Saturday, August 17, at 10:30 AM at St. Luke's Lutheran Church, 13119 W. 20th Ave., Golden, CO. In Lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made in his honor to the Deaf-Blind Multihandicapped Association of Texas or Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children.

Memorial Service: August 17, 2019 10:30 am

St. Luke's Lutheran Church
13119 West 20th Avenue
Golden, Colorado 80401