George Stroh, Jr.

George Stroh, Jr., 74, of Donnelly, died Thursday, February 18, at his home. George was born April 20, 1935 in Detroit, Michigan, to George C. Stroh, Sr. and Ella Walker. George grew up in Loveland and Denver, Colorado, graduating from Westminster High School in 1952. He attended Denver University for a semester on a football scholarship before enlisting in the Army in 1953. He served in California, Alaska and Washington state. He married Elaine Geneva Franz on June 6, 1957 in Tacoma, Washington. While earning a B.A. in anthropology at the University of Colorado, George and Elaine had two children, Geoffrey and Christina. In 1967 the family moved to Los Angeles, where George began his 30 year career with the Centers for Disease Control. After a year in Camp Pendleton and Berkeley, he joined the Smallpox Eradication Program and worked for four years in Jos, Nigeria. In 1973, he was assigned to the New York State Health Department in Albany and earned a masters in public health at Columbia Univerity. He subsequently had assignments in Atlanta and the Southeast Asian Regional office of the World Health Organization based in New Dehli, India. The remained of his career was based out of the CDC in Atlanta, with projects in Russia, China, Malaysia, Fiji, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Thailand, the Maldives, Turkey and Switzerland. He retired to Donnelly in 1999 and continued to work as a consultant for the World Health Organization and UNICEF. Locally, George and Elaine enjoyed skiing, golf and many friends and neighbors. For the past 15 years they participated with family in supporting the annual Colorado MS-150. They continued to travel, visiting their children and grandchildren often. George is survived by his son, Geoffrey, daughter-in-law Zulma and grandchildren Sean and Ivan of Clovis, California; his daughter Christina of Boise; sisters Betty (Tim) Walker of Lakewood, Colorado, Dorothy (Lee) Armendariz of Westminster, Colorado, and Kathleen March of Tampa, Florida, and brother Gerald of Denver, Colorado. George was preceded in death by his wife, Elain. Memorial contributions may be made to the Idaho Food Bank or the National Multiple Sclerosis Society of Colorado for Team Sugar Bee. The address for National M.S. Society of Colorado is Broadway Station, 900 South Broadway, Suite 250, Denver, CO 80209.