Jody Farmer

Jody Farmer, 53, of Arvada, CO died unexpectedly August 19, 2013 from a massive heart attack. Born July 23, 1960 in Dallas, TX, Jody grew up racing motorcycles, water skiing on the lakes of Texas, and playing high school football. He graduated from Terrel High School in 1978 and attended North Texas State University briefly as an art/photography major while working in motorcycle repair and photography labs. He left for Colorado in 1984 when ProLabs transferred him to Denver. Jody loved Colorado and the mountains. His early years were spent skiing, hiking, and attending Red Rocks concerts. He lived in various places in the heart of downtown Denver, working at ProLabs and Mizel Photo until he decided to go back to college. He attended the University of Colorado Denver, where he earned a bachelor's of science degree in Chemistry in 1994. During his years of schooling he worked various jobs, including cooking for Chili's, pilot plant technician work in Molycorp-Unocal Inc.'s lanthanide pilot plant (1990-1991), Amax Research and Development Center as a research technician working on ground water remediation (1992), and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) where he was initially hired as a pretreatment technician. Jody worked at NREL for 21 years, from 1992 until his death, moving from pretreatment technician, to lead pilot plant operator, to research engineer where he was responsible for the integrated biorefinery pilot plant's data acquisition and control system and the operation and upgrading of the plant's mechanical systems. There was no one more gifted in troubleshooting, fixing, fabricating, and operating the equipment. He met every challenge with creativity, imagination, and hard work. Jody loved NREL and the people working with him. He passionately believed in the mission of renewable energy, particularly cellulosic ethanol as a biofuel to which he devoted 20 years of his life developing the technology. Jody met his wife Nancy at NREL. They were married August 23, 1996 and have two boys, Sam age 15 and Matt age 12. Jody and Nancy were inseparable at home and at work. They were often asked how they managed to work and live with each other every day. Their strong friendship and genuine love for each other made it easy to be together. Jody loved his boys deeply and was proud of their accomplishments in school, music, and martial arts. The family took camping trips every year, visiting most of the state of Colorado and surrounding states and most recently to Washington D.C. and Canada and the Pacific Northwest. At home, Jody always had several home improvement projects going. Neighbors would see him on the weekends in his garage using his table saw or redoing the front yard landscape. If he wasn't working on a house project, you could find him on his computer and most recently learning how to operate his 3-D printer. Jody has been described as a true renaissance man. He was a life-long learner. His interests and knowledge were wide and he could design, build, and fix anything, He was also the most genuine, helpful, nice and purely good person you could ever know. He will be very missed by his family, friends, neighbors, and colleagues. Jody is survived by his wife Nancy, sons Sam and Matt, his brothers Scott and Gene Paul, his sister Mary Beth, their children and grandchildren, and numerous cousins. He is preceded in death by his father Walter (Gene) Farmer and his mother Mary Farmer. A Memorial Service will be held at 3:00 PM Saturday, August 24, 2013, Horan & McConaty Family Chapel, 7577 West 80th Avenue, Arvada with a Reception to follow. Donations may be made to the Samuel and Matthew Farmer Memorial Account - Bellco Credit Union. Checks and direct deposits accepted at Bellco Branch Offices. Please share your memories of Jody and condolences with his family by signing the guestbook below.