LeRoy Curnow

LeRoy Curnow, youngest son of Garnet and Daisy Dee Curnow was born in Denver, Colorado on July 27, 1926 and went home to Heaven on November 7, 2015. LeRoy's parents, brother Harold Curnow and two half siblings, Wilma and Glenn pre-deceased him. LeRoy is survived by his wife Willa, their children David (Barbee) Curnow, Michael (Pam) Curnow, Lori (Tom) Miller as well as eight grandchildren, Anna Curnow, Nicole Miller Umscheid, Joshua Curnow, Sean Curnow, Seth Curnow, Jennifer Curnow, Ashley Miller and Alyse Miller. LeRoy was a proud Colorado native spending his entire life in Denver with the exception of his military service during World War II. He grew up in northeast Denver attending Mitchell Elementary, Cole Junior High and graduated in January 1945 from Manual High School. In February 1945 LeRoy began his service to our country joining the United States Army. He served for 13 months in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater as a Mess Sergeant earning the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal and the Army of Occupation Medal. At the end of his military service in November 1946 he came back to Denver and began his career with Union Pacific Railroad in various positions, as well as working as an Assistant Manager at the Reese House in Denver. LeRoy also attended the Barnes School of Commerce for two years majoring in Business Administration with an accounting emphasis. On April 8, 1949 he married the love of his life, who also happened to have been his childhood friend and neighbor since they were young, Willa Elwell. Their first son David arrived in 1953, followed by Michael in 1957 and Lori in 1962. In 1955 LeRoy applied for what would be his lifelong job with Union Pacific as Chief Clerk to the General Traffic Agent. Railroading was in LeRoy's blood – following his own dad and uncle's footsteps who were both engineers with Union Pacific. He also worked part-time at the Mile High Kennel Club as a cashier for many years. LeRoy took an early retirement from Union Pacific in 1981 – not his choice and much earlier than he was ready to stop working. After that he worked various odd jobs and also took care of some of his grandchildren until landing his last job in 1996 working in the kids club at the Greenwood Athletic Club. He touched countless families at Greenwood while holding babies, driving the kid shuttle, changing diapers, playing with toddlers, pumping up balls, changing sheets, raking the sandbox, counting the money, annually playing Santa, and invariably agreeably doing whatever was asked of him. LeRoy finally officially retired from working in 2012 at the ripe old age of 86! Family, Faith, Sports and Service were huge parts of LeRoy's life. LeRoy faithfully served as assistant treasurer and then treasurer at both Galilee Baptist Church and Woodbine Ranch for many years. He also served as a leader of Boys Brigade at Galilee Baptist. He spent countless hours helping out his kids either babysitting his grandchildren or spending thousands of hours cheering his grandchildren on at soccer, basketball, volleyball, lacrosse and swim meets. He was also a lifelong Denver Bronco fan and never missed a game. He was also known to cheer on any team that sported Denver or Colorado in their name! Jesus was front and center in LeRoy's life. He was raised in a Pentecostal church, later attended Galilee Baptist Church for over 50 years and then finally at Greenwood Community Church. Memorials to Toys for Tots. Toys may be dropped off at Greenwood Athletic Club or tax deductible memorial contributions may be made at www.toysfortots.org