Stanley Joseph Poturalski

Stanley Joseph Poturalski, 82, peacefully passed on April 30, 2020 from natural causes with his family by his side. Stan was born on May 8, 1937, in Maspeth, L.I., N.Y. to Joseph and Genevieve Poturalski. He is survived by his wife, Toula; daughters Dr. Angelique (Tom Harris), Heidi (Joe Valenzuela); grandson Jake Valenzuela; brother Daniel (Patricia); brother-in-law Deno Gongos (Barbara); as well as numerous nieces and nephews.

Stan touched many people throughout his life maintaining connections with family and friends from: his childhood in New York, St. John Kanty Prep School in Erie Pennsylvania, the Citadel Military College in South Carolina, as an Engineer in Fort Worth, and Houston, Texas, and finally as an Engineer and Business Owner in Colorado.

Stan's career started in Fort Worth, Texas where he was a Project Engineer for Carter & Burgess Engineers. He continued his career in Urban Renewal in Houston Texas with Bernard Johnson Engineers. While in Texas, he worked on many projects throughout Texas and beyond including the urban renewal extension of the San Antonio River Walk. In 1967, Stan was hired by the City of Littleton to be the Executive Director of the College Park Project (Arapahoe Community College). Eventually, he became President of his own company, Municipal Consultants, Inc., an Urban Renewal Planning company; which then partnered with Engineering Consultants, Inc. A series of events led him to work for Muerer-Serafini- Muerer, Inc. as Director of Business Development and City Planning. By chance, the Landscape Architects in the next office were having problems getting someone to fulfill their designs, so Stan volunteered to complete the task. This was the genesis for his own landscape, construction, and design company which began as Contemporary Exterior of Colorado but later adopted the name of Sundance Creations, Inc. He, alongside with his wife, Toula, led the company for 55 years and continuing. In 2002, Poturalski Investments, LLC was formed to build South Broadway Medical Building which was a product of his architecture vision and landscape design.

Stan's legacy is imprinted throughout Colorado. His landscape and designs are characterized by curves, walls, and water features. His work can be seen predominantly in his own and his daughters yards and throughout Cherry Knolls, Southglenn, Heritage Hills, Cherry Hills, and Highlands Ranch. His designs are also evident across the entire Denver Metro area and foothills. He did commercial designs and landscape for all of the Bank Westerns in the state, Cinderella City (when it was a shopping center), and United Artists. The trademarks of the company were the Sundance Creation insignia and the dog treats he carried with him for all of his customer's dogs who knew he was coming long before he arrived.

He was a contemporary father involved in his girls' lives through school projects, sports, and companionship. He was a modern day husband, standing side by side with Toula as partner and soul mate. He was Santa Clause to many, spending Christmas Eve visiting his own children/nephews/nieces, then showing up at orphanages, followed by visits to people's (known and unknown) houses as he made his way home. He also chased down police officers to deliver poinsettias to them every Christmas.

Stan's interests and hobbies included his family, friends, music, art, fishing on Chatfield, and languages. He played the accordion, piano, french horn (to name a few) and directed a band, but had never read a note of music. He could generally "Name That Tune" in 1-2 notes. He communicated with people in Polish, German, Latin, Russian, Greek, and Spanish but had little formal training. He baked extravagant cakes in the form of the Acropolis, a baby grand piano, and the Denver Broncos Stadium but never went to baking school. He did attend Chinese Food courses which resulted in meals that took 14 hours to cook and were eventually ruled out of the household in favor of takeout! In later life, he settled on Cheesecakes (a special family recipe) that he delivered at XMAS to 50 of his friends, family, and doctors. He always had a boat for fishing at Chatfield but rarely caught anything other than a good time with his dad and daughter. He long ago gave up the fishing but kept a party boat in the marina for the last 35 years where he spent many weekends with family and friends.

During his life and through the ebb and flow of discrimination and judgement, he saw no boundaries; only people. He treated each person with respect, care, and honor. He cared for people more than anything; reaching out to anyone who crossed his path and recognizing them on their birthdays year after year. He was surrogate father to some, confidant to many, and friend to all. In a world of chaos, he brought sanity, balance and an ear to listen.

To all who knew him and to those who he had yet to meet, in his own everlasting words:

Recitation of the Rosary will be Friday, April 30, 2021 at St. Mark Catholic Church, 9905 Foothills Canyon Blvd., Highlands Ranch, CO 80129 at 1:00pm, followed by a Funeral Mass at 1:30pm. A Committal and Celebration of Life will immediately follow.

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