Franz Gedack

Franz Gedack, of Arvada, Colorado, passed away on Thursday, July 11, 2019.

Franz was born April 9, 1942 in Austria. He set foot on US soil April 1, 1961, and studied to become a US Citizen.

Franz is survived by his wife of 28 years, Mary, 3 children, Franz J. Gedack, Monika Ellis (Mike), and Troy Gedack (Wendy); along with 2 step children, Susie Best (Mike) and Ted Wargin (Thrudur Gunnarsdottir). He is also survived by 17 grandchildren, a sister, Marianne Seredinski of Arvada and a brother, Lorenz Gedak (Brigitte) in Germany; brother-in-law, John Whelan (Jan) and sisters-in-law, Jeanne Daniel and Glenna Whelan, along with numerous cousins, nieces, nephews, and many loving friends.

He was a design engineer for most of his career and a master welder. He headed up the welding department for Westminster High's Career Enrichment Park in the late 70's and early 80's, worked for the Road and Bridge Department in Park County in the later 1980's, and helped develop the Good Earth Machine for Hydrologics in the early 90's. After he married Mary, he joined her as a Realtor with RE/MAX Alliance.

He and his former wife, Sharon Gedack, and their 3 children built a beautiful home themselves on a little over 2 acres outside of Fairplay, Colorado. He loved to fish the private stream afforded to their subdivision off of Highway 9 of the South Platte. He was involved in many community activities in South Park.

Franz's passion was studying Scripture and sharing God's Word with family and friends. He was a wonderful and caring husband, father, Opa, brother, uncle, cousin and faithful friend.

He courageously battled cancer (Multiple Myeloma) for the past 6 years, and passed away with Mary by his side at Collier Hospice on July 11, 2019. He will be missed by so many people.

A Visitation will be held on Friday, July 19, 2019 at 10:00 AM, followed by a Celebration of Life at 11:00 AM, at Horan & McConaty Family Chapel, 7577 West 80th Avenue, Arvada, Colorado 80003. A private family interment will be held at Mount Olivet Cemetery.

Please share memories of Franz and condolences with his family by signing the online guestbook below.

Memorial Contributions can be made in Franz’s honor to: Collier Hospice, 3200 N. Lutheran Pkwy, Wheat Ridge CO 80033

The following was read at Franz’s Celebration of Life:

I want to personally thank everyone for coming today to pay your respects to Franz and our family, and to share good memories that you have of him with us!

I also want to thank his Oncology and Palliative care teams at Kaiser, Collier Hospice, all of the family and friends who came to visit him during these last few weeks, and the personal caregivers who have been a huge support and help to us. The caring people here at Horan & McConaty and Mt. Olivet, and our family in helping put together this Celebration of Franz's life. A special thanks to Dr. Stephen Jones for traveling from Minnesota to officiate today.

Franz had shared bits and pieces of his life's journey with me over the years - but I am truly grateful for our grandson, Justin Best, and his interviews with Opa on his life for a school essay! Everything is in chronological order, and his essay is truly a treasure!

When I think of the journey that my husband traveled from being born in Austria, while his mother, along with 7 of his siblings were making their way from their home in Romania , on into Germany, it's mind boggling! This was during WWII, and his father and oldest brother, Tony, were drafted into the German army. At the same time, Hitler decreed that the East German nationals were to return to Germany.

These were people living in Romania, who had to give up their homes, their farms, their animals, their livelihoods, everything they owned and had to travel to a country that was foreign to them! Franz spoke Romanish in his early years, and had to learn the German language when he went to school! He was determined to speak German perfectly, and without an accent!

When the war was over, the family was reunited and lived in several concentration camps while making their way back to Romania to see their farm. It had been taken over by the Russians, there was no food, no jobs, and people were starving – so they trekked back to Germany, living in various camps along the way. In 1948 they were finally settled in a huge outdoor camp by the river Danube near Paseo. There were thousands of refugees all housed in temporary barracks.

Finally, in 1956, there was a small amount of reparation money that was allotted for the farm they had to give up in Romania, and the family was able to build a permanent home, which was completed in 1958.

Fast forward to April 1, 1961, as an 18 year old, Franz was able to fulfill his dream of coming to the United States. I remember him telling me how much he wanted to live here, how he went to the movies when he was a young boy to watch American films with actors such as John Wayne, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Judy Garland, - and how he practiced their dance moves with a broom to become a good dancer - which he was really, really good!

He was welcomed in Denver by his sister and brother-in-law, Marianne and Walter Seredinski, who took him into their home while he searched for work. There was, and still is, an amazing German community of family and friends, who are still so very special to us today! In 1967, Franz studied and gained his U.S. Citizenship. That was one of the greatest milestones in his life! He was so proud to be an American.

He and Sharon raised 3 wonderful children, Franz, Monika and Troy. They lived in North Denver, Westminster and Fairplay. Franz worked as a design engineer for Zimmerman Metals and then Research Catrel, before realizing that his trade was lacking in educational opportunities for young apprentices. He went to CSU and got his certificate as an instructor in fabricating, blueprint reading and design. He then got on with District 50 at Westminster High School, and wrote his own curriculum as he taught at the Career Enrichment Park. He spent 4 great years there and thoroughly enjoyed working with his students.

After that, he and his family decided to build a home from the ground up in Redhill Forrest, outside of Fairplay. They wanted to experience a slower pace of life, so they moved all of their belongings up there while proceeding to build their home.

Franz and I met in 1990. We were introduced by his son and daughter-in-law, whom I was showing homes to at the time! It was a blind lunch date at Baby Doe's restaurant on July 5. A few weeks later, he invited me to the first Grand Prix event in Denver, and it was there that we fell in love and were married the following year. Our combined family grew from our 5 children to 17 grandchildren!

We had an amazing life together! We enjoyed going up to our Redhill home often. Franz was an avid fisherman; and taught his sons and grandkids how to fish. My brother, John, used to like to go fishing with him as well!

We loved to travel, and made many, many trips to Mexico and to Scottsdale over the years, along with 2 trips to Germany - the last one being for the wedding of our niece, Kristina. We made several life-long friends while traveling; as well as wonderful friends in our neighborhood.

Franz was an amazing husband, father, and a really fine grandfather - whom we called Opa. His passion was studying scripture and history. He had an unwavering faith in God and was at peace with his knowledge and understanding of God's word.

It was my privilege to be his wife, and to have him as my husband, my lover, and my best friend. He was handsome, fun, and a true gentleman. He rarely complained. He was an amazing cook, and he tried very hard to impart some of his skill to me. He loved watching the Broncos, the Avs, The Rockies and Turner Classic Movies. We are all going to miss him, and yet all who knew him have something that he has either said or done that we can draw comfort from.

I'm going to end by quoting the last words he imparted to Justin in his interview:

Franz said: I just think we need to lay down all of our weapons, and understand each other as humans. I see America as becoming the leader in peace again around the world, and mostly a Godly people. America has not yet reached its full potential - we've barely scratched the surface. God Bless America.

Visitation: July 19, 2019 10:00 am - 11:00 am

Horan & McConaty - Northwest/Arvada
7577 W. 80th Ave.
Arvada, CO 80003

Celebration of Life: July 19, 2019 11:00 am

Horan & McConaty - Northwest/Arvada
7577 W. 80th Ave.
Arvada, CO 80003

Interment: July 19, 2019 2:15 pm

Mount Olivet Cemetery
12801 W. 44th Ave.
Wheat Ridge, CO 80033