Kenneth John Rosendale

When you think of “A” words like: Active, Adventurous, and Amazing….Ken Rosendale comes to mind. There is not a lazy bone in his body! Up until just a few years ago he was snow skiing the world in 18 different countries, all the ski areas in Colorado and multiple States including Alaska. Always planning the next trip, he looks for the most interesting and out of the way places. Beyond snow skiing, he was an avid water skier all his life, having choreographed many ski shows with jumping, hang gliding, and even skiing on saucers with “Ski Dog” at his side. Then if you needed some further libation, he was always stoking up his BBQ smoker for the masses, either on the ski beach or at the local neighborhood events. Leave it to Ken to make friends with everyone he meets. Whether it be the taxi driver in Argentina or the ski-bum in the Rockies, he always found something to talk about. One of his most amazing professional traits was commercial construction managing massive crews of subcontractors building skyscrapers across Denver. During his early years he was given a full ride to the famous Colorado School of Mines college…after he and his buddy blew the top off the entry exams. Not bad for a farm boy growing up in southwest Denver. Certainly, part of the “A” Team!! Turned out college was not his thing (boring classes and no girls), so he started a concrete business call Van-Rose Concrete. At only 23 his company was so successful they were hired to build some 50 houses a year for Martin Marietta. Meanwhile he had a family with Ruth Visser and had two sons, Norm and Doug. The former became a Captain for United ultimately flying the Dreamliner (787) and the later becoming a surgeon and national leader in the new discipline of Health Information Technology. Norm has a lovely wife; Cherri and they have three children and two grandchildren. Doug has a lovely wife; Pam and they have two daughters and twins in the oven. Doug has one son from an earlier marriage and two granddaughters and three grandchildren. For the past 20 years Ken and June (partner) have travelled the world skiing, visiting ice hotels and ice carving exhibitions. Needless to say they had a very active life. During his “seasoned” years, Ken found his days filled with a bazillion projects building a log garage, motorized tricycles, and evaporative cooling systems throughout his house. There is so much more to say about Ken, but suffice it to say, he left the world a better place and we all benefited from his massive amount of energy. He was truly a legend in his own time and we can all learn from his persistence, passion, and pleasures of life.