Garth Reuben Fahrbach, age 87, was born on August 11, 1932 in Menasha, Wisconsin, the eldest child of Reuben and Margaret Fahrbach. He attended Menasha High School and after graduating joined the U.S. Navy with his best friend Mike Reinhardt. He served during the Korean War as a flight radar specialist on several aircraft carriers and played on the ship’s basketball team against many international teams when in port. He was honorably discharged and attended college on the GI bill at Milwaukee School of Engineering, graduating with an Electrical Engineering Degree. It was during this time that he met his future wife on a blind date. He married Patricia Fischer on November 16, 1957. They moved to New Mexico where he worked at Sandia National Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory as a research scientist. They raised three daughters in Albuquerque, where Garth was active in the Republican Party, square dancing, Camp Fire Girls, and was an avid organic gardener. Garth and Pat moved to Fort Collins, Colorado in 2019 to be closer to their daughters. Garth passed away on January 13th, 2020.
Garth was a joyful, witty, and playful husband and father. He always had a project going on and his young daughters would follow along and "help". After his own children grew up, young neighborhood kids would come over to the Fahrbach house on Saturday and Sunday just to see what Garth was up to in his garden or his shop. He always had the greenest lawn on the block, so it was usually full of children. He grew tasty organic tomatoes and other vegetables and fruits in his small yard in Albuquerque, and he always had red geraniums and red roses in the summertime. Pat and Garth had several box turtles over the years who became tame and would come up to them when they sat in the shade on their patio, and the grandchildren loved hunting around the yard finding turtles, who all had names. Garth also loved music and dancing, a passion he got from his lively mother Margaret. She would take his hands and twirl him around the room as soon as he got home from school. He and Pat would go to ballroom dances when they were dating, and later joined a Square Dance club in Albuquerque where they made many lifelong friends. Garth loved to listen to music, made countless cassette tapes of his favorite songs, and even learned to play the guitar. He also wrote poetry every year to his wife on her birthday and their anniversary. He was an inquisitive and intelligent man and loved to talk with other people and find out about their lives, and he was endlessly fascinated with his five grandchildren and what they were up to. He liked to share stories of his adventures flying on and off aircraft carriers and his work at Sandia Labs. He was much loved and will be missed by his family and friends.
He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Patricia; his three daughters Connie McConnell of Lakewood, CO; Beth Williams (Steve) of Fort Collins, CO; Peggy Rohr (Tony) of Boise ID; and five grandchildren: Ben, Lisa, and Jenna Williams; and Garth (Amanda) Rohr, Tim Rohr; and his sister Joyce Klundt of Menasha, WI.
FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS
Friday Jan 24th, Rosary at 5:00 PM followed by a viewing at 6:00 PM, Allnutt Mortuary, 650 West Drake Road, Fort Collins, Colorado.
Saturday Jan 25th, Funeral Mass at 11:00 AM, Holy Family Catholic Church, 326 North Whitcomb in Fort Collins, followed by graveside service at Grandview Cemetery at 12:30.
Luncheon reception to follow, 12:30, at Beth’s house, 5301 Highcastle Court in Fort Collins.
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