Alan Lee Waldschmidt

Hello there, my name is Jordyn Waldschmidt and I couldn’t be more proud to call Alan Waldschmidt my father. My one and all, my everything, the person who I knew always had my back no matter what, the one man who never failed me or let me down. The one who taught me a lot of valuable life lessons and who’s light now shines down on us all. I loved and respected him deeply. He lived by the “Golden Rule”, to treat others the way you want to be treated! The good will stick around and the bad will ween themselves out.

My dad's weird but funny and also serious all at same time. He was a very deep, compassionate, heart to heart type talker. He worked hard his whole life and instilled that work ethic into Brandon and I. My dad knew how to have a good time and I tell you what we always had a great time. He was the life of the party honestly. He would give you the shirt off his own back! When he said he was going to do something or put his mind to it, he did and stopped at nothing to achieve it. He was a go getter for sure. He was a total Scorpio to the T. The outpouring of love and admiration for him over the past 32 years of my life has been absolutely inspiring and heart-warming. He will be missed so much and HIS LEGEND WILL LIVE ON FOREVER!

Alan Lee Waldschmidt was born November 12, 1959, to Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Lee Waldschmidt, at 5:33 a.m. in the Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital in Inglewood, California. They moved to Palisade, Colorado when my dad was three. They resided there until my dad was about thirteen, then moved to Grand Junction, Colorado, which is where he resided until he passed away.

My father has always been a soft, gentle soul. He was a member of his school's safety patrol team in grade school. He was the kid who looked out for the kids who got bullied.

Alan graduated in the 1978 senior class of Palisade High School. Following school, he entered into the workforce and joined a union! He was seventeen when he got hired on with Union Pacific Railroads.

In 1984, Alan moved down to Denver, Colorado to take on a welding position through the railroad. It was here in Denver where he met my mother, Stacy Stone. If I am not mistaken it was in a bar that they met. Anyone who knew my dad knows this sounds about right.

Stacy had a baby boy, almost one, who Alan just adored. Brandon Kenner, my big brother, had just become Alan Lee Waldschmidt's first born, and he couldn’t be happier. It wasn’t too long after that my mom and dad were getting married. And then March 20, 1990, a baby girl, Jordyn Marie Waldschmidt was born. This day changed my dad's life forever and in a good way!

In 1994 or so, my mother and father decided to make the lifestyle change and move out of the big city into a small town. They moved to Strasburg, Colorado, 32 miles east of Aurora. In my eyes, one of the best decisions they ever made for Brandon and I.

My father was a very active person who never sat still for long unless it was to play a game of poker. He enjoyed hunting in his younger years with his brother and father, and in later years with Brandon and myself. In his early thirties he was part of a bowling league, and he was pretty damn good! He played softball with my mother on coed teams in Strasburg. He was a golfer just like his father, and enjoyed the sport. When we would travel to Grand Junction to come see my grandparents, a tee time was always made for my grandfather, father and brother. Don’t forget about the annual midnight snack run to Weinerschnitzel for those famous chili cheese corndogs.

Just like his father, he enjoyed yard work and had an appreciation for a thick, full, green front yard. My grandfather (Whitey) had a knack for gardening. He could make everything and anything grow, and that’s exactly what my dad strived to be! My dad loved his Father so much and really admired him.

Jack of all traits my father was. He knew how to do just about everything and if he didn’t he would learn. My mother and father always worked well as a team.

Brandon and I lived the good good life, we just didn’t realize at the time how good it really was. We were taught very young the value of good work ethic. We were taught that perseverance does pay off, and if you want something go after it. That being a good person may be hard at times but its what we do.

Whether it was braiding my hair getting me ready for school pictures, going over countless flash cards, playing game after game of horse or pig, videoing taping every damn basketball game Brandon had, pitching the softballs to me for practice and me accidentally hitting it right back to you, (oops so sorry), teaching us how to fish and what it takes, changed tire after tire for us on our bikes and the list goes on.

As a family we went on vacations, we always had somewhere to go and something to see. From Oceans of Fun cross country, to Glenwood Hot Spring, to the Badlands in Wall, South Dakota, to California, to Horse Tooth for the casual camping trip.

Unfortunately my mother and father ended up getting a divorce when I was a sophomore in high school. My dad was very close to his father, and especially his mother, and always yearned to be close to them. He made the move back to Grand Junction shortly after Union Pacific Railroad approved. My father could move back to Grand Junction to be closer to his parents who he adored.

Everything seemed to be ok for my dad. He had moved back to Grand Junction. He had started seeing an old high school fling, Kimberly. He was able to schedule that tee time for his father and him. He was getting to spend the time he wanted with his parents.

He had just received shoulder surgery and was looking to retire from Union Pacific early due to health issues. He got approved for his early retirement! Thirty years he had dedicated to Union Pacific Railroad. Thirty years of hard, dirty work that had taken its toll on him.

It 2009, my father came down to Denver to see Brandon and myself. We actually went turkey hunting, for the first time all three of us together turkey hunting. This was a month or two beforehand. What a blast that hunting trip was. We busted dad smoking in our nonsmoking rented cabin, acting like he was doing nothing. O M G

His health problems were addressed then and brought up, but nothing ever came about it. It was our yearly trip to the stock show and my dad's health issues had only gotten worse. I had had it, enough was enough! He was going to the doctor!

My dad finally got a doctors appointment. Test results had came back and they had confirmed my dad had cancer. It was about a week later he gets a call from the doctor. The doctor claims there has been some type of confusion and that he does not have cancer.

I honestly couldn’t imagine the type of emotional roller coaster he must have been on. To be told you have cancer only to be told a week later that it was a mistake and that he didn’t have cancer.

The ups and the downs were a lot, and it was very rough on my dad. It was about a month later and my dad received another call from the doctors. He had been told the wrong diagnoses and he did have cancer. Open heart surgery would be mandatory. They said they needed to remove the cancer. A couple days before my father planned surgery it was called off. His insurance said they wouldn’t cover his surgery! Are you kidding me?!?

We had planned for the worst and prayed for the best. By the time my dad had figured his insurance it had already been at least a month. My dad’s surgery went well. They had removed over two liters of fluid out of his lungs. No wonder he couldn’t breathe he had so much fluid in his lungs. The cancerous mass was crushing my dad's diaphragm which is why he couldn’t breathe. It was the size of a Nerf foam football! That is a huge mass. My father was a strong, strong man who could tolerate a lot of pain. But this this got him, it really had taken a lot out of him. It was hard but my dad never gave up and actually grew so much as a person being a cancer survivor.

My dad had survived the surgery, he could breathe again. He would have much to overcome post surgery, but there wasn’t anything setting him back.

September 17, 2010 changed my father's life forever. Mr. Hayden James Kenner was born, my father's first grandson. I remember watching my dad hold Hayden for the first time, it was a sight to see I tell you what. The glow my father had was unbelievable and unforgettable. The love for his grandson grew more and more every day. About five years later, Mr. Wyatt Nolan Kenner came along. A whole new can of worms with that mister, so much fun he is! Can’t forget about Mr. Brecken, my brother's third child. Brecken Lee Kenner holds a special place in my father's heart forever because he was named after my father, Alan Lee Waldschmidt. Having a grandson named after him was such an honor and he felt so privileged! His grandchildren lit a fire within him, he loved them so much and they made him even prouder of Brandon. The father Brandon has become made my dad so so proud and happy! Papa Bear, the boys love you so much and will miss you. Love Hayden, Wyatt, and Brecken.

Whether it was coming down for Brandon’s annual birthday camping trip, to going to Colorado National Speed Way, to hitting up Black Hawk, to going to South Dakota to celebrate my twenty-first birthday, coming down for Troy and Jessica's wedding, coming down for Brandon and Steph's wedding, to go to Glenwood to the amusement park or to celebrate every birthday he could!

If Brandon or myself needed anything anything at all he was a phone call a way and a fast trip down the the mountain. I remember when I got diagnosed with MS and I was hospitalized. My father was down the hill so fast that I didn’t even have a chance to blink. He would come every day and keep me company, rub my feet, get me whatever it was I needed. He didn’t leave until I left. I took a nap, woke up, he would be there, I would go to bed, wake up in the morning, and he would be there ready to play a game of cribbage. He really was an amazing father.

The little bit of retirement my father got he lived it up that’s for sure. He had purchased his Harley Davidson, he was living high on the hog. He had made it out to Florida to see a few of his good friends, always talked about going back with him one day. He didn’t play too much golf in his later years, I think it reminded him too much of his father which made him sad because my grandfather had Alzheimer’s disease. My grandfather's Alzheimer’s disease really affected my dad. As hard as it was for my dad to go see my grandfather he still did. He would go weekly, sometime multiple times a week, to see and visit his dad.

The passing of his mother Patricia Waldschmidt in 2018 was really hard on him. My dad was a total mommies boy and loved his mom more than anything. My grandma was one of the kind too she was a remarkable women who taught my father a lot.

Things seemed to be going good and everything seemed fine up until about the last few months of my fathers life. My dad had lost a lot of weight which was very concerning. He had made multiple appointments and had many tests done. They had all came back negative but his health still was not good. He ended up passing in the hospital. His cancer had came back and it was all over.

March 25, 2022, the world lost one of the most soft, gentle, funny, crazy, genuine, honest, loyal, and respectable men of all times. My father left a lasting impact on everyone he knew. He was a wonderful person who shines down on us now. Be sure to save me seat right next to yours, Dad. Remember our shoes are right next to yours, and will never leave. Rest in paradise Dad, fly away Birdie Boy, we love you so much!

A Private Viewing was held on Monday, March 28, 2022.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.MartinMortuary.com for the Waldschmidt family.