William Allan Welde

William Allan Welde was born July 18, 1946 in Camp Polk, Louisiana, to Mary Elizabeth Dreyer Welde and Glenn Arthur Welde. He graduated from high school in Annandale, Virginia, in 1964 and then earned a BS degree from Iowa State University and MA from the University of Northern Iowa. On September 14, 1971, he married Gail Marie Gahan in Basel, Switzerland. He served with the US Army’s Central Army Group in Germany and was honorably discharged in 1975. He died March 19, 2021, at the age of 74 at the University of Colorado Health Center, Aurora, Colorado.

Bill was a man for all seasons: his passions were his family; fly-fishing; waterfowl and upland game bird hunting; retriever training; collecting and restoring antique European clocks; and the history of the American West. To support his passions, he dabbled in international accounting. True to his eclectic nature, his favorite singer was Marty Robbins while his favorite movie was Casablanca. Two often repeated lines were “Here’s lookin’ at you, kid” and “We’ll always have Paris.” But his most repeated quote was the Buddha’s: “If your mouth is open, you’re not learning.”

One of Bill’s most notable character traits was his ability to make everyone he met feel valued and welcomed. He was the kind of guy who would find the one person at a party who didn’t know anyone and strike up a conversation with that person. After moving from one Army post to another as the child of a career officer, he knew what it was to be the newcomer. Inclusivity was a general theme for Bill throughout his life.

He is survived by his wife Gail of Littleton, Colorado; his daughter and son-in-law, Gretchen and John TeBockhorst of Littleton; his three grandsons, Bradley, Luke and Tanner TeBockhorst; his sister, Lovella Harpstreith of Torrington, Wyoming; and many nieces and nephews. A family service will be held this summer in Wyoming’s Wind River country.