Lynn Richard Sunahara

Lynn was born March 28, 1947 in Denver, CO to Mary (Badella) & Jack Sunahara. He grew up in the 5-Points area with his brother Jack & sister Marion. He graduated from Cathedral Catholic High School in 1965. He worked at King Soopers until he joined the Army on May 10, 1967. He served in Vietnam as a Communications Operator near the front lines. He was stationed at Ft Lewis, WA where he was honorably discharged on May 3, 1973. He rode his motorcycle back to Denver shortly after discharge. He attended business classes for a year, then worked for the Liquor Enforcement Division where he met Karen Lebsack. They married & had a daughter Misty Amber. They later divorced & Lynn left that job to start running the Denver softball leagues, including training & assigning umpires. That’s where he met the love of his life, Donna Kraft in 1991. They dated off & on until they married June 26, 2004. They never had children together but enjoyed visits from his daughter over the years. Lynn left Denver Softball in 1997, then worked for one of his best friends Gene Margelowski. He then ran the Aurora Softball Program where he was the Tournament Director for seven ASA (now USA Softball) National Softball Tournaments. He also umpired slow pitch softball games from the local rec level up to the highest level of ASA tournaments including Men’s Major, Men’s Major Industrial, COED A & 3 others.

Lynn was an exceptional mentor leader! He led by example, unafraid to get his hands dirty setting up fields with his maintenance crews. Lynn excelled at training umpires in the classroom and on the field, dedicating a huge amount of time watching them & instructing them between innings & games, or sitting with them answering questions while watching other games. Two of his female umpires rose to the highest level, “Elite”, with the ASA (USA Softball) program, despite there only being six Elite female umpires in the US.

Lynn left Aurora Softball in 2003 to take care of his mom who suffered from dementia. After a few months, he asked his sister to help so he could drive a shuttle van for the Radisson on Parker & I225. Within months, he was the manager of the transportation, security & customer relations departments until they let him go in 2018. He was finally able to retire.

Lynn loved traveling, including 6 trips to Hawaii, 2 cruises to Alaska, 8 trips to Mexico, trips to CA, AZ & SD to visit his & his wife’s families. There were also trips to Oklahoma City for UIC (Umpire In Chief) Conferences every other year, National Softball Tournaments & Armed Forces Tournaments that he & his wife umpired, trips to the timeshare in Breckenridge, plus trips all over the US for vacations.

Lynn was an avid collector of music, Thomas Kinkade light houses, Columbia coats, hats & Star Trek. His other passion was his flowers! He loved to water them every morning with a cup of coffee.

Lynn is survived by his wife Donna Sunahara; his daughter Misty (Marshall) Elmer of Tucson, AZ, her son Bobby Pearson & their son Aiden; his ex-wife Karen Henry; brother Jack (Marcia) Sunahara & their children & grandchildren.

Lynn was preceded in death by his father Jack: his mother Mary in 2005; & his sister Marion in 2016.

Lynn’s funeral service, officiated by former classmate Deacon Bill Ertner, will be held Friday, March 8, 2024, 12:30 pm, at Olinger Hampton Mortuary followed by interment at 2:30 at Fort Logan National Cemetery.