Leo J Sitzman

Leo J. Sitzman of rural Greeley, Colorado passed away on Tuesday, September 9th 2025, just three weeks shy of his 95th birthday. He was born at home on a farm near Kersey, Colorado on September 29, 1930 to John and Lena Sitzman. A few short years later, he moved to the family farm located east of Evans, Colorado. During his childhood years, he was rather shy but also had an ornery streak that stuck with him throughout life. As a young boy he rode horseback to Auburn School a few miles from home. He attended Auburn through the gth grade. When he was 13 years old, his left arm was almost completely severed between a tractor and rear bumper of a farm truck on a Sunday afternoon while trying to show the new tractor to some visiting relatives. His arm ended up healing after surgery and wearing a half body cast for several weeks. For his sophomore year of high school, he rode into Greeley to attend College High School with his older sister Cordelia. She was enrolled in business school there so she was his chauffeur. For his junior and senior year of high school he attended Kersey High School and graduated in 1948. He was center on the boy's basketball team, even though he only stood 5'11". He was Captain of the football team which took a state championship title in his senior year. Because of that accomplishment, the entire team was awarded a special necklace that he was extremely proud of and wore regularly during his later years.

On January 3, 1951 he married the love of his life, Burdetta Furrow. Later that year they welcomed their only daughter, Marsha. During his early married life, he worked side by side with his family on the farm. Always getting up in the wee hours of the morning to milk the dairy cows and continue to work on the farm religiously. Aside from work, he became a 4-H leader for a few years. As time went on, he acquired the farming equipment and eventually the farm where his home still exists. During his farming career, he received the honor of High Sugar Beet Grower for his area. He was awarded a trip for two to Las Vegas in 1969. All of his crops were high production and top notch. Leo worked hard but he also took time to engage in several other interests. He enjoyed drag racing his cars every weekend near Castle Rock, Cheyenne, Scottsbluff and Julesburg. He has multiple trophies to show for it. As time went on, tractor pulling became a big hit with a lot of the farmers. Every weekend, he loaded up his tractor and family and went to various competitions throughout the area. This also awarded him with several trophies as well. One of which was a State Championship honor in Akron, Colorado. His next adventure was to purchase a lot and build a mountain cabin at Glacier View Meadows. He continued the farm work all week long but on Friday he and Burdetta left for the hills for the weekend. They enjoyed doing that for many years. His entire life, he had a special love and training ability for his dogs. In 1998, he had a farm sale and retired from farming. He had many interests and hobbies. He enjoyed making things out of wood, going to flee markets and pawn shops, collecting all sorts of things, and playing his guitars. He especially loved going to rodeos on the 4th of July, Cheyenne Frontier Days and The National Western Stock Show. Probably his biggest passion was to purchase new cars. In his later years, he bought several collector cars. He drove a few of them in the parades held by various town celebrations. He also drove his cars to transport the Grand Marshall in the parade for the Kersey Days celebration. He and Burdetta also enjoyed decorating their home and yard for the holidays. They had a well known Christmas exhibit for many years. The prep work for that started the day after Thanksgiving, if not before.

He enjoyed fabricating several of the items he had on display.

After his wife Burdetta passed in 2006, Leo's life changed completely. One of the highlights of his day was to drive into Wendy's for lunch. When the employees saw him pull into the parking lot, they started to get his "regular" order ready. He rekindled a special interest in spectating and following sports at Platte Valley High School in Kersey. He enjoyed watching Nascar and the Denver Broncos on tv and spending time with his family. Finally, after a lot of persuasion from his daughter, he adopted a small chihuahua dog, whom he named Lucky. He enjoyed driving his tractor and bladed his yard until his health started to fail him in late 2022.

Leo was preceded in death by his parents, John and Lena Sitzman, his wife Burdetta, a brother James L. Sitzman, and sisters Cordelia Meyer, Eleanora Giesick and Lillian Karbs.

Leo is survived by his daughter Marsha Miller (Rich) of rural Greeley, 2 grandchildren, Scott Miller (Amanda) of rural Galeton, Karrie Fahrenbruch (Dan) of rural Greeley. He also has 4 great grandchildren, Trent Fahrenbruch of rural Greeley, Lindsay Miller Allmer (Tucker) of rural Briggsdale, Blake Fahrenbruch of Greeley and Derek Miller (Jordan) of rural Greeley.

A memorial service will be held on Friday, September 19th at 11:30 a.m. at Allnutt Macy Funeral Home located at 6521 W. 20th Street in Greeley, Colorado 80634. Interment at Sunset Memorial Garden will be after the service with a reception following at Allnutt Macy Chapel.