Joseph Fredrick Geisendorfer

Joseph Fredrick Geisendorfer passed away on February 18, 2021. Joe was born in Quincy, Illinois on September 19, 1962 and raised there by his parents, Jeff and Patricia Geisendorfer. He graduated from Quincy High School in 1980, and attended Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois, graduating in 1985 with a B.S. in Outdoor Recreation Expedition Leadership. He earned his first Master’s Degree in 1993 In Special Education Severe Needs from University of Northern Colorado and his second Master’s in Information and Learning Technology Library Media from the University of Colorado Denver. After years of leading teens in outdoor climbing expeditions, he had a long career with the Cherry Creek School District in Colorado. He served as a Special Education teacher and as a Librarian-Teacher. He was preparing to retire at the end of the 2021 school year.

Joe grew up along the Mississippi river and loved spending time in the outdoors fishing, canoeing and camping with his Dad and his friends. He used to go to the river when it was frozen up and watch American Bald Eagles flying around the damn, one time counting as many as thirty one.

One of Joe’s many passions, which started as a teen ager in Quincy, was the martial arts. Joe trained under Sigung JT Runes in Parker, CO for many years, achieving the rank of 3rd degree Black Sash in 2002 in Lun Gar Pai Kung Fu. Later, he trained in Hakkoryu Jujutsu in the Shin Ryu Dojo as a student of Kaiden Shihan Sandaikichu Philip Schechter Kozan. After Joe was promoted to Hakkoryu 4th degree black belt he then achieved a Hakkoryu 5th Dan and Menkyo Shihan (Licensed Master Instructor) directly by Nidai Soke Okuyama, the Headmaster of all Hakkoryu. In recent years, he would practice in his dojo at his home, sometimes with cherished friends from his many years of training.

Joe always considered himself very lucky to have a very tight knit group of lifelong friends from his home town of Quincy. After college, many of them headed west to Denver, Colorado for jobs and time in the mountains. Known for always being his own man, for his unique and fearless sense of style, and for his wicked sense of humor, he was probably most relaxed on camping trips with his friends, when the guitars would come out around the camp fire.

Joe often said about himself that he was good with two sorts of people - kids and dogs, and those who knew him well would agree. The career he chose in teaching was always all about his students and he often referred to them as “his kids”. At parties and family gatherings, when the children were outside, you could often find Joe taking the time to talk and play with each young person. They were as important to him as any adult. He had a gift of focusing his full attention on each of them when the rest of us might be otherwise engaged.

So too with dogs. When Joe visited your home, he would not leave without having formed some sort of bond with your dog. And of course he was passionate about his own dogs and considered them soul mates of sorts: Veda, Strider, Bodhi, Jonah, Shane, Mina, Metta, Zeke, Trapper, Finn and Charlie. On many a Sunday afternoon, you could find Joe on a hike, sitting out on the deck watching the hummingbirds, cooking up his next masterpiece meal, or working in his large lush garden…but always with his dogs all around him.

In addition to his own home and the Colorado Mountains, there were two sacred places that Joe especially loved. He loved to camp in Wyoming’s Medicine Bows, preferring spring camping in the snow when other people were few and far between. He also loved canoeing down the Green River in Utah’s quiet canyons and would spend weeks making exacting preparations for each summer adventure on the river.

Joe is predeceased by his father and mother, Jeff and Patricia Geisendorfer. He is survived by his uncle and aunt, Dick and Pat Moritz, his cousin William (Gary) and Jill Moritz, and his nephews Ryan and Logan, all of Quincy, Illinois. He is also survived by his dogs Finn and Charlie and friends so close they were also his family: Jac and Penny Krueger, Greg and Deb Hempelman, Phil and Ellen Giesing, Kurt and Brenda McClain, Jim Kaufman, Andrea Krassner, Jenn Dailey and so many more.

A celebration of life will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Humane Society, the Elbert County Library or to your local dog rescue organization.