John Robert Carlson

John Robert Carlson moved home to be with his Savior on May 25th from his earthly Colorado Springs house. He lived a full 89 years of life and left a legacy of lifelong ministry and relationships with family, friends and students behind him. Both his parents and his brothers preceded him to heavenly glory.

He was born on a frigid day, January 28, 1936, to his Swedish parents, Sarah and Einar Carlson, in Bristol, Connecticut. His older brothers, Milton and Ralph, instantly started calling him Baby Bobby, so the nickname “Bob” stuck.

Bob grew up in Bristol, spending much time with his family and their relatives and friends in the local Swedish community. His love for music started at a young age with piano lessons and his passion for learning with school. He enjoyed summers with the family at Lake Waramaug just outside of Bristol, and many of his activities throughout the school year centered around the Swedish Baptist church that his family attended.

After graduating high school in 1953, he followed in his brother's footsteps and attended Bethel College in Minnesota, earning a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelors of Divinity, and started his music degree. He was also awarded a medal for eating (and surviving) the food of Bethel's cafeteria for nine years straight. Bob took a summer job in North Dakota, preaching in a small rural church, and then briefly worked as a youth pastor, organist and choir director at a church in Worcester, MA before committing to work in the Connecticut schools. He later attended the University of Hartford in Connecticut, receiving a Masters in Music Education.

The summer of 1962, he was hired as a camp counselor at Camp Tispaquin in Middleboro, Massachusetts. It was here that he met his best friend and lifelong teammate Karen Rebecca Moore, and on September 14, 1963, on a muggy day in Xenia, OH, they tied the knot.

It was after Bob and Karen lived in Bristol, CT, teaching in the local school system for seven years, that their cousins invited them to come out to Colorado Springs, CO to help with the start of Colorado Springs Christian School in 1971. They decided to make Colorado their home, as they fell in love with God’s beauty and creativity, exploring every mountain road they could find, taking pictures (Bob) and drawing landscapes (Karen) as they went.

Eleven years into their marriage, God blessed them with the gift of a baby girl, a surprise answer to hundreds of prayers. Bob continued to teach at CSCS, while Karen stayed at home with Kirsten.

Bob and Karen started out going to many different churches, as Bob substituted for organists around the city, but they eventually found their church home at the Swedish Baptist Conference Church of Salem Baptist Church, now Grace Mountain Church. Bob took on many rolls at Salem, including grounds keeper, board member, Bible study teacher and skit participator, then later the minister of music, choir director, organist, and organ builder. Many of his Grace Mountain friends celebrated his and Karen’s 53 years of service the week before he died.

Teaching was one of his greatest passions, and aside from a short “Insurance Salesman” hiatus, he taught up into his eighties. In the classroom at CSCS and Redeemer Lutheran Church, he trained children in the subjects of choir, band, Bible, and math, but when he started private tutoring for District 11, he helped children with all sorts of subject matter. He was a hard worker and a perfectionist which meant he worked many long hours. His last several years of life, he shared his regrets, realizing he had spent too much time doing things that didn’t matter eternally (like his organ project) and not enough time with the family and friends he loved much more. Now he knows how much Jesus covered him with grace and mercy.

Bob had a lot of hobbies and enjoyed including friends and family, as well as his students at school and the church youth in what he loved to do. He took busloads of kids skiing in the winter and invited many to join him on bike rides in the summer. He skied for free into his late 70's and participated in mountain bike races, like a 100 mile trek through the mountains. He and Karen loved to garden, growing both beautiful flowers and delicious vegetables both at the Community Garden near Bear Creek Park and at home. Building the church pipe organ also took a lot of his weekends and school breaks, and he employed many of the church members to help him with this eleven-year project. He sang in the Male Chorus at Bethel and Soli Deo Gloria in the Springs, travelling coast to coast, and joined several chapters of the American Guild of Organists. He enjoyed learning foreign languages and travelling, mostly to see family and friends in Ohio and Connecticut, but once Kirsten starting venturing out oversees, he gladly visited her in Germany and Sweden. Photography was another activity that brought him great joy - he sought to delight in and remember God's beauty, both in nature and in the people he loved. He even made eating chocolate and ice cream a bit of a sport and achieved eating them three meals a day on several occasions.

God created a brilliant and creative man, when he brought John Robert Carlson to this earth. He was social and active the majority of his life. Those who knew him best were aware of his introspective and sometimes melancholic personality, which made him care deeply and pray a lot for those around him. His sense of humor and the draw to all things funny not only lifted his spirit but also brought joy and laughter to those around him, even in his last days on earth. His Savior, Jesus Christ, was his constant companion and the one he depended on, especially when his mind and body began to give out on him.

He is survived by the love of his life Karen, his daughter Kirsten, his son-in-law Jon and a handful of nieces, nephews and cousins.

Bob hopes to greet all of you at heaven’s gates when your journey here on earth is done.