David Arthur Woolhiser

David A. Woolhiser of Fort Collins died August 19, 2022 at Poudre Valley Hospital, with family by his side. Following his wishes, his remains will be cremated. A memorial service will be held at a later date at Foothills Unitarian Church. Arrangements are under the direction of Allnutt Funeral Service.

David Arthur Woolhiser was born Jan. 21, 1932 in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, the son of Blanche L. and Algie D. Woolhiser. For the first three years the family lived on a dairy farm near Melrose, WI. In 1935 they moved to Stoddard, WI where his father built and operated the Log Cabin filling station. David attended grade school there and had a great childhood with all the summer and winter attractions provided by a small river town. He enjoyed hunting and fishing. The family moved to Viroqua, WI where he graduated from high school in 1949. He graduated cum laude from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1955 with BS degrees in Agriculture and Civil Engineering. He was a member of Lamda Chi Alpha social fraternity and was elected to Alpha Zeta, Chi Epsilon and Tau Beta Pi honorary fraternities.

After graduation, he moved to Tucson, AZ where he took a position with the Department of Agricultural Engineering at the University of Arizona. He met his lifelong love, Kathryn Brown- a fashion artist, in Tucson and they were married at her parents’ home in Lordsburg, NM on Apr. 21, 1957.

In 1958 he accepted a position with the Agricultural Research Service of USDA as a field engineer at the Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed in Tombstone AZ. He completed an MS in Civil Engineering at the University of Arizona in 1959, and was transferred by the ARS USDA to Madison, WI where he completed a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering with minors in Meteorology and Geophysics while working part-time and was elected to Sigma Xi Scientific Research Honor Society. He was transferred to Columbia, MO in 1961 as an engineer for a new ARS watershed research center. Academia called again and he accepted a position at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY developing a graduate program in Water Resources Engineering with a counterpart in the Department of Economics.

He returned to ARS in 1967 as Research Investigations Leader for Watershed Engineering in the Northern Plains Branch with headquarters in Fort Collins, CO. He was a Faculty Affiliate in Civil Engineering at Colorado State University and was a full member of the Graduate School. In 1977-78 he was a visiting professor at Imperial College, London and visiting scientist at the Institute of Hydrology in Wallingford, UK.

In 1981 he transferred to the Southwest Watershed Research Center in Tucson, Arizona, where he served as senior scientist and research leader and was an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Hydrology and Water Resources at the University of Arizona. He enjoyed backpacking in wilderness areas with his family and dogs. He also had great fun with paddling and sailing “Molly Brown”- a two-man kayak he built from a kit.

He retired in 1991 after 30 years of government service, and in 1993 he and Kay returned to Fort Collins. After retirement he served as visiting professor at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg VA, and the University of Cordoba, Spain and was a part-time consultant. In 1994 he and Kay purchased an irrigated farm near Hotchkiss, CO and with son Carl, constructed buildings and improved the irrigation system for raising organic herbs and vegetables, hay and grain.

He was recognized for his expertise in the hydrology and hydro meteorology of arid lands, numerical modeling of surface runoff and probabilistic modeling of precipitation and runoff. He received many honors and awards for his research including the Robert E. Horton Award and elected Fellowship in the American Geophysical Union, the Arid Lands Hydraulic Engineering and the Ven Te Chow Awards and the Hunter Rouse Lectureship of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Ray K. Linsley Award of American Institute of Hydrology. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1990 and received the Distinguished Service Citation from the University Of Wisconsin in 1991. He felt that it was a privilege to work with his many colleagues and students over the years.

He was fond of reading, gourmet cooking and classical music, and after his retirement, joined the Tuesday morning sketch group in Ft. Collins, where Kay has been a member for many years, and he became an accomplished watercolor artist. Throughout his life, David gave generously to many charities, and was an active citizen with a strong commitment to democratic values and social justice.

He was preceded in death by his parents and sister, Beverly Steinhoff. He is survived by his wife Kathryn, two sons, Carl and Curt (Anna Rakityanskaya) and daughter, Lisa (Ming Tang Huang). He was especially proud of his children and three grandchildren, Mark Huang, Mia Huang and Daniel Woolhiser.

For those who wish, Memorial contributions may be made to Larimer County Food Bank, Oxfam America, or Child Fund International.

A 2:00 PM Celebration of Life has been scheduled for November 22, 2022 at the Foothills Unitarian Church located on 1815 Yorktown Avenue in Fort Collins.