Kenneth L. Roach

Kenneth L. Roach passed away Friday, June 9th at McKee Medical Center. He is survived by his high school sweet heart and wife Jacqueline Holzinger Roach, his three children Michael Roach and his wife Monica, Julie Burgard and her husband Jerry, and Susan Roach, and his three grandchildren Justin Burgard, Jessica Bean and her husband Jarrod and Jonathan Roach and his fiancé Liz.

Home on leave from the navy, he married Jacqueline and started a family shortly after. He was a fun loving father that his children idolized. He loved his grandchildren, family, friends and everyone he met. After having a long career at Pabst in Peoria, IL he worked for and eventually retired from Budweiser in Ft Collins, CO. An avid fisherman and hunter, he loved camping and traveling with his wife. They also enjoyed their winters together in Arizona. He was a positive force that will forever be missed.

Graveside services and reception will be held at Resthaven Funeral Home, 8426 S Hwy 287, Ft Collins on Thursday, June 15, 2017 from 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you make a donation to the American Lung Association or the Ft Collins Elk Lodge #804.

Eulogy

My dad, Kenny was a mechanical genius, a foodie, an accomplished traveler, a hilarious jokester and everyone’s friend.

He had one woman in his life, my mom, Jackie. These high school sweethearts got married while dad was on leave from the Navy. They forged through 59 years of marriage, and they said it wouldn’t last. Together they raised us 3 kids; my brother Mike, my sister Julie, and me Dr Susan. He never treated his daughters any differently, for being female. All his kids were taught the proper techniques in using tools, so the tool would do the work, not us, where to shop for good tools, and to how to change the oil in our own cars.

An avid hunter and fisherman, he hunted rabbit with my brother and went frogging with all us kids. He started us little ones out fishing by teaching us to build our own fishing pole with a stick, a string, a safety pin and earth worms, before graduating to jugging and then our own fishing poles. Even as a teenager, in our New York home on a lake, we had a fishing boat with a trolling motor and if we caught the fish, he would clean them when he got home from work. He loved nature and wanted us to experience that too. He even bought us a paddle boat, which was a lot of fun around the lake.

He could build or fix just about anything so he always had great advice, even over the phone. He was also known for his timeless words of wisdom, like “Righty tighty, lefty loosey’ and ‘Pull my finger’!.

He had a life-long love affair with cooking. He was the master of the barbecue grill and my sister, Julie learned his tricks well. When we were young, he even made a whole pig roaster out of an old oil tank. He would have to wrap the pig in chicken wire before cooking because that meat would literally fall of the bone. Every week, he loved to go out to eat with his friends trying nearly every local restaurant we have to offer. And at home, he had Sunday fun day, were my niece Jesse and her husband Jarrod, along with any of their friends or extended family would come over for food and fun.

He excelled at living within his means, never losing any overtime, and outsmarting his supervisors. If his supervisor would dare to tell dad how to fix something, he would do exactly as they said and of course that made the problem worse. Finally, usually hours later the supervisor would say I don’t know what else to do, ‘you fix it’ and after correcting all the supervisors mistakes, dad would have it up and running again in around ten minutes. Another time his supervisor said ‘make me look good’ and dad said ‘what the hell, I’m not a plastic surgeon'. He built the family cabin from the ground up before the days of youtube videos telling you how to do something. He made additions to the house, finished more than one basement, built a two car garage, installed heating systems, did electrical work, plumbing and any other home repair needed.

Once he was done working for the day, he loved to sit in his recliner watching television while the kids climbed all over him. He took extreme pride in his three grandchildren Justin and Jessica, Julie and Jerry’s kids and Jonathon, my brother Mike’s son. He was so happy in his last days to see all of his family here together.

His keen sense of humor will not be forgotten. He was a hard-working man, loyal, generous, ornery and a big softie. May he rest in peace.

From your daughter Susan Roach DVM