It could be said that the world stopped turning for just a moment on Sunday September 20th, 2020, when Daniel Nathan Saffer was taken suddenly from this earthly life. Dan was born on August 14th, 1958. He was the first son of Ross and Pearl Saffer of Arriba, CO. Dan was welcomed home by his nine-year-old sister Veda. Fourteen months later he was joined by his brother Steve and in 1963 the family was completed by little brother Jeff.
In 1965 the family moved south of Flagler to continue farming and ranching. Then, in 1968, they moved once again. This time to a farm site northeast of Genoa. Dan would often brag about his father teaching him to drive a tractor at the age of 6 or 7 and learning about the farm. Learning to work on tractors sparked his interest in mechanics. It was here that the boys had two donkeys named Silver and Shag. The only way they could get these two “stubborn mules” to load was to feed them Captain Crunch cereal. Dan, Steve and Jeff together kept life very interesting for their parents and sister.
Dan attended most of his school years in Arriba. His first true love was basketball. Everyone that knew Dan was aware of how seriously he took the sport. He graduated from Arriba High School in 1977 with several trophies and awards for his basketball accomplishments. Dan was awarded a basketball scholarship at Western Northeast Technical College in Sidney, Nebraska where he studied auto body repair. While attending school in Sidney it was not uncommon for Dan to make a stop in his 1970 Plymouth Roadrunner at his sister Veda and brother-in-law Leo’s farm in Akron for an egg sandwich and sometimes gas on his way back to school. Dan graduated from Sidney in 1979. He then moved back to Flagler and went to work for Randy’s Auto Body. While working there he bought his first brand new car, a 1979 Pontiac Trans Am. Of course, the very first thing Dan did was paint it. This was also the beginning of Dan’s lifelong friendship with Steve Lund.
In 1983 Dan married his first wife. In 1985 Dan’s college friend, Doug Morrow, recommended a job opening at Beegles Aircraft Service and the couple moved to Greeley where Dan began working for them as an aircraft refinisher in the paint shop. On August 6, 1985, Dan’s son David Wayne was born. It was shortly after this that Dan became a single father with the support of his family. While working at Beegles, Dan met his friend and future brother in law, Jim Rodriguez where they worked together side by side for 26 years.
This friendship later led to Dan meeting Cynthia Perez and her children Crystal, Angela and Alexander in 1996. On their first date Dan took Cynthia and her children to the carnival in his 1969 Pontiac GTO. This was the beginning of a beautiful blended family when Cynthia became a mother to 10-year-old David and Dan, a loving father to Cynthia’s 3 kids. At the time, David was away for the summer with his mom and came home extremely excited to find that he had new sisters and a brother.
Many Christmases were shared with Veda’s family over the years. One Christmas Eve Dan put David to bed and after waiting an hour, Santa’s elves began putting David’s gift together. Of course, Santa had to try it out to make sure it worked right. It was then that David hollered, “Is that my racetrack, Dad?”. The look on Dan’s face was hilarious. Another Christmas memory was Dan all-of-a-sudden breaking out with “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire....” He may or may not on occasion change the word “chest” to “Jeff”. However, the most treasured memory is when Dan proposed to Cynthia at the 1998 Christmas spent at Veda’s by first asking her children’s blessing for her hand in marriage and the couple married on June 23, 2001. They spent 24 beautiful and amazing years together as a family.
All through the kids’ school years, Dan and Cynthia could be found sitting in the crowd cheering them on as they participated in their sporting events. Dan would often stay out until dark practicing layups and jump stops with the kids, and just shooting hoops in general. His love of basketball lived eternal in him. For several years he drove all the way from Greeley to play in the town team tournament in Flagler over the Christmas holidays. His basketball playing days eventually came to an end when he blew out his Achilles tendon.
Everyone knew his love and passion for Mopar and muscle car restoration. It wasn’t uncommon to find his kids working along with Dan on his restoration projects. He also taught all of them to drive in his 1970 Plymouth Roadrunner known as Ol’ Red. In the summers the kids loved attending Dan’s drag races at Julesburg Dragstrip & Bandimere Speedway and going to car shows as a family.
On July 18, 2015, the family’s world was turned upside down with the death of their son, Zander. His death left a deep void in the lives of the family and was something that none of them ever fully recovered from. Dan’s love for his wife and kids was endless, but he was proudest of his grandkids Rayden, Gauge, Judah, Brynlee, Easton, and Emilia. He was always eager to share his stories and show or text videos and pictures of the littles. When Brynlee was born, Dan went from being Grandpa to “Papa” and what a Papa he was!
Dan never did anything halfway. In 2004 he taught himself to play the guitar by playing “Ode to Joy” over and over again. Eventually, Dan became the lead singer of a band that his friend Jesse Lance started that included his brother-in-law, Jim Rodriguez, Doug Morrow, Kurt Cunningham, and Eddie Rodriguez. The band was originally called “The Soggy Crotch Boys,” then was changed to “The Soggy Crotch Boys and The Bag Lady” when Julie Cook joined the band. The guys loved playing gigs for fundraisers, benefits, retirement parties, birthday parties, family, and friends. One of his bands with Jim, and his buddies Eddie Rodriguez, Leon De La Fuente, Albert Dominguez, and Juan Aguilar, was called “Los Canosos” which translates to “Old Grey-Haired Men”. His most current band, “Jenghis” included Jim and Eddie Rodriguez, Ian Temple, and Forest Cardwell.
Dan retired from Beegles in 2018 after 32 years of employment. He spent his retirement working part-time at Refinish and Fix Furniture. Dan continued his passion for cars, repairing and restoring automobiles for family and friends. His last full restoration project was a 1972 Plymouth Barracuda. But his greatest joy was spending more time with the love of his life, their children and grandchildren.
The world lost one of the best on September 20th. Dan was the stable rock of the family and never wavered. Whether it be his kids and grandkids, sister or brothers, nieces and nephews, friends, or neighbors down the street, everyone knew Dan was the guy to go to. It didn’t matter who you were, he would do what he could to help in any given situation. The family gives special thanks to Steve Lund, Dan’s life-long buddy, who was there for him right to the end.
Dan is preceded in death by his parents, Ross and Pearl Saffer; his brother Jeff, son Zander, and unborn grandson Orrin Daniel Larsen. He is survived by his wife Cynthia, son David and wife Alicia of Severance and their children Rayden, Gauge and Judah; daughter Crystal and her partner Zack Halsey and their children Brynlee and Easton; and daughter Angela and her husband Ben Larsen and their daughter Emilia, all of Greeley; his sister Veda and her husband Leo Pieper of Akron; and his brother Steve of Flagler; as well as many nieces, nephews, cousins, in-laws, and friends.
Honorary pallbearers, David Saffer, Rayden Saffer, Gauge Saffer, Judah Saffer, Easton Halsey, Steve Saffer, Leo Pieper, Steve Lund, Jim Rodriguez, and Marc Rhule.
A Celebration of Life Memorial Service will be held at 10 a.m. on Monday, September 28th, 2020 at Mosaic Church in Evans – 3451 23rd Ave Evans, CO 80620. Due to COVID, masks will be required.
A reception will follow at the Greeley/Evans Moose Lodge, located at 3456 11th Ave Evans, CO 80620.
If you would like to give the family keepsakes/photos of cars that Dan has worked on, there will be a memory chest available at the service.
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