Barry was born in Lincoln, NE. to Irwin and Arvilla Lostroh (Dankers). He is survived by his son Chris, daughter-in-law Marita, grandson Liam; son Bob, daughter-in-law Melanie, grandsons Logan and Ben; son Josh, granddaughter Harley; sister Judy, brother-in-law Jeff; former wife and best friend Sandy Pettinger; aunt Betty Lostroh; and five cousins. He was preceded in death by his parents; former wife Vicky Lostroh (Smith); and his beloved dog Buddy.
On the day Barry was born in 1949 he was 2 months premature and was not expected to survive. From his first moment he had a very powerful will to live. And that he did. Barry graduated in 1968 from Southeast High School lettering in gymnastics. He graduated from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln in 1972 with a degree in economics. GO BIG RED!!! He held many different positions for several companies but he loved his job at Kawasaki Motor cycles the best. After, Barry moved his family to Colorado in 1980 he worked as a mortgage banker. He then earned a teaching degree from Colorado State University (Go Rams) and a Master’s degree from the University of Phoenix. He worked as a teacher at Longmont High School for 12 years.
Barry said that family was the most important thing to him and that his proudest family moments were the births of his sons. Barry was blessed with three bouncing baby boys, who have all grown to be very fine handsome young men with beautiful families of their own. It is, however, surprising that they are all so different. He loved his grandkids and enjoyed playing and spending time with them.
Barry was adventurist. He climbed down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon to camp and then had to climb back out. He summited most of the fourteeners in Colorado, including Longs Peak several times. He climbed Mt. Elbert with his sons Chris and Bob. He loved the outdoors and traveled to most of the National Parks. Some of his favorites were Yellowstone, Glacier, and of course Rocky Mountain.
He was also a car enthusiast. His 1st was a 1965 & ½ Ford Mustang and his last an Audi S5 with so many in-between. As “King of the road” he traveled coast-to-coast on family trips, including New York City, Disney World, Disney Land, and many National Parks.
Barry truly loved music that started with AM radio. He was so excited when FM radio came to be. He shared his love for music with everyone, especially his boys. He taught his sons how to install audio equipment and build speaker boxes, even helping win car stereo competitions.
Barry’s mom said he was always playing in the dirt but never cared how dirty he or his clothes got because he was having so much fun. This sparked his love of plants. He almost always had a garden with lots of tomato plants. He just couldn’t eat enough fresh tomatoes. When it became too difficult to garden he started growing house plants. There are 47 in his home now.
Barry also enjoyed meeting and talking to new people. Not to talk about himself instead he was truly interested to learn about others and their stories. He could get anyone to smile and had an inviting smile of his own, but the best was his ornery grin.
Most of you know that Barry had many health challenges. He rarely complained. With that same powerful will to live he beat most of the odds. You could never count him out. He was our miracle baby. Some called him a bionic man. Barry received help from Heaven, his family, and Sandy who was a tremendous caregiver for three decades. Barry lived a full life on earth.
Barry loved flowers and they would be welcomed from friends wishing to send them. Barry requested that memorial donations be made to The Humane Society.
The family thanks you for all your thoughts and prayers.
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