Ann S. and Burton L. Kelchner

Ann S. Kelchner, 93 died December 2, 2018. Ann Strickland was born to Clair Strickland and Vinnie Watson Strickland in northeastern Alabama. She was the oldest of four children. Her brother Jim and sister Mary both pre-deceased her. Her brother John resides in Morris, Alabama.

Ann entered the University of Alabama, September 1943, after meeting Burt. She finished her first year of school then married Burt July 29, 1944 at her parents' home in Oneonta, Alabama. They had a short three day honeymoon in Birmingham before he had to report back to post. Ann then studied for a second year at Alabama. In June 1945 she took the train to Albuquerque where they found a small apartment downtown. She lived there by herself for two months and he would hitch a ride to come visit once or twice a week. In August she was allowed to move up to The Hill, Los Alamos. They lived in married housing for the next seven years and two of their three daughters were born in Los Alamos: Eileen and Joan.

Burton L. Kelchner, 96, died May 31st in Wheat Ridge, Colorado at Collier Hospice after a short illness from a closed head injury due to a fall. He was born in Bethlehem, PA to Floyd O. Kelchner and Gertrude Kiefer Kelchner, the 7th of 8 children.

Burton entered Moravian College in Bethlehem majoring in Chemistry. He graduated early in January 1943 and entered the Army. After taking a battery of tests, the Army sent him to Virginia Tech for a degree in Chemical Engineering. Once again, after taking an accelerated schedule, the Army tapped him and several friends for a secret new project out west. On that circuitous train trip, he fell in love with the west and lived thereafter in New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado. He worked on the Manhattan Project, witnessed history, helped build Rocky Flats and finished his career as a Cold War soldier and patriot.

During boot camp in Alabama in 1943, he met and fell in love with Ann Strickland of Oneonta, Alabama. They corresponded daily for a year before they married in July 1944.

In 1952, Burton was given the opportunity to help develop the new weapons plant, Rocky Flats, outside Boulder, CO. The family moved to Wheat Ridge. The third daughter, Elizabeth, was born 2 years later and the family made Wheat Ridge their home until 1985. By that time, the girls were grown and on their own, so Burton and Ann began the journey south, living in Littleton for 10 years, Albuquerque again for 6 years and then Glendale, AZ, for 4 years. They thoroughly enjoyed their golden years in 3 more new communities, exploring all three states to the fullest. In 2005, with health issues starting to interfere, they moved back to Lakewood, CO to the Westland Meridian senior living complex which they enjoyed for several years.

They are survived by their daughters Eileen Gardner, CPA (husband Kerry Gardner and their children Nathaniel Richards, Courtney Richards and Karl Gardner, all of the Denver area), Dr. Joan Kelchner, retired, Phoenix, (husband James Trocki, deceased) and Elizabeth Kelchner, retired (husband L. S. Skinkle Jr.), both in Phoenix.

Memorial contributions may be made to Wheat Ridge Presbyterian Church or the National Federation of the Blind.