Lysle Lee Frey

Lysle Lee Frey, passed away at the age of 90, on March 9th, 2023. He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Jane Elizabeth Swanson Frey, daughter LeeAnn Reinfeldt, son Sean Frey, and daughter Kathy Clark. Lysle also has five grandchildren and two great grandchildren. Lysle learned in December 2022 that he had stage 4 esophageal cancer.

As of the end of October 2021, Lysle resided with his wife Jane at Golden Pond Retirement Community, in Golden Colorado. Prior to this, after Lysle and Jane were married in September 1962, they resided in Arvada, Colorado; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and back to Lakewood Colorado. In December 1971, they settled on Lookout Mountain in Golden Colorado, for the next 45 years. Lysle worked hard to not just expand and build a house; he built a home. When he and Jane could no longer take care of the 4500 square foot home and 1.5 acres of land, they purchased a much smaller home in Arvada, Colorado where they resided until moving to Golden Pond Retirement Community.

Lysle was born in Des Moines, Iowa. At an early age he and his older brother, Charles Frey, learned how to care for themselves. They both were eventually removed from their parent’s care, and they spent much of their child and adolescent years in homes for dependent children. Later, they both enlisted in the military. Lysle enlisted with the Army on October 31, 1949. He was in the Army for a little over three years, stationed in Camp Lucas, Sault Ste Marie, Michigan, and Camp Haven, north of Sheboygan, Wisconsin. He also spent 17 days in Canada during the Korean war.

After being discharged from the Army in 1953, Lysle met and married his first wife, Shirley VanAkkeren, in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. They had their first daughter shortly after, Lee Ann Frey (Reinfeldt). They later divorced and Lysle moved to Colorado where he met Jane Swanson.

Lysle attended the Layton School of Art in the mid-1950’s. His career focused on decorating, painting, building, etc. He worked for the Federal Center for a period building models. For much of his later career years, Lysle owned his own business (LF Studios) as an interior/exterior designer. He was a drywaller, painter, designer, decorator, etc. Lysle had many residential clients in the Genesee, Lookout Mountain and the surrounding areas. He also did a lot of custom designing for restaurants and other businesses. In his spare time, when he wasn’t working on his own home, he created his own custom artwork and paintings.

For the last several years, Lysle dedicated much of his day to taking care of Jane. More recently, he enjoyed visiting with other residents and staff at the facility. Lysle also attended art class each week helping others with their paintings while creating his own masterpieces.

Lysle was a survivor and always believed in working hard. He will be remembered as a very likable, funny, compassionate, yet independent and resilient man who always found a way to keep on moving through the good and the bad.