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Duane Paul Chesley passed away on February 10, 2020, after a brief, but courageous, battle against a very aggressive form of Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS).  Previously, he was well on his way to making a full recovery from open heart surgery, performed on October 23, 2019, for the replacement of a faulty aortic valve and two coronary artery bypasses, when, in December, he became increasingly fatigued and it was discovered that he was severely anemic.  He was subsequently diagnosed with MDS in January 2020.  He was 83 at the time of his passing.  His daughters, Gretchen Goral and Heidi Chesley and their families, were with him during the weeks, days and hours prior to his passing.  He finally succumbed to the MDS, peacefully, at the University of Colorado Hospital, in Aurora. 

 

Attaining the rank of full colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve while also working as a mechanical engineer for the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) required hard work, dedication, organization and passion.  Duane possessed all of those when it came to his career and his assignment in the 1st Maneuver Training Command (MTC).  After receiving his commission as a 2nd lieutenant, upon graduation from the University of Colorado (CU), Duane spent 30 years in the U.S. Army Reserve, working his way up the echelons of the 1st MTC, eventually earning the distinguished rank of full colonel and serving as commander of his unit, prior to his retirement from the Army in 1988.  He maintained friendships with many of his former coworkers and Reserve unit friends until his final days.  Duane also worked as an engineer and project manager for GSA, located at the Denver Federal Center.  He also worked for Dow Chemical at Rocky Flats and, later in his career, as a consulting engineer for Chen Northern, Inc.   

 

Born May 25, 1936, in Callaway, Nebraska, to Orville and Edna Chesley, Duane had a happy childhood on the farm with his older sister Coreen.  A large extended family, including his uncle Ole Chesley and many cousins, still inhabit the sand hill towns of Arnold, Callaway, and nearby Cozad.

 

While in elementary school, the family moved to Gunnison, Colorado, where his parents operated a motel.  At Crested Butte Ski Area, Duane found his great love for skiing, something that remained a passion for much of his life.  Later, the family moved to Longmont, Colorado where Duane attended and graduated from Longmont High School in 1954.

 

Duane attended CU, Boulder, from 1954-1958, where he was on the ski team and was a member of the Army ROTC; he graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering and began work with the Army Corps of Engineers.

 

He met the love of his life, Viola Elvina Nelson, in late 1959.  Vi had moved to Denver from Rochester, Minnesota, having grown up in the small town of Mabel, Minnesota, where she grew up with her thirteen brothers and sisters, on the family farm.  When she and her girlfriend arrived in Denver, Vi knew no one and had just the items in her suitcase, her outgoing personality and her very positive attitude.  Duane fell in an instant, and within months they were married, in Rochester, Minnesota, on September 3, 1960.

 

Duane and Vi settled in Wheat Ridge, Colorado and soon started a family with daughters Gretchen and Heidi arriving in 1961 and 1965.  With Boston Terrier, Penny, the brood was complete.  Summer vacations often consisted of Vi and the girls accompanying Dad wherever his reserve unit was holding trainings, such as San Francisco.  Or, the four would visit Vi’s relatives in Minnesota and join the Nelson family reunion and picnic.  Sundays were often spent with “G-Momma” (Edna) and “G-Daddy” (Orville) at their home in Longmont.  Duane also loved the outdoors and every year Duane, Vi, Gretchen and Heidi would explore a different national park, hiking, camping, fishing and sight-seeing.  There were countless quintessential family road trips in the International Harvester Travelall.

 

Duane was an active member of Holy Cross Lutheran Church, in Wheat Ridge.  He attended services, proudly volunteered as a teller, and advised on the building and its mechanical systems.

 

A great craftsman and an artist with a caulking gun, Duane often could be found working on repair or improvement projects at the homes of his daughters or of his neighbors and friends.  He also built furniture, turned bowls, and loved any woodworking project.  His inventions could solve any problem.  Many of his creations were on display or functioning in his own home.  He also loved working on his 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air and shared his love of old cars with his close friends Angel, Sam, and others.  He restored a 1940 Farmall tractor, like the one he knew on the farm in Nebraska.   After winning several awards with it, he gifted it to his cousin, Lane Chesley. 

 

He loved to collect and display artwork, including pottery by his cousin Lane and Lane’s brother Steve.  He proudly hung the paintings and sketches done by Vi, who was a talented artist in watercolors and pastels.  He also had several pieces created by Vi’s sister, Ada, and her husband, Ray Kjos—both exceptionally talented artists.  Additionally, he was a collector of mithlesh or geometric pin and string art, especially made by his good friend, architect George Green.

 

In addition to supporting the visual arts, Duane also loved music.  He ensured that his family had every opportunity to become musicians, whether piano, clarinet, flute, piccolo, guitar, banjo or dulcimer.  Throughout his life he was a patron of  symphony concerts, brass ensembles, bluegrass festivals and Swallow Hill folk concerts.  He was a regular at Macky Auditorium at CU, the Newman Center at DU, Swallow Hill, Boettcher Concert Hall, the Jefferson Symphony (to hear his son-in-law, Alan Goral, play the clarinet), the Arvada Center, and the Froelicher Theatre at Colorado Academy, where he watched countless music recitals and productions featuring his grandchildren.  Duane also looked forward to watching the Kennedy Center Honors every December. 

 

Duane was also a longtime supporter of education. In his mind nothing was more important than pursuing a quality education and having that experience lift up your life circumstances.  He supported Colorado Academy (all five of his grandchildren have attended this school), and, as a proud graduate of CU-Boulder’s Engineering School, he endowed a scholarship there to help encourage and support others to pursue their ambitions.  He was also a life-long learner himself, taking courses at Regis University on World War II, and reading countless books from the era.

 

Duane had recently traveled to Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, to visit his grandson, Geoffrey and girlfriend Aliey.  He called it a trip of a lifetime and with his much younger “guides,” walked well over twenty miles in ten days, exploring Melbourne, the ocean coast and on a side trip to Sydney.  Duane, over the years, also traveled throughout Western and Eastern Europe and was especially fond of Normandy, Norway, and Vienna. He also made dozens of trips to New England to visit Heidi and her family.  He loved exploring the history of Boston, Providence, and Cambridge, the coastline of Maine, and the hills and fall foliage of Vermont and Connecticut.  His tri-annual trips to Franklin, Massachusetts to work on Heidi and Jon’s 1894 Victorian provided a source of comfort and solace as he worked through his profound grief following the death of Vi.

 

Duane is predeceased by his parents, his beloved wife, Viola, and his sister, Coreen, and her husband Ron Miller.  He is survived by his daughters, Gretchen Goral (Alan) of Littleton, Colorado and Heidi Chesley (Jonathan Vogels) of Denver, grandchildren Geoffrey, Matthew (Laura), Madeline, Henry and Chloe.  He is also survived by his uncle Ole Chesley of Cozad, Nebraska, nephews Randy (Cyndi) Miller of Newport, Washington and Ken (Peggy) Miller of Laurel, Montana, as well as many cousins, extended family members and friends, across the country.

 

In lieu of flowers, Gretchen and Heidi request that you consider making a donation to Swallow Hill Music, 71 E. Yale Ave, Denver, CO 80210, a place where Duane attended countless music concerts, and where Vi took dulcimer lessons.

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Duane Chesley Obituary | Altogether