Virgil George Leenerts

Virgil George Leenerts age 89, of Loveland, died at his home on Tuesday, 23 June 2026. Virgil was born on a farm in Golden, Illinois on 21 October 1936, to George H. Leenerts and Mathilda R. Saathoff Leenerts.

Virgil’s interest in electronics began when the Leenerts home was installed with electricity in 1948. Virgil constructed a functional workbench upstairs in his bedroom to investigate, research electronics, and learn how to repair or create electronic devices. To re-enforce foundational principles of his early physics and engineering skills, interactive learning included projects on the family farm, plus he volunteered to repair radios and telephones in the community, progressing to short-wave radios. Virgil earned his amateur radio license as a Senior in High School. He joined the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) in the Summer of 1962/1963, an organization now known as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

After serving in the United States Air Force (USAF), Virgil earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering (BSEE) from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1963. He accepted a job at Hewlett-Packard (HP) Company in Loveland, Colorado as a Research & Development Engineer and spent time working in multiple departments designing quality electronics products. A highlight project Virgil enjoyed was working on the 3585 Spectrum Analyzer design, with many other opportunities to design HP Test and Measurement equipment, R&D, and Power Supply Engineering. He traveled to a few countries, such as Germany, Italy, and South Korea, as an Engineering Consultant to close out his career after 38 years in the industry. Virgil retired from Hewlett-Packard/Agilent Technologies in 2001. Virgil met fellow HP employee Ellen Pacas, they married in 2002 and enjoyed 20 happy years together until her death in 2022.

Virgil, the inventor, earned a patent titled Standing Wave Ratio Measurement Instrument (1978) and a shared patent titled Isolated DC to DC Converter (2006). These additional accomplishments were enabled by the fully equipped electronics lab he built from scratch, located in the basement of his home since the late 1960’s. Engineering was Virgil’s profession and hobby and he was well known for sharing his knowledge and craft. In 2001, Virgil created his own business named Golden “L” Electronics, LLC to continue his ongoing engineering consultant adventures. He spent many years post-retirement working as an entrepreneur and professional engineering consultant with many companies, writing many supportive technical documents on test or communications equipment. Virgil’s last projects were helping to restore and make fully functional World War II communications equipment.

Virgil, WøINK, was also a founder of an Amateur Radio Club named the Loveland Repeater Association (LRA) in 1978 and directed activities to build a repeater site located on Namaqua Hill. Indeed, Virgil enjoyed emerging communications plus the technical aspects of the amateur radio. He authored several articles that were published in the professional ARRL magazine and QEX magazine. Virgil lectured on many amateur radio related presentations, such as one for switching regulators.

Virgil joined the Loveland Optimist Club to meet new people and be active in the local community, where he served in multiple leadership roles. Virgil was a longtime member of Trinity Lutheran Church where he served on the congregation council and volunteered on numerous committees. In March 2010, Ellen and Virgil joined the Zion Lutheran Church community.

Virgil stated he wants to be remembered for his core values: cultivate fairness, to treat everyone equally, be non-judgmental, interface with people from all walks of life, have a willingness to share knowledge and skills, and for everyone to realize there is more to life than serving oneself.

Virgil is survived by his sister-in-law, Joyce Leenerts; children, Timothy Leenerts (Kristin) of Pittsburgh, PA; Sarah Coyle (Mark) of Fort Collins, CO; Jay Leenerts (Jacki) of Yuma, CO; Eliana Turner (Tony) of Berthoud, CO; and Kathleen Leenerts (Erik) of Thornton, CO. He is also survived by many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Virgil was predeceased by his parents George and Mathilda Leenerts, all his siblings Elmer, Bernice, Floyd, and Rosemary, and his wife Ellen.

Services: 1100 MDT on 12 August 2026 at Zion Lutheran Church, 815 E. 16th Street, Loveland, CO 80538 with Pastor Veronica Kristian officiating. A reception will take place immediately following the service at the church. Livestream will be available from the zoom link located on the webpage https://zionloveland.com/worship/.

Final Resting Place: Loveland Burial Park and Lakeside Cemetery Columbarium.

Memorials: Donations in memory of Virgil G. Leenerts may be made to Colorado Public Radio (CPR) Classical at https://donate.cpr.org/classical or the University of Illinois Alumni Association at https://uiaa.org/giving/.