William E Coburn II
June 26, 1926 - February 05, 2023
William E Coburn Born 6/12/1926 Springfield, CO Died 2/5/2023 Boulder, CO William E Coburn of Boulder, Colorado enjoyed life for 96 years. He passed away peacefully on February 5th, 2023.
Bill was the youngest of four, born to Earl & Ruth Coburn. He had three siblings, Eugene, Betty, and Richard. Bill grew up in southeast Colorado, in
Springfield, La Junta, Monte Vista, and Pueblo. He graduated from Pueblo Centennial High School in 1944.
Bill spent his whole life in Colorado except for when he served in
WWII when he was enlisted in the Army Air Corp from 1944 - 1946. He was also with the Army Combat
Engineers from 1950-1952 for the
Korean War. Bill attended the University of Colorado, earning a degree in Civil Engineering in 1949.
Bill married Frances Jane Melcher in December of 1948. They had four children and 47 years of a great life with lots of interests, education and family travel. Bill liked to joke that Frannie received a "PHT degree" from CU in 1949 for "putting husband thru." Frannie then received her Masters Degree in Geography many years later. She passed away in February 1995 after a 10 year battle with Alzheimers. Scott was their first son, an architect and a builder. Russel was next, an archeologist and the founder of EMI apparel company. Nancy was their third. She was beautiful, talented, and smart, but was killed in a car accident in Spain at the age of 18. William II was their fourth and started in geology, but his main career was as a developers and builder with his company Coburn Development. He built the first mixed use project in Boulder on the old Boulder Steel property at 30 th and Bluff called Steel Yards. Bill was a sales engineer for CF+I Steel for 10 years, working out of their Denver office before moving the family to Boulder in 1963 to start a steel fabrication business. He had a 30 year career growing with Boulder and Boulder Steel until selling to three key employees. He helped with getting the company moved to Broomfield but kept the 30 th St property that was later developed by his son Billy.
Bill married Carol Nelson Walker in 1996. They were divorced in 2023.
Bill enjoyed spending winters in Arizona and balancing his time in Boulder enjoying golf, the Boulder Country Club, University of Colorado sports and loved following the Olympic track career of his granddaughter, Emma. He had a lifelong interest in archeology, and recently, he enjoyed joining his son Russ at his land in Texas to dig up arrowheads. Bill was also committed to enjoying as many fly fishing adventures in the Gunnison and Crested Butte area as possible. Even as recently as summer 2022, Scott drove Bill to Crested Butte to enjoy fishing on the Gunnison River together with
Billy. Bill took good care of his health and remained active, all with the goal to continue watching Emma's races, continue enjoying the digs, and to continue fishing with his boys. Bill is preceded in death by his parents, Earl and Ruth Coburn, wife Frannie, siblings Eugene, Betty (Gene), and Richard, daughter Nancy, daughter-in-law Annie, and brother-in-law Pete. Bill is survived by his three sons, Scott and his wife Nancy, Russ and his wife Leanne, and Billy. He is also survived by his brother-in-law Burt Melcher, sister in-law-rosie Melcher, his many grandchildren, and great grandchildren.
Per Bill's words, he summed it up simply, "Many great long time friends and a few are still alive. Can't ask for much more in life."
Bill has been cremated and his ashes will be scattered on top of
Angel Mountain above Tin Cup, CO. He has crossed the river to join Frances, Nancy, Annie, and many family and friends (along with Mac and Robbie, who were Frannie's best Sheltie friends in her last years).
Friends and family are invited to a Celebration of Life at the Boulder Country Club on March 3rd, 2023 from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Alzheimer's
Association, an organization that Bill was committed to donating to through in the last several decades.