Rod Torgler

July 26, 1946 - November 2, 2010

Roderick Alan Torgler — beloved husband, father, brother, neighbor, and friend — died November 2, 2010, after a long battle with leukemia. He was 64. Rod was born on July 26, 1946 in La Junta, Colorado to George and Pearl Torgler. He was the youngest of four children. During his childhood in Ordway, Colorado, he was an avid boy scout, attending jamborees in Colorado Springs and Valley Forge, Pa. At Crowley County High School, he was active in Future Farmers of America and a member of the football and wrestling teams. After graduating in 1964, he attended Southern Colorado State College, where he earned a degree in auto mechanics. On June 11, 1966 he married Marianne Spitzer in Pueblo. Their marriage would last 44 years, until his death, and they would have four daughters together, Rochell, Renee, Kathryn, and Christine. Also in 1966, Rod began his four-decade career as a railroad engineer, driving trains for American Refrigeration Transportation, Missouri Pacific, Rio Grande, and Union Pacific. Rod considered his railroad friends throughout Colorado and Kansas his family away from home. In 1968, Rod moved his family from Pueblo to Ordway, where he purchased and remodeled the house on the Pantle farm. For the next 29 years, he commuted the 50 miles to Pueblo for his railroad job while also raising livestock on the farm, including cattle, pigs, and chickens. Friends and neighbors knew Rod as a mechanical genius who could build or repair anything. He owned several antique cars and was fond of taking visitors for rides in his Model T Ford. He was known for his hospitality, his generosity, his work ethic, and his honesty and directness. He had an aversion to debt, but he enjoyed gambling, and he and Marianne often vacationed in Las Vegas. He was also an avid fisherman who spent many an hour casting his line at Lake Henry near the farm, as well as one week every year trolling on his boat at Blue Mesa in Gunnison. He was active in community organizations, including the Rocky Ford Elks Club, Ordway Lions, Ordway Jaycees and Rocky Ford Golf Club. Rod became a grandfather in 1991 upon the birth of Rochell's daughter, Paige Renee, to whom he taught fishing and other life lessons. In 1997, the railroad transferred Rod to Denver. For the next nine years, he and Marianne lived in Northglenn, where he again amazed his neighbors with his mechanical know-how and his helpfulness. After 40 years of driving trains, Rod retired from the railroad in 2006, and he and Marianne moved back to the farm in Ordway. For the couple, retirement meant days spent remodeling the house, buying items at auctions to fix up and resell, traveling throughout the Southwest, doing handyman chores for friends and neighbors, working on the antique cars, visiting his mother every day at the Crowley County Nursing Center, and of course, fishing. Sadly, Rod's enjoyment of his leisure was short-lived, but he confronted his final illness with his usual combination of fortitude, drive, determination, practicality, and good humor. His many friends and relatives will miss his good and loving heart. Please send your kind thoughts to: Wife Marianne Daughters Rochell, Renee, and Kathryn Granddaughter Paige Sons-in-law Scott, Gary, and Jon Brother Shannon Siblings-in-law Jeannie and Guy Arrangements have been entrusted to the Ford-Ustick Funeral Home. Condolences may be sent to www.fordustick.com.