January 06 1929 December 26 2019
David Muir Gullikson January 06, 1929 – December 26, 2019 Share this obituary Send Flowers Sign Guestbook| Send Sympathy Card David Muir Gullikson died at home on December 26, 2019 with his family by his side in Loveland, Colorado at 90 years of age. David was born on January 6, 1929, in Grand Forks, North Dakota. He spent his early years on the family farm in Wheatfield Township with his parents Vera and Ted along with his older brother Don and younger brother Ted. Between the great drought of the 30s, the historic 1936 cold wave, and low commodity prices for farm crops, those years were hard ones on the farm. Happily, David’s greatest worry at this time were the farmyard chickens who he thought had a particularly mean streak. David’s academic achievements got off to a fast start in his one-room schoolhouse. At Christmas of what was to have been his second grade year, his mother was surprised to receive a report card marked “Grade 3.” David had sat in the row of desks that best fit his long legs and easily completed the work of the grade ahead. In 1937, the family moved to nearby Inkster where his father became a farm equipment dealer and the boys finished school. David and big brother Don appreciated the improved logistics because they could lie in bed until the school bell rang, sprint out of the house, and make it to school before the tardy bell rang five minutes later. He studied for two years at the University of North Dakota before being drafted into the U.S. Army in 1950. He was stationed in Tokyo where he served in the Far East Command. In the Army, David said, you have to wait around quite a bit, and he entertained the men in his unit at these moments by reciting “The Cremation of Sam McGee”, “The Shooting of Dan McGrew”, and other poems by Robert Service. After mustering out, he returned to the University of North Dakota, where he graduated with a B.A. in mathematics in 1955 and a B.S. in petroleum engineering in 1956. While living in San Francisco, David attended a party in December 1960 at the home of Mary Thorson, a dietitian at Alta Bates Hospital in Oakland. The next day, David told his parents that he had met the girl he would marry, and then later that day cut and delivered a ten-foot Christmas tree to her house. They married on October 21, 1961 at Christ Episcopal Church in Mary’s hometown of Newcastle, Wyoming. Four children were born to the couple—one in each state where they lived in the years that followed. They settled in Loveland in 1972. David worked as a petroleum engineer in California, Venezuela, Wyoming, Louisiana, and Colorado before building and operating Ted’s True Value hardware store in Lyons with his brother Ted. David’s life was animated by a love of learning. His knowledge was wide ranging and his memory prodigious. To David, history, science, and literature are lived daily—from the wisdom of the ancient Greeks to the hardiness of his pioneer forebears and the latest developments in space exploration. He enjoyed designing and building: a rowboat for his nephew, mechanical toys and stilts for his grandchildren, rooms full of furniture, mountain roads, and a log cabin. He could repair a sixty-year-old bulldozer, design a garden, lay stonemasonry, carve wood, assemble a computer from a kit, make a child’s suit of armor from the Sunday paper, and fix just about anything. He loved the sea and we think of him with his eyes trained on the horizon, as in this story he told of a night spent on the deck of a troop carrier headed to Japan. At about sundown, the captain announced that there would be dangerous waves coming over the ship that night and ordered everyone off the decks and into their quarters. My friend Roger and I thought it would be interesting to stay on deck, so we hid until the hatches were locked. As it got darker and darker, the waves got higher and higher, and we could only see them coming by their phosphorescence. On deck all night, we had thrill after thrill that night watching the big waves come. David’s great joy and love was his family. He is survived by his wife of 58 years Mary Thorson Gullikson, his brother Ted L. Gullikson, and his four children Anne Murguia (Ted), Emily Hedrick (Charles), Gloria Edwards (William), and Donald Gullikson (Erica), and his eight grandchildren. He is preceded in death by his brother Donald N. Gullikson and parents Vera and Ted C. Gullikson. A fine writer, David dedicated his memoir to his children with these words: “Your thread of life has a continuity and it is webbed into the past with kindred souls.” The memorial service will be held on January 2, 2020 at 2 p.m. at All Saints Episcopal Church in Loveland. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the Loveland Rotary Foundation to support allied health and vocational scholarships in care of Kibbey-Fishburn Funeral Home & Crematory, 1102 N. Lincoln Avenue, Loveland, CO 80537 . SERVICES Memorial Service Thursday, January 02, 2020 2:00 PM All Saints Episcopal Church 3448 N. Taft Avenue Loveland, Colorado 80538 Get Directions on Google Maps Print Obituary Sign Guestbook Name: Location: Video: Image: Light A Candle Candle 1 Candle 2 Candle 3 Candle 4 Email: Please keep my message private Personal Message: Personal Message (required) Confirm: Submit Guestbook entry
Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of David Muir Gullikson January 06 1929 December 26 2019.
Death notice for the town of: Loveland, state: Colorado