Obituary of Robert William Coyne

Robert (Bob) was born on a farm in Holyoke, CO, at the height of the Dust Bowl. His father was Edward Coyne and his mother was Celia McCue. Although Bob was a small child during the time of the Dust Bowl the lessons his family learned and passed on to him always impacted his life.

Bob attended a one-room country school that housed twelve children all in different grades. When he was in the 7th grade the country school closed and he moved to the town school and graduated from Holyoke High School.

He learned to work hard and was driving the tractor during harvest at age nine. He and his brother Jim had to milk the cows and feed the pigs before and after school.

Bob was drafted into the army in September 1953. He was offered a state-side job in nuclear weapons. He served his military time at Killeen Base in Texas working on atomic bombs at the Atomic Bank Storage Facility. He was very proud of the time he spent in the service. After being discharged, he moved to Denver CO in 1956 and worked for Public Service Company for three years. During this time, he married Virginia Moudy. To this union was born three daughters, Leiloni, Alisa and Lorie. The marriage ended in divorce and Bob was awarded full custody of his daughters. As a single parent he learned to curl the girl's hair and to iron their dresses.

Bob left Public Service Company and worked for Dow Chemical from 1958-1961. In 1961 he was hired by Coors Ceramics. He worked at Coors for 32 years, starting out as a technician and ending up as a Supervisor of Quality Control managing 35 people. He often said that there wasn't a day that he didn't want to go to work. He loved working at Coors.

In 1970 Bob married Jerrie Draper. They were married for 52.5 years. When they got married Jerrie and Bob together had six children, all between the ages of nine and thirteen years. Bob and Jerrie loved dancing and travelled around the United States to attend Dixieland Jazz Festivals. They also enjoyed attending the local dances at the Elks Lodge. Dancing together brought tremendous joy into the marriage. They purchased a motorhome and travelled to all the states except North Dakota, visiting many of the National Parks along the way and spent six weeks in Alaska in the motorhome as well. Their travels included Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Panama Canal, Costa Rica, Canada and Singapore. 

Bob is survived by his wife Jerrie and daughters Leiloni Coyne, Alisa Dougherty, Lorie Coyne, son-in- law Wilhelm Dougherty, step-son Robert Draper and his wife Becky and step- daughter Valerie Hadlock. Between Bob and Jerrie, they have five grandsons and one granddaughter, five great granddaughters and one great grandson. He is also survived by his sister Gloria Heinitz and husband Walt and his brother Gerry Coyne and wife Linda, several nieces and nephews and his sister-in-law Karen Staner and her partner, Mary Anderson.

Bob was a very intelligent, proud man who was so capable of maintaining all the vehicles, home projects, repairs, plumbing, electrical, gardening, installing his sprinkler system and swamp cooler and so much more. He was always diligent and precise in any project he did.

He belonged to Shrine of St. Anne's Catholic Church in Arvada. Services wil be held there on April 4, 2023.

The viewing will be at 10:00 a.m. and the service will begin at 11:00 a.m.