Obituary-David Navratil

Dave Navratil
died 7-17-2011
David Navratil, 73, passed away peacefully Sunday evening, July 17, 2011, at his home near Walsenburg.
Dave was an ingenious and inventive man who could always find a way to make things work. He was a man of strength and gentleness, and above all, he was a kind man. He was very good with computers. He loved his job as a technical writer and worked up until a few days before his death.
He was born in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1937, graduated from high school and joined the Air Force. Airplanes were a passion from childhood, when he would build model planes—until he got his pilot’s license and could fly the real things. He was stationed at Lowery Air Force Base and has lived in Colorado ever since.
Dave lived in Erie for several years and served on the Planning Commission, helping guide Erie’s rapid growth. He moved with Marla to Walsenburg, where they were busy planting gardens and fruit trees and raising several kinds of birds.
Dave was preceded in death by his first wife, Janet, and is survived by his wife, Marla; his own three children, Steve, Cheryl and Scott, and their spouses and children, and his three children by marriage, Joe, Shirin and Miriam; and their spouses and children; his sister, Judy Tilton; his nephew, Rick; his extended family; Lance; and his in-laws, the entire Tuck family.
Dave loved living plants, and he believed in helping people. He was always willing to lend a hand, his time, a truck or an idea. So in lieu of flowers, Marla asks that you plant something living in his honor, and that you help someone when they need a hand—as Dave did.