His son said he was part of a CCC crew in the 1930s that helped build Red Rocks Amphitheater. His son also said he was in an Army engineer unit based out of Ft. Logan before WWII. His family had a photo of him in the group, as they moved supplies with horses and mules. Then with WWII he was in the 101st Airborne for a short time. He may have also been in the 82nd. He burst an eardrum while in training, and was forced out of service. He wanted very much to help with the war effort, and was disappointed with his medical discharge. He evidently followed the war's progress very closely in the newspapers' stories and maps. His son said they went down to Union Station in Denver at war's end to greet some friends returning home. He shed tears for some he learned who were never going to return. In the 1940s in Rock Island IL he was a strong union defender, and a photo of him appeared in the local newspaper. He was not known to swear, but his drinking caused some problems.. When his father died, he administered the estate and accepted nothing as an administrator's fee. He was an avid sportsman in hunting deer, elk, antelope, and in fishing. He had at least one of his trophy 5 pound trout from Wyoming mounted by a taxidermist. He was a house painter and interior decorator for many years, doing a great deal of work for realtor Henry Van Schaack. Mr. Van Schaack suggested he shave off his 1959 Centennial beard, and so he did. However, when Mr. Van Schaack told him to get rid of an African American subcontractor, he refused. Exposure to all the chemicals as a painter may have triggered the cancer which spread throughout his body in his last years. He was in hospice care at the American Medical Center in Lakewood CO. His wife Ginger was at his side when he died, and then gently closed his eyes.