William Edward Harvey

Bill was born April 25, 1935 in Boulder, Colorado. Soon after, he and his mother moved back to her hometown of Fort Myers. After completing public school and graduating from Fort Myers High School in 1954, Bill attended Florida State University. He then served in the Air Force for two years. After being discharged he attended Piedmont College in Georgia. Following that he worked in a Washington, DC bank before moving back home to Fort Myers where he joined his mother Martha Criddlebaugh in her accounting business, which he continued after her death in 2002. Around the mid 1980’s Bill began visiting Colorado, where he had relatives, during the summer months. He soon fell in love with Pike’s Peak and became interested in the annual runs up that mountain - the Ascent and the roundtrip Marathon. He participated in those races until he entered his seventies. He also ran in marathons and shorter runs in Boston, Honolulu and San Francisco. Even after he had stopped racing, he would spend about a month each summer hiking Pike’s Peak, the mountain that almost became his summer home. Four summers ago while hiking down the Barr Trail, about three quarters of the way down to the trailhead in Manitou Springs, he slipped on the loose crumbled stone surface of the trail and fell off the side of the mountain, tumbling and bouncing down a very steep slope for sixty feet, suffering many injuries. He never fully recovered his ability to walk after that, and finally, after spending time in a rehabilitation center in Centerville, Tennessee, moved back to his home in Fort Myers.

Bill did not want a funeral service. He is survived by his cousin Tracy Palmer and her family, his cousin Jackie Wilson and her family, and his aunt Marge Allen, all of Fort Myers; his good friend and business associate Darlene Daniel of Sunbright, TN; his good friend Angela Lannon of De Ridder, LA; and his Colorado cousins, Dan and David Greene and their families. At a later date there will be a small memorial gathering of family and friends. In lieu of flowers, you may make a contribution in memory of Bill to Hope Hospice 9470 HealthPark Circle Fort Myers, FL 33908. Arrangements were entrusted to Hodges Funeral Home at Lee Memorial Park (239) 334-4880.