Craig Edward Shuler

Craig Shuler died suddenly and unexpectedly at his home on April 26, 2022. He was born in Wichita, Kansas on August 27, 1938 to his Methodist minister father, Rev. William Shuler, and mother Lois Shuler. He grew up in several Kansas towns including Ness City, Salina, Hays, Winfield, and Wichita, graduating from Wichita East High School in 1956. He was a talented athlete at the 3-year school, earning 2 letters in football, 3 letters in basketball, 3 letters in tennis, and won the state championship in tennis doubles his senior year.

Having vacationed often in Colorado with his family, he decided to enter Colorado State University and graduated in 1960 with a Bachelor of Science in Wood Utilization. He was commissioned into the United States Marine Corps as a 2nd Lt. and after initial training began pilot training.

On December 28, 1960 he married Lorraine Luck in Wheatland, Wyoming, a classmate at CSU. During his flight training, they lived in Pensacola, Florida, and Beeville, Texas. He was then assigned to a squadron in Beaufort, South Carolina at Laurel Bay Naval Air Station. During that time he spent 9 months flying off and onto the USS Independence aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean Sea. After active duty, he returned to CSU earning a Masters Degree in Radiation Biology, and a PHD in Forest and Wood Sciences. He continued to fly as a reservist with the USMC and was promoted to the rank of Major.

After graduating, he was a professor at the University of Maine in Orono for 10 years. In order to keep flying during those years, he transferred into the Maine Air National Guard. His last military assignment was with the Air Force Reserves working for Larimer County Emergency Management when he returned to Fort Collins in 1979. After 28 years of military service, he retired in 1988 as a Lt. Colonel.

Craig was a professor at CSU for 20 years, also running the play clock at CSU football games, and the shot clock at CSU basketball games even after retiring on Aug. 31, 2000. Except he flunked retirement and the next day began working in ticket sales with the Colorado Rockies which eventually led him also to work for the National Western Stock Show. Craig was also a talented actor and musician. He played trombone through high school and occasionally since, always sang in church choir, acted in plays and musicals at CSU, community theater in Pensacola, community theater in Beaufort, and church drama in Orono. In Fort Collins he performed with Foothills Civic Theater, Children’s Theater, Moonlighting Teachers, The Mostlies, and the SOAP (Slightly Older Adult Players) Troupe at the Senior Center.

He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Lorraine, three sons: Bren, Dain (Ellen), Tor (Julie), and daughter Tiana. Six grandsons also survive: Masato, Makoto, Philip, Ethan, Jace, and Craig.

A celebration of life will be held on May 28, 2022 at 2:00 p.m. at the 1st United Methodist Church on Stover and Elizabeth in Fort Collins. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in his name to Fort Collins 1st United Methodist Church Music Ministry or CSU Athletic Scholarships.