Cecil Robert Crowe

Cecil grew up in the sand hills of Cherry County, Nebraska. In 1949, he graduated from Valentine High School where he enjoyed boxing and playing on the all-state football team. After high school he enlisted in the Navy where he started his career at Alameda, California in 1951. He was then transferred to the USS Laertes AR20. In 1954, he was stationed at Naha Naval Air Station at Naha Okinawa where he was the ship’s draftsman and participated in the Navy Sea Bees program. Cecil was honorably discharged from the Navy on December 28, 1954. He then went to work as a ranch hand for his cousin, PH Young. In 1955, Cecil met his wife Marlene Niemann from St. Edward, Nebraska as she began babysitting PH Young’s children. Cecil went on to attend the University of Nebraska, seeking a degree in Civil Engineering. For the summer of 1956, Cecil was assigned an intern position with the Ohio Highway Department in Cleveland. Cecil and Marlene decided to elope to Glenwood, Iowa on June 13, 1956. They went on to Cleveland, Ohio where they lived in an 8’ x 20’ pull trailer. After his internship was completed, they moved back to Lincoln, Nebraska where Cecil finished getting his college degree. On March 22, 1958, Cecil and Marlene welcomed their first child, Lori. They then moved to St. Edward, Nebraska where Cecil was employed by the USDA Soil Conservation Service. Their son, Joel, was born on February 1, 1961, and soon after this the soil conservation transferred Cecil to Scottsbluff, Nebraska. In 1965, Cecil changed jobs and began farming beets near Wheatland, Wyoming. On November 21, 1966, their third child, Gwen, was born. In 1968, the beet harvest was heavily damaged by hail and Cecil took a position with the Two Bar Ranch. This was not a good fit for Cecil and the family eventually moved to Brighton, Colorado in 1971 where he was employed at Lind Engineering as a civil engineer. While working there, Cecil was able to pass the Professional Engineering exam in the State of Colorado. In 1974 Cecil also passed the Colorado Professional Land Surveying certification exam. After seven years, Cecil decided to start out on his own, founding Alpha Engineering in 1977 in Fort Lupton, Colorado. In 1978, Cecil, Marlene, and Gwen moved to Fort Lupton and continued to live there until 1991. At this time all their children were married, and Cecil decided to leave the Denver area and start raising chinchillas in the San Luis Valley. His first home there was a mobile home near Blanca, Colorado. Unfortunately, the mobile home and all its contents burned to the ground in May of 1996. Looking out over the charred remains of their home, Cecil decided there was nothing to be done but to begin again. Cecil and Marlene proceeded to build a house in the same location. This home was equipped with solar panels for electricity and a well that took him 6 years to dig by himself. In 2010, Gwen felt that the property in Blanca was too difficult for Cecil and Marlene to maintain. They moved to Pueblo, Colorado to help Gwen and Tom with her two children. While in Pueblo, Cecil founded CRC Consulting and trained five local high school students in the art of civil engineering, of which many went on to college to complete related degrees. Cecil suffered from skin cancer and volunteered for an experimental drug trial in January of 2023. He suffered from one of the drug’s side effects of kidney failure which began to manifest itself in November of 2023. Cecil was taken out of the program and began to weaken in January of 2024. This still didn’t stop him as he continued to work on bridge and foundation plans up until May of 2024 when he suffered a stroke that left him bedridden.

Cecil loved family reunions, fishing, being on a boat, pheasant hunting, and growing a vegetable garden. He kept his mind active doing puzzles and crosswords. He was always game for a project that needed to be built and loved the phrase, “Another job swiftly done by Super Cecil.” He was a stranger to no one, always positive, and his smile was contagious. He lived by the motto, “Be a live hand” of which he felt if you see something that needs to be done – just do it. The family is forever grateful that his last wish was honored, his wife was not alone when he passed.

Cecil is survived by his wife of 68 years, Marlene, three children, Lori (Robert) Ruhge of Melbourne, Florida; Joel (Rebecca) Crowe of Fort Lupton, Colorado, and Gwen (Tom) Watkins of Pueblo, Colorado. He has seven grandchildren (Forrest, Leala, Charlene, Derek, Jenette, Blake, and Jessie), four step-grandchildren (Holly, Nichole, Laura, and Kasandra), five great grandchildren (Cira, Annabelle, Adeline, David, and Chip), eight step-great grandchildren (Mackinzie, Lucas, Jeremiah, iLyjah, Graysen, Jazmine, and Luly) and many nieces and nephews.

A memorial service for Cecil will be held Saturday, August 24, 2024 at 11:00 AM at Imperial Funeral Home, 5450 Highway 78 West, Pueblo, Colorado 81005, followed by a luncheon reception to follow service at 12:00 PM.