A rosary will be at 5:30 p.m. Friday at St. Joseph Catholic Church. Services will be at 10 a.m. Jan. 3 at the church. Inurnment will be at Orchard Mesa Cemetery, and a reception will follow at Two Rivers Convention Center.
Survivors include five sons, Joseph C. of Boulder, John C. of West Palm Beach, Florida, Steven T. of Brookings, Oregon, Daniel E. of Grand Junction and James M. of Littleton; one daughter, Lisa Tuthill of Avon; one brother, Brother Nicholas Prinster O.S.C. of Huntsville, Utah; two sisters, Mary Luff of Grand Junction and Lucille Haggerty of Peoria, Arizona; 17 grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.
Memorial contributions to the CMU Foundation for the Joseph and Delia Prinster Family Scholarship.
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Joseph C. Prinster
April 18, 1925 - December 24, 2014
Joseph Charles Prinster passed away peacefully on Christmas Eve at the Larchwood Inn where he had been a resident for the past year. He was 89.
Joe was born in Grand Junction on April 18, 1925 to Frank Joseph Prinster, Sr. and Josephine Patterson Prinster, the fifth of their eight children. A man of deep faith, Joe wanted everyone to know that ""God put us here to enjoy our wives and children, friends, and others that we know and have time to be with.""
Joe graduated from Grand Junction High School in 1943 with a scholarship to study engineering at Colorado School of Mines, but his college days were quickly cut short as he was soon drafted into the army as an infantryman. He served in the European theater with the 517th Division of the 3rd Army, fighting in the Battle of the Hurtgen Forest and the Battle of the Bulge during the winter of 1944. He was awarded the Purple Heart for being wounded during battle.
After the war, Joe returned to his family home at 1302 Chipeta Ave. His father encouraged him to work for City Market instead of returning to college. Joe realized he had a knack for store design, construction and development, as well as promoting the meat department. At that time, City Market consisted of three stores, one in Grand Junction at 4th & Rood, one in Delta, and one in Montrose. Joe devoted his career to developing and leading the City Market business, eventually serving as president from 1978 - 1987. At the time of his retirement, the City Market chain had grown to include 41 stores in four states.
In addition to his service to his country and to his family business, Joe was a leader in his church, his community and on the Western Slope of Colorado. Joe helped establish the Mesa County Economic Development Council (now the Grand Junction Economic Partnership), was an active Chamber of Commerce board member, and led the committee to build St. Joseph Catholic Church in Grand Junction. His generosity to the Colorado Mesa University, the St. Mary's Hospital Foundation, Grand Valley Catholic Outreach, Holy Family School, and numerous other civic and cultural organizations is well known. Respected for his business acumen, his vision, his faith, his fairness, and his dedication to helping those in need, he remained active in business, church, and community organizations for as long as he was able.
Joe married the woman of his dreams, Delia Rossini, on September 13, 1947, and remained a devoted husband for 63 years until her death in 2010. He will forever be remembered as a loving husband and father, always available to listen and encourage, as well as tell a good story.
He is survived by his six children, Joseph Prinster Jr. (Mary Kay Braccio) of Boulder, CO; John Prinster, of West Palm Beach, FL; Lisa Prinster Tuthill (Howard Tuthill) of Avon, CO; Steven Prinster of Brookings, OR; Daniel Prinster (Elise) of Grand Junction, CO and James Prinster (Julie) of Littleton, CO; one brother, Brother Nicholas Prinster OCSO of Huntsville, UT; two sisters, Mary Luff of Grand Junction and Lucille Haggerty of Peoria, AZ, 16 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Delia; one grandchild, Katherine; his brothers, Frank Prinster Jr. and Leo T. (Teo) Prinster; and his sisters, Martha Prinster and Josephine Deonier.
A rosary will be offered for Joe on Friday, January 2nd, at 5:30 p.m. and a funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, January 3rd. Both services will be held at St Joseph Catholic Church in Grand Junction.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Colorado Mesa University Foundation (CMU Foundation) for the Joseph and Delia Prinster Family Scholarship, 1450 North 12th Street, Grand Junction, CO 81501.
Published in The Daily Sentinel on Jan. 2, 2015
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Celebrating two good Joes and lives well-lived
By Jim Spehar
Monday, December 29, 2014
Sad as the news was, it wasn’t much of a shock when, during Christmas Midnight Mass at St. Joe’s, Father Edmundo Valera included Joe Prinster in his prayers for the dead. The genial presence and rumbling voice of the Prinster family patriarch hadn’t been seen or heard publicly for awhile.
Age and afflictions, and the loss of his beloved wife, Del in 2010, may have slowed Joe down a bit lately. “Small matter” as my late aunt used to say, because the many contributions of brothers Joe, Teo, Clarence and Frank Prinster and their families to our community will outlive not only them but most of us.
The signature projects and legacy-shaping events that carry the Prinster fingerprints all over the Grand Valley and elsewhere have been and will be listed elsewhere as Joe Prinster is laid to rest this weekend. What, to me, is truly telling about Joe and his family is how many of us, my extended family included, have been the beneficiaries of so much unpublicized and private kindness and help over the years.
The church where Joe’s funeral mass will be celebrated on Saturday is another good example. At an iffy phase of financing and construction, it wasn’t just their financial contributions that moved things along, it was the hands-on help from Joe and Teo, who knew a thing or two about constructing big buildings efficiently, that moved that particular project from dream to reality.
“Who’s going to fill Joe Prinster’s shoes?” The Daily Sentinel asked on its editorial page last Sunday.
That’ll take all of us, I think. A few might be able to have the kind of financial impact on our churches, hospitals, schools and nonprofit organizations. But every one of us, with a little reflection, can contribute in the many smaller and quieter ways that, collectively, bring us together and nurture the kind of community Joe and his family have supported over the years.
There’s also another “Joe” to celebrate and thank this week.
If you took time away from your Christmas Day festivities to read at least the front page of The Sentinel, you know that Joe Higgins will soon be leaving Partners after 33 years heading that organization. While filling Joe Prinster’s shoes may still be a question mark, we know from Partners’ announced strategy that it’ll take two fulltime staffers to take over Higgins’ duties.
What was intended to be a temporary stop to get the program up and running before heading to Denver turned into a career for this Joe. Thousands of young people have benefited from his efforts to pair them with adult mentors. I wouldn’t be surprised if an equal number of us haven’t, over more than three decades, had our arms twisted and our business or personal checkbooks plundered to sustain the Partners programs.
Joe’s personal efforts over those decades found him involved with lonely and troubled kids, stressed out single parents, law enforcement and social services agencies, businesses and schools.
What started out as a mentoring program evolved to include work programs such as the Western Colorado Conservation Corps and a restitution program that enabled troubled teens to make things financially right for victims of their actions.
Higgins will be around for a few months at Partners, easing the transition to new leadership. Whatever comes next in his life, he’s earned our appreciation and respect for a job well done and for the impact he’s had on our community.
Implicit in the passing of community leaders like Joe Prinster and the retirement of others such as Joe Higgins is the need for others to pick up the baton and continue their good works. These are indeed a couple of pairs of big shoes to fill.
It’ll be interesting to see who among us steps up … to see how, as a community, we fill the void they’re leaving. Both Joes would probably be the first to say no one is irreplaceable.
I’m not so sure.
“Consciously or unconsciously, our life is our finest work of art, and the tracks we leave are a painting for all to see.” — Dewitt Jones
Jim Spehar’s grateful to have known both Joe Prinster and Joe Higgins. Your thoughts are welcome at jimspehar@bresnan.net.
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Who’s going to fill Joe Prinster’s shoes?
By The Daily Sentinel
Sunday, December 28, 2014
The Printster name is synonymous with Grand Junction history. Most Grand Valley residents are familiar with the story of the four Prinster brothers from La Junta who moved here and grew one small City Market store into a grocery empire.
The brothers are immortalized in a sculpture near the Mesa County Courthouse, one of several commissioned by the Legends of the Grand Valley Committee to honor important local historic figures.
The Prinster family is “such an inspiration to our community,” Tillie Bishop, chairman of the committee, said at the unveiling last fall. “They’ve always been there when we needed them.”
Succeeding generations carried that legacy into the present day, including one Prinster who helped the Grand Valley weather its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
When Joe Prinster took the helm of City Market stores in 1978, his biggest challenge was trying to capitalize on the explosive growth in western Colorado from an influx of major oil companies. But that energy boom, fueled by Exxon’s oil shale project, came to a screeching halt on Black Sunday in May 1982.
In the aftermath, Prinster was instrumental in efforts to diversify Mesa County’s economy.
“During that time Joe stepped up to the plate and took a major leadership role with economic development efforts to bring new business. He served as chairman of the Mesa County Economic Development Council and led its efforts to raise money to promote and underwrite new businesses and employers who would help rebuild the economic base.” (From “The History of City Market: The Brothers Four and the Colorado Back Slope Empire,” by Anthony Prinster and Kate Ruland-Thorne.)
As president, Joe Prinster had seen the company — and the community — through some of its worst years. And in spite of the hardships, City Market continued to revamp and grow. Even after handing the reins of the company to his younger brother in 1987, Joe Prinster continued to be involved with the Grand Junction Economic Partnership right up to his death.
Joseph Prinster was a decorated soldier in World War II. He grew up learning the art of meat-cutting from his father Frank before embarking on a lengthy career in managing grocery operations. In addition to being an economic-development pioneer, he gave to the community in numerous ways. He was a big booster of Mesa State College and was active with the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce, the St. Mary’s Hospital Foundation, United Way of Mesa County and his parish, St. Joseph’s.
But he’ll always be remembered for his efforts to revitalize this area when it was flat on its back. Our community needs more Joe Prinsters — people with a vision for our community that involves more than waiting for the next energy boom to turbocharge our economy. The lessons of Black Sunday can’t die with those who dealt with it head-on.
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