H. Daryl Klein was a Dust Bowl baby, born July 17, 1930. His family farmed in eastern Colorado until he was 5. After years of drought, a bank failure, where they lost all their savings, and the other local bank calling the note on their machinery, the family finally left the farm. His last memory of the farm was leaving the family dog tied to the front porch for a neighbor to pick up. They drove to Loveland, he was sick from Dust Bowl pneumonia at the time. They lived there for 7 years. He grew up enjoying trips into the mountains west of Loveland. The family moved to Cheyenne, Wyoming, when his dad took his dream job as an engineer for the Union Pacific Railroad. Daryl excelled at sports. Baseball was his passion. He was a pitcher, a lefty, and a switch hitter as he was ambidextrous. After graduating high school at 16, he attended the University of Wyoming on a baseball scholarship. He played baseball, football, basketball, and worked nights, while he studied electrical engineering. He married Doris, his wife of 46 years, while still in college. After graduation, he was drafted into the army and taught radar classes during the Korean War. He was recruited by Bell Laboratory to work in research and development. During his career, he worked on the Hercules Missile at the White Sands Missile base in Las Cruces, New Mexico. He and his family, wife Doris Klein, son Gregory Bruce Klein and son Kenneth Brian Klein relocated from Colorado to New Jersey, to New Mexico, to North Carolina. He returned to Colorado the place he loved in 1969. His wife Doris passed away in 1997.
With Doris’s passing, he moved to Ridgway to be near his young grandchildren. He had a passion for learning, photography, music, opera, jeeping, hunting, and theater. His greatest passion, though, was his family.
He is survived by his two sons and their wives, Bruce and Joy Klein and Brian and Joni Klein, his brother, Gary Klein, a gifted musician, and two nephews, Matthew Klein and Christopher and Alice Klein as well as a great nephew, Charles Klein. He has 6 grandchildren, Jessica Garlitz, Shawn Klein, Brison Klein, Christine Klein, David Klein and Brittany Klein. He also has 9 great grandchildren. He was a brilliant, wonderful, generous man and will be greatly missed by his family.
A celebration of his life will be conducted on Saturday, July 24 at 11 a.m. at Crossroads Victory Church in Montrose.
