Glen Reid

Glen F. Reid died Sunday afternoon, Sept. 9, 2007, at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins. Glen was born Aug. 30, 1939, to Frank and Mabel Watson Reid. He was raised on the family farm in Kersey with his twin sister, Barbara Ann Annie Reid. He graduated from Gilcrest High School in 1957 and attended Pueblo Junior College for two years before entering Colorado State University where he graduated with a degree in industrial construction management and a minor in industrial sciencesin 1965. His first job after graduating was teaching six students in fifth-, seventh- and eighth-grades in the two-room school at Stove Prairie. He drovehis 1965 Ford Mustang every day up Rist Canyon to the mountain school. As he liked to say, in those days everybody knew everybody, and the superintendent of schools came to him and asked if he would take the job. In 1967,Glen was a management trainee at Packaging Corporation in Vincennes, Ind. On weekends, he drove to the Audubon Raceways at Henderson, Ky., where he made friends with and apprenticed to an old-timer shoeing horses. It was a pastime he had enjoyed watching in his grandfather's blacksmithing shop on the Reid farm in Kersey. After being in Indiana a year, Glen was offered the opportunity to purchase Lee's Cyclery from Lee Cooper. They ended up buying and selling it to each other two times before Glen started The Bike Broker across Mason Street from Lee's. After about a year, he sold that business. It remained a successful Fort Collins business for some 20 years. After selling The Bike Broker, Glen trained as a farrier, a career that allowed him to integrate his life-long love of animals. He graduated from Southwestern Wyoming College's farrier program in Riverton, Wyo. From 1972 to 2003 he shod horses throughout much of Northern Colorado and southern Wyoming. He specialized in hot, cold and corrective shoeing on hunter-jumpers. In Glen's words, he attended to dressage horses, rodeo competitors, Arabian show horses, endurance horses, mini horses and many spoiled and real sweet backyard horses. He loved them all. He was known for his ability to finesse the challenging horses. His experienced eye could size up a situation in no time. He treated all animals with understanding and respect. Glen made many animal friends along the way, including horses, mules, goats, pigs, dogs, cats and even pet birds. He was as charming with people as he was with animals. He counted innumerable life-long friends among the hundreds of clients he served for more than 30 years. In 1975, Glen married Peggy Wrigley, who was with him when he died. In 2003, Glen was forced into involuntary retirement after an automobile accident that happened in Fort Collins while he was waiting for a car in front of him to park. Glen hoped to pursue silversmithing, ornamental ironwork and stained glass artwork when he had recuperated sufficiently from his injuries. He was an accomplished blacksmith, having drawn upon his forging and iron working skills throughout his career as a farrier and from studying ornamental ironwork with master blacksmith Frank Turley of Santa Fe, N.M. He was a competent architectural draftsman and ceramic artist. Glen was a man of many talents and diverse interests that he put to good use in his various careers and his social interactions. He had a sharp wit and a quick laugh. Affable, genial and gentle-hearted, he was equally at home in a horse barn socializing with friends from any and all walks of life or strolling the finest art museums. Glen was well known for his kindness and generosity. He was a true gentleman of the West. Glen was a member of the American Farriers Association and Artist-Blacksmiths of North America. Glen is survived by his wife, Peggy; his stepdaughter, Laura and her husband, Mike Anderson; three grandchildren, Michael, Sarah and Mitch Anderson of Larkspur; his twin sister, Barbara Ann Annie and her husband Robert Bob B. Erickson of Fort Collins; nephews, Reid A. Erickson and his wife, Christina of Los Banos, Calif., Brant D. Erickson and his wife, Amy of Jefferson, Ga.; niece, Ann Elizabeth and her husband, Jeff Cobb of Atlanta; great-nephews, McCullough Erickson of Jefferson, Ga., and Jack Cobb of Atlanta. A memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Friday at the Canyon West Room at the Lincoln Center, with a reception immediately following until 5 p.m. The public is invited to attend. A private burial will be at Grandview Cemetery at a later date. Memorials may be sent to the CSU Foundation-Equine Section in care of Bohlender Funeral Chapel,121 W. Olive St., Fort Collins, CO 80524. Friends may send condolences to the family at www.bohlenderfuneralchapel.com .