Nathaniel Orcutt Hemenway

Nathaniel "Nate" Orcutt Hemenway passed away peacefully at Spring Creek Healthcare Center on October 10, 2010, after three days spent with family at his side. Nate was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on April 24, 1921, to Pauline Orcutt and William Porter Hemenway. He grew up in Minneapolis in a home just one block from Lake Harriet and loved to spend his time in and on the lake, swimming, canoeing, and sailing in summer and skating and ice boating in winter. At age 12 he was driving regularly through the snow to buy the family groceries. He was overjoyed at 15 to receive a second-hand 18' Old Town canoe from a neighbor for whom he did small jobs and acted as chauffer in her 1937 Packard. He remembered his childhood as idyllic and the people he knew at that time as honest and nice. He used to say he lived in "the best house, on the best street, in the best town in the world." Nate graduated from Washburn High School in 1940 and attended the University of Minnesota for two and a half years. In 1943 he enlisted in the Army Air Corps. Too skinny to be accepted at first, he was put on a diet of chocolate, ice cream, and no exercise. He gained 12 pounds in 12 days and passed the physical to enter what is now the Air Force. Stationed in Bedford, England, he flew 35 missions over Germany with the 8th Air Force as a navigator-bombardier in a B-17 called "Pretty Baby." He was expecting to be sent to the Pacific arena when the atomic bomb brought the war to an end. In 2008, Nate participated in the Northern Colorado Veterans History Project, which captured the experiences of WWII servicemen and women through recorded interviews. His family treasures the interview DVD, on which Nate recalled memories he had not mentioned before. Nate earned his bachelor's degree in industrial engineering from Southern Methodist University in Dallas and worked at Chance Vought Aircraft for two years. After ski trips to Winter Park with his brother, Nate decided to move to Colorado. In Denver he joined Technical Service Company, designing and building newspaper plants as a consulting engineer and beginning what would be a long, fulfilling career in the newspaper industry. He married Barbara Strand and after the birth of their second daughter they moved to Connecticut, where he sold newspaper presses for the Goss Company and was general manager of the Norwalk Hour for 12 years. Their two sons were born in Connecticut. He returned to Colorado to live in what is now Centennial and work with Denver Design Associates, planning and building newspaper plants around the country. Printing plants he worked on included the Greeley Tribune and the Denver Post. After retiring, Nate volunteered at Greenwood Elementary School in Centennial, where he taught an enrichment class in money matters for 5th graders and was much loved by staff and students. His interests included trains and train travel, World War II history, politics, and working on cars. He enjoyed serving as usher at his church and listening to big band music, cowboy songs, and anything Barbara played on the piano. He loved to ski. He and Barbara moved to Fort Collins in 2003. He was preceded in death by his parents, his daughter Susan, and his brother, Porter. He leaves his wife of 53 years, his daughter Gayle Gary Amato, his sons Jim Paula and Dave Carol, and his sister, Priscilla Christensen. He is survived also by his granddaughter, Shannon Weatherstone, and grandsons Patrick and Victor Amato, Cameron and Dalton Hemenway, and Nathan and Keith Hemenway. Nate was a loving, kind husband, father, grandfather, brother and friend. He will be greatly missed. A service with communion will be held at 11:00 a.m., Tuesday, October 26, at St. Luke's Episcopal Church, 2000 Stover St.