A loving, caring, and hard working: son, brother, husband, father and papa. Born on April 24th 1949 in Englewood Colorado to Burdette & Ethelyn Hedglin.

He is survived by his daughters Bonnie, Rachel, Stephanie and Jessica, his brother Roland, as well as his grandchildren: Alex, Theo, Ruby Arica, Carden, Rhealee, and EmmyLou. He married his first wife Mona fresh out of high school. Between them they had a beautiful little girl DeeDee whose life was sadly cut short at the age of 2 ½. Our dad never ever forgot her and always kept her memory alive. In 1976 he met our loving mother Patricia and her two daughters Bonnie age 12 and Rachel age 4. He later went on to marry our mother and adopt the girls as his own. Together they had two more girls, Stephanie and Jessica. Daddy never had the bathroom to himself!

 

He was a true mountain man. During the hard cold Colorado winters, he supplemented his income as a heavy equipment operator by trapping Muskrats, Beavers, Bob Cats, Foxes, and Mountain Lions while enjoying it as a hobby as well. Other hobbies that he loved were fishing, and hunting deer, elk and pheasant as well as camping with his girls. When he wasn’t outdoors you could often find him enjoying an ice cold beer and jamming out to some Beach Boy records.

 

Our dad was the strongest kindest hearted man we knew. Whenever we needed him he was always there no matter what we needed whether it was fixing our breaks, changing our oil, fixing a flat tire, emergency plumbing or buying our first bra. If you wanted to know one thing about our daddy is that he was the biggest jokester and story teller ever! He was always speaking his own made up language at the top of his lungs, even to the point of embarrassment. He also had all of his daughters and grandkids convinced that on every full moon he turned into a werewolf. He would start by turning off all the lights and howling at the moon, taking his shirt off and making us believe that his arm hairs were growing. Even when he was a little boy he would pull practical jokes, making loved ones believe that objects were moving on their own across the room with a fishing line.

 

We will miss the way you made us laugh, the way you made us feel and how you taught us to love. Even through we’re apart you’re never far away from our hearts. We love you daddy, give our love to mommy, we will meet you in heaven. Catch a fish for us.