Obituary of Randy Schnicker

Randy was born in Burlington, Iowa, on June 24, 1953, to parents Irene and Raymond Schnicker. He was by far the baby of the family, with an older sister, Joyce, and older brother, Don. Randy spent his childhood in Burlington and graduated from Burlington High School in 1971. One of Randy's biggest accomplishments while growing up was becoming an Eagle Scout. He also played the trumpet with his high school and college marching bands. Randy went on to study Civil Engineering at Iowa State University and earned his BS in 1975. After graduating from college, Randy worked for the City of Des Moines for four years before moving to Colorado in 1979. When Randy arrived in Colorado, he spent a year working for the City of Aurora before being hired by the City and County of Denver, where he worked until his untimely death in January, 2010. He was a dedicated public servant who was admired by everyone he came in contact with. In fact, on the day of his memorial service, the Deputy Mayor/Director of Public Works suggested that all Public Works vehicles drive with their lights on in memory of Randy. Randy was the treasurer of the local chapter of the American Public Works Association (APWA). One of his fondest memories of his career was when he traveled to an APWA conference in New Orleans and spent time helping victims of Katrina rebuild their city. Randy married Heidi (Schoen), his wife of 25 years, on August 5, 1984. Randy was the proud father of two chidren whom he and Heidi adopted from Korea: Andrew, who was born on May 12, 1990, and Amy, born on August 26, 1993. Randy was a devoted father who loved spending time with his children. He was the Den leader for Andrew's Cub Scout troop and a proud participant in the Father/Daughter number in Amy's annual Ice Show. Randy frequently took Amy to the rink at 5:00 a.m. and is remembered fondly by the skating Moms as the silent gentleman who didn't seem to be listening to their conversations but would add an entertaining remark when they least expected it. Randy also enjoyed all the family pets and would spend hours sitting on the sofa petting the dog while reading a book. Randy's hobbies included traveling, photography, reading, bicycling, hiking, geocaching, and skiing. In a sad twist of fate, he lost his life in a skiing accident at Copper Mountain on January 17. 2010, when he collided with a tree when going at a high rate of speed and was killed instantly. Although we all miss him greatly, we are grateful that he didn't have to sufffer and thankful for the time we were able to spend with him.