Bill Armstrong, 89, passed away peacefully surrounded by his loving family. 

Born in Piqua, OH he possessed a quiet determination from early on: to see the northern lights, at age 17 he led the YMCA trips to Michigan; to attend college in Colorado, he hitchhiked back and forth from Ohio. He wanted to be on the CU gymnastics team so he learned trampoline. His many interests and talents diverted him to Cincinnati where he met the love of his life, Diane Genge, while learning to paint, sculpt stone, and program by punch card. Newly married, he returned to CU Boulder, to complete his geology degree, then to Denver for an early IT position with the Bank of Denver. 

To support a growing family he worked at Denver Public Schools headquarters to bring in the first mainframe and later to the schools themselves, the first desktops. Active in the church, (yet agnostic), he was on the board and ran the youth program. He ran 10Ks, climbed 14ers, remodeled their home, sketched, and sculpted while raising two children with Diane. 

In 1993 they retired to Silver City, NM where he volunteered for the Humane Society and published a book as well as numerous outdoor articles. After nearly 30 years they moved to Tucson, AZ where he edited movie scripts and published a second book. Recently, he and Diane returned to Denver, to be close to their daughter, and nearly completed a third book. Forever in awe of the planet, a common theme in his writing was to leave it better than we found it.

He is survived by his wife Diane, son, daughter and their spouses: Hank and Kate, Sigrid and Ryan and grandchildren Madison, Henry, Olivia and Liam. 

Please direct donations to the Nature Conservancy. 

We will miss his beautiful blue eyes, quick wit and gentle voice. We love you Dad, rest easy.