Harold Hughey

Harold Edgar Hughey May 10, 1930- December 16, 2017 After years of battling Parkinson’s disease, Harold passed away in Grand Junction on December 16, 2017, at the age of 87. He was born in Wichita, Kansas on May 10, 1930, to Harold Hayes Hughey and Pearl Owens Hughey. After his junior year at Wichita North High School, he joined the Navy and served one year. He returned to North High as a Naval Reservist and graduated with the class of 1950. Shortly thereafter, he was recalled by the Navy and served as Airman on three different aircraft carriers during the Korean Conflict. He was Honorably discharged in 1952 and began studying mechanical engineering at Wichita University. It was there he met Sue Cosette Strange. They were married January 27, 1954. In his early career, Harold was in the construction business and later worked at Boeing Aircraft in Wichita as a technical writer. In 1961, he took a job with Martin-Marietta Aerospace, where he worked in systems engineering after moving to Denver, Colorado with his wife, Sue, and their two young sons. Harold and his family were outdoor enthusiasts and enjoyed hiking, camping, and skiing together. Many summer vacations were spent boating and exploring Utah’s Lake Powell while it was still a relatively unknown destination. In 1969, the family moved to Lakewood. In 1987, Harold retired from Martin Marietta after twenty-one years of service. With their sons now grown, Harold and Sue moved to Grand Junction in 1996, where they took up a game new to them and spent many happy days playing golf. They also began a life of adventure travel, over time visiting most of the Caribbean Islands aboard the old Barefoot Cruise’s sailing ships. They visited all fifty states and countries in South America and Europe, as well as Australia and New Zealand. They learned to sail, bought a sailboat and trailer, and explored the California coast, the Puget Sound area, the Canadian Inside Passage, the Intracoastal Waterway, and many lakes around the country. Harold has departed, solo, for his next great adventure and will be sorely missed by family and friends. Harold is survived by his wife, Sue, sons, Jeffrey (Lisa) Hughey of Sedalia, and Gregory Hughey of Steamboat Springs. Any memorial contributions may go to the charity of choice.