Leonard Robert Filce

Leonard Robert Filce passed away peacefully in the late hours of November 13th, 2024 in Durango, Colorado with his daughter at his side. He was ninety-six years old.

Leonard was born on February 5, 1928, in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Both of his parents had immigrated through Ellis Island; his father from Ireland, his mother from Lithuania.

As a boy in Ocean Gate, New Jersey, Leonard (known as Bob on the east coast), studied at Parochial School and spent his free time calling from the streets of his neighborhood to his friends to go swim in the Toms River. Young Bob left home at age seventeen to join the Navy just before the end of WWII. With the war over, wet-eared and discharged from the Navy, he shortly thereafter moved to Newark, New Jersey and then to New York City working as a draftsman, drawing schematics. Restless, he then moved to Arizona to study engineering at university. Len’s experience in schematics and Navy mechanics served him well. He left the desert of Arizona for the mountains of Denver Colorado and worked for Martin Marietta in aerospace engineering. Between contracts at Martin, Leonard took up real estate in 1973, taught in Grand Junction, Colorado and formed his own Real Estate company in Denver, Colorado. Leonard returned to Martin and retired after his contract’s completion in 1989. Leonard enjoyed his career as fulfilling and purposeful, but his family and hobbies were his greatest joys.

Leonard was a Renaissance man; an engineer, talented cook, rough and tumble cowboy, passionate adventurer, pilot, scuba diver, weight-lifting champion, brown belt martial artist, talented dancer, creator of family memories and a life-long spiritual seeker. He loved his children, but didn’t dote. He enjoyed pulling a cork of whiskey, joking with friends and eating beef and bean burritos smothered in green chili hot enough to make his nose run. He licked his plates. He sat to finish his drink long after the meal was over. He counted the beat out loud when listening to good dance music. He was fascinated by fine art and the architecture and craftsmanship of cathedrals and castles. He was drawn to the history of the Old West. He preferred fruit pies to cake and fixing things rather than buying new. He didn’t redecorate. He was tidy, but “rustic.” He despised distraction, waste and idleness. He respected resourcefulness and results, saying, “work the problem.” He was generous when it counted. He was tearfully grateful when his family gathered around him at the dining room table. He was an avid reader, a natural intellect, an explorer who mapped his way by mental landmark and could recall towns by road traveled no matter how long ago. He was a tough-guy who wouldn’t ask for help. He ate his meals at home, refused medications and believed in his body’s ability to heal itself. He was a man’s man like his father before him, but grew into an irreplaceable best friend to those closest to him, sons and daughters alike. He was a deep thinker, but a deeper listener. He told you like it was, not necessarily how you wanted to hear it. He wanted to toughen you up, but always had a meal for you when you came to visit. He loved animals and shared a profound connection to God’s creations big and small. Leonard grew up in parochial school but gravitated toward the spirituality of the Lakota Indians. Leonard felt contentment in hours-long walks with his dogs near Chatfield Reservoir and delighted in quiet nights at home sharing his lap with his cat. Leonard was the truest lover of life one could know. He said when he wanted to do something, he just did it without hesitation. His life was a brilliant reflection of his inspiring fortitude. His sporadic east coast accent, command for undivided attention in conversation and tremendous wisdom will be eternally missed and his memory deeply treasured. 

Leonard is predeceased by his parents, John “Jack” and Anna M. Filce, his first wife, Phyllis Evelyn Spry Filce, his daughter, Karen Lynn Filce, and infant son, Edward “Teddy” Alexander Filce.

He is survived by his children; Leonard Stephen and Kristen Filce, Leslie Annette Filce, Robert Adam Filce, Kristin Christina Renee and Eric Bryan Fenster, Annie Elizabeth Filce, and Rachel Allison Filce, his sister, Anna Doris Segulia, and his second wife, Nancy Gail Kara.

I seek strength, not to be greater 
then my brother, but to fight my
greatest enemy - myself...
Make me always ready to come 
to you with clean hands and straight eyes. 
So when life fades, as the fading sunset, 
my Spirit may come to you without shame... 

-Lakota Prayer-

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