Bob Krueger went skiing when it was a pioneering sport. There were only tow ropes, and at lunchtime, his wife, Dorothy, cleaned off the tow-rope engine and fried hamburgers on the muffler.
The two were game for anything, said their son, Karl Krueger of Castle Rock.
“It’s like they said, ‘Hey, let’s go out and do something crazy today,’ ” he said, laughing.
“They were a matched set,” said their daughter, Cindy Epling of Grant, Neb.
Bob Krueger died of cancer June 11 at a hospital in Statesville, N.C. He was 83.
A service is planned at 9 a.m. Saturday at Holy Cross Lutheran Church, 4500 Wadsworth Blvd. The Kruegers helped found the church.
Bob Krueger and Dorothy Swanson met on a ski trip when they were bundled up in the rumble seat of a 1934 Ford, Karl Krueger said.
They taught their kids to ski early.
“The story I heard was that they took me on my first ski trip at 6 months,” Epling said.
Someone watched her while her parents made runs.
Dale Krueger of Denver, Bob Krueger’s son, said he began skiing at age 5.
“I can’t remember not skiing,” said son Don Krueger of Statesville, N.C.
In 1973 Bob Krueger was given the award of National Ski Patrolman by the National Ski Patrol, which means he could work as a patrolman anywhere in the western U.S. Both he and his wife were members of the ski patrol at Loveland.
He was also regional director for the National Ski Patrol.
The Kruegers, who lived in Lakewood, took their kids on camping, boating and fishing trips. When Don Krueger scrolled through his dad’s screen savers, there were pictures of his parents “feeding deer, riding donkeys — all kinds of things.”
R.A. Krueger was born in Denver on Feb. 14, 1927, and graduated from North High School. Before finishing, he began work at Western Electric and stayed there until 1980. He was an installation supervisor and helped set up telephone offices in several states.
He married Dorothy Swanson on Oct. 25, 1947. She died in 2008.
They lived in Estes Park for a while, but the altitude was bad for Bob Krueger, so they traveled in a motor home for almost three years and then settled in Runaway Bay, Texas. They moved to Statesville, N.C., to be near family.
Krueger “had a natural ability” to help people, said Karl Krueger, and he taught his kids how to do the same. “He taught us not to be afraid to care for people, even if we just held the person’s hand,” said Karl Krueger.
Bob Krueger sometimes had to treat people for high-altitude sickness and got pretty good at spotting skiers whose problem started with too much drinking, Don Krueger said.
After retiring in Statesville, N.C., Bob Krueger volunteered at a hospice.
In addition to his four children, Bob Krueger is survived by eight grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife and a grandson.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
