The 77-year-old man who died Sunday when his sport utility vehicle crashed into a drainage ditch off South Santa Fe Drive was identified Monday as longtime Littleton veterinarian Joe Trimble.
Trimble founded Broadway Estates Veterinary Clinic in 1960, a practice still operated by his son, Phil Trimble.
Besides volunteering with the Denver Dumb Friends League and the Colorado Humane Society, Joe Trimble donated services to the poor in the names of the deceased animals of customers as a memorial for each pet, said Jack Swearingen, a veterinarian who shared a building with Trimble for nearly 40 years.
Trimble’s funeral will be at 3 p.m. Friday at Front Range Christian School, 6637 W. Ottawa Ave. in Littleton.
Trimble is survived by his wife, Rita, five children and numerous grandchildren, Swearingen said.
Trimble died after his Ford Explorer ran off Santa Fe and into a drainage ditch and then caught fire. The accident happened north of C-470 about 7:15 p.m. Sunday.
An autopsy is pending. Swearingen said Trimble had had several heart attacks.
