An invitation to Dad's Story…
Armando Vigil's life came to an end at the age of 99.  Of course his family is biased.  But we believe he lived a full and rich life.   We, his sons, wanted to share Armando's life with those who are interested because he was a man who exemplified what it means to be a man of faith, a man devoted to his family, and a man fully engaged in living life to the fullest.   The article below is a short glimpse of a dad, grandfather, and, of course, husband who was and is deeply loved by all of us.

Dad's Story

Armando Vicente Vigil

5/25/2020

Dad was born on October  11, 1920 on a 35 acre farm in a small adobe house.  The farm sits outside of San Pablo, Colorado, in a narrow valley at the foot of 14,000 ft. Mount Calubra.   This is part of the Sangrio De Christo mountain range and is one of the most beautiful spots in Colorado.   The farm is from the original Spanish Land Grant, belonging to Mexico in that portion of Colorado.

Dad and his four sisters lived in San Pablo until they moved to Loveland, Colorado after dad's father died and as the depression began.   With dad living to the age of 99, it's not hard to believe that his two older sisters lived to be 100 and 102.  His youngest sister is 97.  While we don't know the eldest sister's age, we feel safe in assuming she was well into her 90s. Eventually, they moved to Denver where dad graduated from high school.

When dad was 22, he and his stepbrother, Frank, decided to enlist in the Air Force and serve their country together.  This was seven months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. But, despite their well-laid plans, Frank ended up in the temperate forests of Europe and Dad was shipped to the jungles of the South Pacific islands.

Dad served four years with the 339 ^th Air Force Fighter Squadron and was trained for aircraft maintenance and radio communications.  The squadron flew P-38 fighter planes, moving from island airport to island airport, as each island was fought over and captured from the Japanese.  The island campaigns Dad was a part of were in New Guinea, the Northern Solomons, the Southern Philippines, and Luzon.  Dad was proud to tell anyone that his Squadron was responsible for shooting down the plane that carried Admiral Yamamoto, who commanded the Japanese fleet responsible for planning the attack on Pearl Harbor.   Dad always carried in his wallet a piece of paper where he wrote down the morse code alphabet, explaining that he was a radio man in the war.

After the war, dad began his career as a cabinet maker.  For the next 36 years he specialized in commercial cabinetry, creating furnishings for courtrooms, banks, and other corporate settings.  But as busy as this kept him, you could also find dad using his cabinetry skills to help friends with projects as big as kitchen remodels or as small as building bookshelves.

Dad loved the outdoors – fishing, hunting, and camping.  After the war, dad went fly-fishing in Colorado mountain streams every weekend.  An avid hunter, he once took a deer with his long bow which the Rocky Mountain News followed up with a photo and interview.

Eventually dad's fishing weekends came to an end after meeting mom at the church they both attended.  Armando and Lavinia married and began a new chapter in their lives together.  Over the next 40 years, dad immersed himself with his family, church, and the community.

These became dad's new-found interests and hobbies.

• Dad loved to cook.
  From pot roasts to Mexican enchiladas, he could do it all! He never used a recipe.  At church potlucks, one had to be near the front of the line to get a serving of dad's dish.  A favorite family excursion was to drive to the mountains on a Saturday morning.  We would find a stream-side setting with dad cooking eggs, potatoes, and bacon – with a little chili -  on his Coleman stove.

• Dad enjoyed gardening.
  His rose plants were full and beautiful. He was never without a pruner in his hand or pocket.  He also developed a special love, growing bonsai trees. He was a founding member of the Colorado Bonsai Club and served as its president for several years.  Dad was in his element when he would be climbing up a steep mountainside to retrieve a hopelessly crooked pine tree with a crowbar and shovel.

• Dad was a Scouting dad.
  When the boys got involved in the Boy Scouts, Dad became 100% involved, becoming a Scout Master and leading our troop.  He delighted to help the boys learn camping skills. He was the go-to dad to help boys earn their fishing merit badge.

Most important of all, Dad was a committed follower of Christ. He was involved with his Presbyterian church.  With a servant's heart, he was always there to do home repairs for people, repairs at the church, help members move, and cook for people when they needed a meal.  He was an Elder for most of his church years in Denver, providing wise counsel and loving care for others.

All of us in the Vigil family treasure the legacy of the gospel lived out in his life, the character qualities that radiated from his faith, and the genuine love he poured into his family.

Armando's family included: Parents, Cirilo and Sophia Vigil; siblings, Adeline, Ella, Clorinda, Elva and Frank; wife, Lavinia; sons, Mark (Laurie) and their children, Christopher (Jackie) and Andrew, Loren (Robbin) and their children, Benjamin and Samuel (Brittany), Larry and great-grandchildren, Olivia, Wesley and Ruby.

Memorial Service will be held Saturday, May 30, 2020 at 11:00 AM in Gorman-Scharpf Brentwood Chapel.