Joel Carl Kiester

Born to Carl and Goldie (Beaubien) Kiester in Maude, Oklahoma on October 9, 1930. Joel was a generous and much loved father, grandfather, son, brother, uncle, friend and employer.

Joel graduated from Duncan High School in 1948, and started his study of Petroleum Engineering at the University of Oklahoma. He served in the Oklahoma National Guard, the 45th Infantry Division Thunderbirds and deployed to Korea during that war. Sergeant Kiester was honorably discharged and was happy to take advantage of the GI Bill. He returned to OU and earned degrees in Geologic and Petroleum Engineering.

As a young man Joel worked in the oil fields with his father in the family business. They were creative and resourceful; they made things and made things work long before it was possible to order parts at Grainger's or tools at Harbor Freight.

During the 1960's Joel and his brother Tommie, along with their sister, Patsy Ruth formed KECO, Inc., a plastic injection molding business. In the early 1970's he learned to ski with daughter, Linda, and decided to move to Colorado. Resourceful and creative, Joel loved to engineer tools and prototype small and complex plastic parts, especially parts that had stymied previous engineering attempts. He started and operated injection molding prototyping businesses in Longmont, Creative Plastics Molding and Colorado Small Parts. Joel loved seeing his employees learn and progress, and was proud to see them move on to create businesses of their own.

While Joel loved his work, he was not a man of all work and no play. His passions included flying, skiing, camping and hiking in the high country, his always present miniature dachshunds (Fury I through Fury 5), grilling burgers for a bunch of friends, and building things.

Joel bought his first airplane, a Cessna 140, in 1961 before his first solo. He learned to fly in the crosswinds and dirt and grass strips in Duncan and never stopped. He flew many cross country flights with his daughter, Linda, in the smallest small planes. His dearest and most lasting friendships were with fellow pilots, with whom he shared flying adventures. He made friends and memories at the Cessna 150/152 Club International Fly-Ins in Clinton, Iowa. He volunteered at the Sun and Fun Fly-In in Lakeland, Florida for many years and treasured his yellow hat.

Survived by his loyal miniature dachshund Fury V, daughter Linda Crenshaw, sister Patsy Ruth Nixon, grandson Fraser Crenshaw, nephews and nieces, friends around the world, and flying adventure buddy Lexie Armitrage.

Family and friends will gather to celebrate Joel's life on Sunday, May 13, 2018, at 2:00 PM at Journeys Aviation at the Boulder Municipal Airport. For those who would like to make a donation in Joel's memory, please consider the Humane Society of Boulder Valley (https://www.boulderhumane.org/), Dog is My CoPilot, Inc. (https://dogcopilot.org/), and Via (https://viacolorado.org/).