Robert Oxley Birkle

Robert Birkle was born in Denver in 1925. He grew up in north Denver, Burlingame, California and Idaho Springs. 

He graduated from high school in Idaho Springs and enlisted in the Army after graduation. 

During World War II served in the Army Quartermaster Corps supplying the allied air forces in the fight against Germany. 

At the end of hostilities, he attended the University of Colorado at Boulder on the GI bill where he received a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1950. 

After graduating worked for the Bureau of Reclamation before moving to Los Angeles where he worked for Bechtel Corporation. He returned to Denver when his mother was diagnosed with cancer (she recovered). In Denver he worked for Gates Rubber as an engineer developing belts.

At Gates he met his future wife Dorothy Gill, they were married in 1954. Together he and Dorothy had three children - David, Thomas and Sarah.

After Gates he worked as a consulting engineer for 35 years, designing mechanical (plumbing, heating and cooling) systems for commercial, institutional and industrial clients throughout the Rocky Mountain west.

He retired in 1989 and spent the next several years renovating a vacation house in Leadville. He also spent the next 25 years volunteering in the Rehabilitation Engineering shop at Craig hospital.

In April of this year he was diagnosed with cancer and died in hospice on 31 May 2023. He was 35827 days old.

In lieu of flowers or gifts, please consider a donation in memory of Bob to Craig’s Rehab Engineering program. Craig Hospital 3425 South Clarkson St, Englewood, CO 80113