Andrew Medina Obituary

Description: Andrew Medina Obituary... Our Heartfelt Condolences To His Loved Ones...

Aug 25th, 1948 - Dec 27th, 2023

Obituary

Andrew (Andy) Medina was born Aug. 25, 1948, in Rocky Ford to Manuel and Dolores (Villarreal). He married Mary Klingshirn Jan.13, 1973, in Ordway, they had 2 children: Carlos (Laura Stockwell) of Port Orange, FL, and Bonita, of Sugar City. He has 1 grandchild, Cannon, of Port Orange FL. Andrew is survived by his wife Mary, his children and grandchild. He is also survived by his 8 siblings and many nieces and nephews. Andy spent most of his lifetime between Crowley County and Leoti, KS, except for his time in the service. He did some farming as a teenager and attended CU at Boulder for a short time before being drafted into the Army. After basic training he was given the opportunity to attend Officer Candidate School and graduated as a second lieutenant, serving in the 82nd and 101st Airborne in Vietnam and ended his Army career as a captain at Pueblo Army Depot. He met Mary while both were stationed at Fort Gordon, GA., he in the Signal Corps and she in the Nurse Corps.

Upon returning to Crowley County Andy rented farmland until he was able to buy his own farm. He grew sugar beets, corn, hay and silage, he even some truck farming of melons and tomatoes. The family trucked the produce to flea markets and farmers markets throughout eastern Colorado. He put on quite a show marketing them---"lf it's from Sugar City, it has to be sweet."; I growed 'em, she hoed em."; and "Sugar City grew the melon that made Rocky Ford famous."; and "I have a 12 year old truck"--which was his son Carlos, who carried (trucked) produce for customers. Andy put in a bid at politics when he ran for state representative in Dist. 63 twice but was unsuccessful. He remained active in the Democratic Party for many years and represented Colorado in the Democratic National Convention in 1996 in Chicago.

When Andy gave up farming, he took up real estate and insurance. Seeing an opportunity, he bought and moved a dozen houses from Colorado Springs to Crowley County when the highway was widened through their previous neighborhood. He chose the last of these homes as his own and lived in it for the past 25 years. This was his retirement plan. Andrew was active in CC Chamber of Commerce, and The Farm Bureau. He was an avid golfer until his health began to fail, a result of his exposure to Agent Orange while in Vietnam. In his later years, he became active with the Sugar City Senior Center. Andy will be remembered by many former players for his years of coaching summer youth baseball. He was the voice of the CCHS Chargers football for many years, as well as providing commentary during the CC days parade.

Andy and Mary had the opportunity to travel, first as a family when they would drive east to Ohio every couple of years to visit Mary's family. They would take a different route each time and explored much of middle America with their children. Their last family trip was west to the Grand Canyon. They also traveled while active on the Young Ranchers and Farmers Committee with the Colorado Farm Bureau, including Niagara Falls, and Hawaii. After their kids left home, their travels took them to FL and the west Coast to visit their son Carlos as he moved about with the Navy. Although they traveled to Mexico several times, Mary was always hesitant to leave the USA for other parts of the world---until their son and his family got stationed outside of the US. When visiting them they got to explore Portugal, Spain, and flew with them to Paris, France. Andy always had an adventurous spirit and a mischievous sense of humor, and Carlos once told Mary, "No offense Mom, but Dad is more fun than you are." Mary always said between them they made one good Catholic---she did the church stuff, and he did the charitable stuff. Andy will be missed.

Services Held Friday, January 5th, 2024 at 10:30am at St. Peter's Catholic Church. Bellwood Ford Ustick Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

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