Arthur David Vallejos

Love and prayers to the entire family.

To me, Art was a dear friend and amazing prankster. He could make you belly laugh like crazy and you could see a mischievous sparkle in his eyes when he was about to pull a practice joke. We worked together at the Federal Reserve Bank and there was always something going on in town to watch and attend, which we did. We often walked down the 16th street mall on breaks and caught up on each other’s lives together. I feel privileged that Art shared his life with me. Though he had this live out loud attitude he was a private and thoughtful person. We went out together after work and had drinks and talked about how blessed we were with our families. When things were frustrating on the job or something had gotten us down we would go to Elitch Gardens and play wack-a-mole and ride the roller coaster and turn our down day from screams of frustration to hoots and cheers of delight.

Art dearly loved Christina. He told me how he fell in love with Christina, she was his muse and his partner to the laughter and his life. She could take anything he dished out and went all in with the practical jokes, even if they were started suddenly in public. We saw each other at the grocery store and Art yelled out to me, “hey Nelly did you remember to pick up the preparation H for yourself.” He never ceased to make me laugh.

When Christopher was born I can imagine this was one of the proudest days of his life and Christina’s. Art fiercely loved Christopher and he was a dad who worked hard to understand and rise to the challenges of being a father who helped guide him as well as be a confidant and friend. He told me how proud he was of the choices Christopher made and the direction of his future.

I will remember Art’s infectious smile and that I once was the person who caught him off guard with an elaborate practical joke involving his winning free coffee for a year from a local radio station. Or the infamous story of Art leaving work and standing in a crowd of people at the May D & F tower looking up with everyone and hearing, “Here he comes!” Who knew they were releasing the ashes of one of the local corner saxophone players onto the 16th street Mall and the ashes landed in everyone’s hair. That was a chuckle for days at coffee break.

My heart shattered when Christina called me and told me the new of Art’s leaving. I will remember him in my heart and keep his laugher in my head when times are rough. Cheers to you my friend. I thank you for letting me and Scott into your life. I raise a toast to you with a kamikaze and cold beer.

Nelly and Scott Arthur of Snowmass Village