William H. McKenzie

William McKenzie was born in St Louis Missouri in 1938 and was an only child.  He had an older cousin that he spent time with and did well in school.  During his first vacation in Colorado when he was 12, he rode the Durango Silverton narrow Gauge steam train and was bitten by the ‘railfan bug” for life. He graduated from  Kirkwood High School  in 1955 and went on to the University of Colorado Boulder to study journalism.  He married Charlotte in 1960 and later moved to Colorado and raised two kids, Jim and Margaret and worked for the Colorado Springs newspaper. In 1970 he got his Master’s in history at Colorado College.
Later on after his divorce, he worked for the Centennial Bicentennial Commission in Denver during the time when Colorado  celebrated its Centennial as a state of the union in 1976.  Then he worked for the Central City Opera in administration and the Department of Labor and Employment and in public relations. His second marriage led him to return to the St. Louis Missouri area after the death of his father where he lived for another 25 years. He was a stepfather and had 4 step-grandkids. He worked at Western Union and taught history at a Community College for a while. Throughout his life he enjoyed travel, “chasing trains”, photography, and writing books and articles related to railroad history. He was active in church for 40 years and enjoyed going to a Promise Keepers men’s Christian Conference and Billy Graham Crusade in St. Louis with his son . He also helped bring urban renewal and a Miles Davis Jazz Festival to Alton, IL. where he lived. Years later, his son brought him back to Colorado in 2014 where he enjoyed new church friends, the Broncos, train rides again and the beauty of Colorado.
He is survived by his children Jim and Margaret and former wife Charlotte they remained friends til his death.