Frost
JACK FROST
September 3, 1930 February 11, 2021
His life was gentle, and the elements mixed so well in him that Nature might stand up and say to all the world, "This was a man." *
Jack Frost died February 11, 2021, surrounded by his sons. He was born September 3, 1930 in Snowflake, Arizona to Leo and Thelma (Richards) Frost.
Yes, he was featured in Ripley's Believe it or Not.
His father died when he was 11, and Jack went to work. He took pride in hard work, and he never stopped. He supported his mother throughout high school and beyond. A good student, he was also a talented basketball player.
He saved enough money to serve a mission for the Mormon church in Western Canada. Upon his return, he volunteered for the Army. After his service, he used his VA benefits to attend BYU, where he met Gloria...
Gloria Louise Anderson was born September 16, 1936 to Clive and Margaret (Sorensen) Anderson. She embodied self-deprecating humor, a sunny disposition, and a love for people. She was as proud to grow up on a dairy farm working along with her beloved parents as she was to enroll at BYU in 1954, where she met Jack...
They fell in love. They graduated and married in 1958. They moved to Laramie, Wyoming where Jack earned an MFA and began teaching high school art in Cheyenne.
They drove through Colorado Springs (when Nevada Avenue was the highway) and fell in love again. Jack liked the Fine Arts Center and the many displays of public art throughout the city, but really it was Pikes Peak.
Bob Simpich traveled to Cheyenne to recruit art teachers for District 11 and happened to meet Jack. They eagerly moved to Colorado Springs in 1963, and the city would soon discover their passion for teaching, learning, and creating.
Jack taught art at Wasson until Mitchell opened. He was the president of the Colorado Springs Art Guild and a friend of Starr Kempf, who also dismissed anything artsy-fartsy. Jack was an artist who drove trucks. He was an artist who repowered tugboats with his brother, Richard. He was an artist who observed closely and quietly, watching how the time of day could completely change an object.
Gloria taught in District 2 before moving to District 11, where she taught first grade. She spent many happy years team-teaching with her dear friend, Lee Beach, at both Monroe and Chipeta Elementary. Teaching children to read is magic, and Gloria was a magician.
Gloria created with fabric. She sewed all her clothes, and her creations were stunning. If she saw a dress in a window and just couldn't resist, she would recreate it that day, with or without the curtain rod. She created puppets to help teach her first graders. On story days, she would dress as the Jolly Green Giant with her youngest son, Ryan, dressed as Little Sprout.
She was a proud member of the Retired Teachers' Association and the Red Hat Society. Together, Gloria and Jack were members of the American Truck Historical Society.
Gloria suffered from dementia but maintained her positivity with Jack's dedication and tender care. They were married 59 years when she died on December 6, 2017. In all the ways that matter, Jack died that day, too. When asked how he was doing, he would reply, "About half." He never stopped missing her.
The couple is survived by sons, Ryan and Grant, and daughter, Andria.
Jack and Gloria requested cremation with no services, save for scattering their combined ashes on Pikes Peak. Who knows? Jack Frost and his beloved Gloria may be part of the next snowfall on Garden of the Gods.
-- William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act 5, Scene 5.