Almon Wilson “Will” Coulter died September 24 at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Santa Fe where he and his wife, Sara, were visiting their daughter. Will had been suffering from pulmonary fibrosis for many years and had declined in the last year, finally experiencing pulmonary failure. A memorial service will be held in Ridgway in celebration of his life in early August 2011.

Will was born in Denver, graduated from East High School, earned his B.S. in Chemistry from Colorado State University, and his Ph.D. from the University of Colorado. He spent two years in Germany working for Schering Plough between his undergraduate and graduate education. He received a post-doctoral fellowship from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore where he remained as an Assistant Professor for ten years. He worked as a reviewer for the Food and Drug Administration for 20 years, retiring in 1998, and moved to Ridgway with his wife in 1999.

Will loved the mountains and climbed many of the fourteeners in his younger days, becoming one of the earliest members of the Colorado Mountain Club. He returned to Colorado each summer with his family to camp and hike with the CMC. Since his retirement in Ridgway, he was a member of the Log Hill Volunteer Fire Department for six years, tutored at the school for ten years where he became a Partner of a young student, sang in the Ouray County Chorus, and participated in many of the Ridgway/Ouray Community Council activities.

He is survived by his wife Sara of 47 years and his three daughters and five grandsons: Elizabeth Woody, mother of Mason and Logan, of Vero Beach, FL; Isabel Nussbaumer, mother of Nathan, Jacob, and Daniel, of Timonium, MD; and Barbara Coulter of La Puebla, NM. Donations in his memory may be made to the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation, National Jewish Health in Denver, or the charity of your choice.