Luis Alfonse Estela, beloved husband of Brunhilde Emma (Brandt) Estela, passed away Monday afternoon, Oct. 20. 2014, at Aurora South Hospital, due to complications from a recent fall. He was 87.

Luis was born Feb. 23, 1927 in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, the son of Lorenzo Justiniano Estela and Juana Francisca Irizarry Estela.

A memorial service is slated to be held at Cherry Creek Retirement Village Nov. 26, 2014 and will include a military honor guard.

After graduating from high school, Luis began a career in the United States Army, moving through the ranks from enlisted man to officer, his tours of duty including Germany, Korea, and Viet Nam. Along the way he also earned his Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctoral degrees.

In Germany following World War II, Luis met a young German national fluent in English who was working for the occupation forces at Rhine-Main Hospital in Frankfurt.

She soon became his fiancée, and for the next two years, Luis and Brunhilde frequently made trips northwest of Frankfurt to Westerwald, a farming region that is home to Brunhilde’s extended family. With their blessing the two were wed in January 1950 — but only after Uncle Sam’s required civil ceremony occurred first.

During the Korean War, Luis and his two younger brothers, Wilfredo and Enrique, were featured in the Armed Forces newspaper Stars and Stripes, when they were able to hold an impromptu R&R rendezvous June 10, 1952 in Kyoto, Japan.

Two of Luis’ older brothers, Lorenzo and Francisco (“Pacho”), had served in World War II.

“All the brothers came back,” became a proud and happy family expression. And by the mid-1950s, their mother, Francisca, had received a special letter from President Dwight D. Eisenhower commending her remarkable generosity in sending five sons to America’s defense.

While stationed at Fitzsimons Army Hospital in Aurora, Luis completed work on his Master’s degree at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, focusing on rubella, the virus known as measles. Captain Estela found time as well to coach a Little League team, be an assistant Scoutmaster, and learn to ski.

The next year, as the U.S. Army’s presence in Southeast Asia increased, he received orders to join a handful of other officers in setting up the 9th Medical Laboratory in Saigon. Immediately following his 1966-67 Vietnam tour of duty, newly promoted Major Estela received orders to join the Medical Service Corps team at the 10th Medical Laboratory in Landstuhl, Germany. Concurrently, at the nearby University of the Saar, he would complete his Ph.D.

Upon retiring from the military in 1971, Luis continued his work as a microbiologist, bacteriologist, and immunologist, accepting special assignments from the United States Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control. His fluent Spanish was of considerable help in the scientific seminars and short courses he presented abroad in Argentina, Peru, Venezuela, and the Dominican Republic. He especially enjoyed teaching microbiology at the University of Colorado Medical School in Denver.

Luis was predeceased by his father, mother, five sisters, and six brothers.

He is survived by the love of his life, Brunhilde, devoted wife through their 64 years of marriage, during which they forever called each other Schatz (Treasure). Luis is also survived by his son Rolf and partner Kathleen of Orono, Maine; daughter Karyn and partner Harald, of Thornton, Colorado; granddaughter Jessica Savidge, husband Greg, and great granddaughters Alexis, Gwendolyn, and Pryce, all of West Palm Beach, Florida; grandson Gabriel Estela of West Palm Beach; grandson Ian Campbell and partner Anna of Denver, Colorado; and dozens and dozens of nieces and nephews and grandnieces and grandnephews all over the United States.

A memorial service will be held at Cherry Creek Retirement Village Nov. 26, 2014 and will include a military honor guard.

A graveside service with full military honors will be held at Fort Logan National Cemetery at a future date.