Alfred Emil Brophy

Alfred Emil Brophy born October 23, 1931at home north of Wray to Thomas Edward and Estella Violet (Walker) Brophy. He passed away on  to eternity surrounded by family at his home on June 28, 2023 in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Alfred lived north of Wray during his early years. When he was 5 years old his parents bought their own land to farm. This land still is owned by our family. He attended a small rural school called Pleasant Valley for his early education. His later school years were spent at Wray High school where he enjoyed playing football. During his Senior year of high school, he enlisted in the Air Force.

The Air Force stationed him at various bases for basic training and classes on electronics and radar. He was then deployed to Morocco, Africa for 1 year. He spent that year installing and monitoring early radar tracking as systems. In his spare time, he enjoyed exploring every location he was stationed at.

Alfred rejoined the civilian world in March of 1955 and decided to attend Colorado State College of Education (now UNC) on the GI bill.  He was the first person in his family to attend college. He graduated in 1959 with a teaching degree for High School Science. After some serious discussions with his family, he agreed to help run the farm in his spare time.

While at college Al met the love of his life, Ann Hardwick. They were married September 16, 1956. To this union 4 children were born: Kay, Dale, Patrick, and Barbara.

After graduation from college, in the spring of 1959, Alfred taught in: Paxton, Nebraska, Holly, Colorado and Windsor, Colorado.  In the summer of 1965, he accepted a teaching job at Harrison High School in Colorado Springs. This new job also made it so Alfred and Ann could buy their first home. Alfred taught Chemistry and Physics at Harrison HS until his retirement in 1991. He did take one year of Sabbatical in 1972 to finish his master’s degree at the University of Wyoming.

After his retirement in 1991, Mr. Brophy spent 8 ½ years on the Harrison District #2 School Board and held every board position including School Board President.

During his years teaching at Harrison, he was a Key Club Sponsor and once he finished his school board duties, Alfred was very active with the Kiwanis Chapter-he was president of the Pikes Peak chapter of Kiwanis for several years. (The Key Club is the High School level of Kiwanis Clubs.) While he was a sponsor of the Key Club, Alfred and Ann chaperoned many trips to International Conventions for Key Club in places like: Phoenix, Miami, Orlando, New Orleans, Anaheim, St. Louis and Toronto, Canada. They enjoyed these trips immensely!  The Key Club also enjoyed several summer rafting trips.

During the years Alfred taught school he continued to help his parents with the family farm. Most weekends and summer vacations were spent there. After Alfred’s dad passed away in 1967, he purchased the farm from his mother. Alfred started with 370 acres; at the time of his death, he had almost doubled the farm acreage. His children have also bought additional farmland nearby. The farm was his favorite place in the world to be. He loved farming, raising cattle, gardening, and growing watermelons.

Mr. Brophy believed in serving others and this was evident in his many years of teaching, Key Club and Kiwanis service projects as well as his service on the School Board. He also helped many friends and family members throughout his life. He was loved and admired by friends, family, and former students.

Alfred Brophy is survived by his 4 children: Kay Sonstegard (Windsor), Dale (Anna) Brophy (Commerce city), Patrick (Unok) Brophy (Wray) and Barbara (Ed) Parrish (Wray).

He was preceded in death by his wife, Ann of 65 years, his parents, Ed and Estella Brophy and his siblings.

A Rosary will be held at the St. Andrew Catholic Church in Wray, Colorado on Friday, July 7, 2023 at 6:00 p.m.

Mass of Christian Burial will be held at the St. Andrew Catholic Church in Wray, Colorado on Saturday, July 8, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. with Father Felicien Ilunga Mbala officiating.

Interment will be in the Fairview Cemetery in Colorado Springs, Colorado on Wednesday, July 12, 2023 at 2:00 p.m.

Memorials maybe made to the St. Andrew Catholic Church in Wray, Colorado

Schmidt-Jones Funeral Home has been entrusted with the arrangements.