QUILLEN III, Edward Kenneth "Ed"

Edward Kenneth “Ed” Quillen III, 61, Salida, died June 3, 2012, of a heart attack. He was born Nov. 12, 1950, in Greeley to Dorothy and Ed Quillen II and moved to Evans with his family when he was 2 years old. He attended Chappelow Elementary School and Evans Junior-Senior High school and graduated from Greeley West High School in 1968. Mr. Quillen attended the University of Northern Colorado, which at the time was Colorado State College, majoring in English. He served as editor of the campus paper, The Mirror, in 1970 and ’71 along with holding a variety of other jobs at the paper. He married Martha Patterson June 26, 1969, in Longmont. The couple had two daughters. Mr. Quillen dropped out of college in 1972 to report for the weekly Longmont Scene and returned to UNC in fall 1973 but left again the following spring without a degree. In 1974, the Quillens went to work for the weekly Middle Park Times in Kremmling, which they bought a year later and sold in 1977. For a few months he edited the Summit County Journal in Breckenridge before moving to Salida in spring 1978 to become managing editor of The Mountain Mail. He held that position until 1983, when he quit to devote himself to full-time freelance writing. Mr. Quillen began selling columns to the Denver Post in 1984 and in 1986 became a regular op-ed columnist. Over the years he wrote for many other publications as well as authoring, coauthoring and ghostwriting several books. The Quillens founded Colorado Central Magazine in 1994 and published it for 15 years before selling it in 2009. Mr. Quillen was preceded in death by his father and a brother, Philip. Survivors include his wife; daughters, Columbine Quillen (Brad Goettemoeller) and Abigail Quillen (Aaron Thomas); grandsons, Ezra Quillen Thomas and Ira Quillen Thomas; his mother; and brothers Tony, a prison chaplain in South Carolina, and Kurt, an engineer in Longmont. Cremation took place, and his memorial service was June 10, 2012, at First United Methodist Church in Salida. Memorial donations may be sent to the family of Ed Quillen at P.O. Box 548, Salida, CO 81201, to help with expenses. Arrangements were through Lewis and Glenn Funeral Home, Salida. Online condolences may be offered at lewisandglenn.com. 2012