William J Raplee

WILLIAM J RAPLEE †œBILL†� April 20,1950- November 22, 2018 Bill died on November 22, 2018, Thanksgiving night. He fought courageously against head and neck cancer for the last three years. Bill was born the youngest of three children in Cheyenne, WY on April 20, 1950. He was born to Chester J and Ernestine Raplee. Chester was a traveling salesman of heavy road equipment and Ernestine was a housewife and mother. In the mid 1950†™s, a series of moves took the family to Grand Junction, Kansas, Missouri and Iowa. The early 1960s had the family in Southern Florida. Bill started reading car magazines and learned all about the winter nationals. The new car models came out in September and the race teams battled to get a hold of the newest cars. Drag racing was popular and he saw races on airport runways, abandoned roads and even the beach. The family left Florida in the summer of 1965 and moved back to Colorado in Indian Hills. Bill lived in the Denver area the rest of his life. Bill†™s years in Indian Hills had him buying cars, just to flip them and sell them. He told telling his kids about his first 1957 Chevy. After a week of ownership, a cop followed him home one night after hearing the echoes of the car bouncing off the canyons of Indian Hills. His dad then said †œwell, that car is gone!†� The Bel-Air apparently didn†™t have mufflers. He also told stories of driving home late at night up Turkey Creek Canyon, headlights off, steering only by the light of the full moon. We never got an exact figure out of him, but he said he had owned and sold over 100 cars by the time he was 21. Bill graduated from Evergreen High School in 1968. He was one of 12 younger classmen to be chosen for the advanced shop class. In the fall of 1968, Bill and a friend headed to San Francisco after seeing the brand new Steve McQueen flick, Bullitt. The famous car chase up and down the streets of San Francisco convinced him that California was the happening place to be. After a few weeks, the glamour faded and he figured he needed to get home and go to work. His love of cars led him to a job at JC Penney in Englewood at Cinderella City. He first ran the diagnostic lane in the Auto Center. He was then promoted to a salesman where he sold batteries and tires (on commission). He loved working on days where it was freezing and snowing because people had to replace worn out tires and batteries. He met Jewel Dean in early 1976 and they married in July. As luck would have it, Bill was growing tired of being a salesman and a new opportunity presented itself. His father-in-law, Sid, began a brokerage business (Interstate Shippers) in April of 1980. When the trucking industry was deregulated in 1983, Sid began the trucking side of the business (Ridge Carriers). Bill started working for the business in the later part of 1980 and for the next 10 years, Sid taught him everything there is to know about the trucking business. He also took on the task of teaching Bill how to drive a semi. Sid finally had to cut his losses and had someone else teach Bill how to shift properly. His children with Jewel; Sam, Sarah and Susan came along in the 1980s. After the retirement of Jewel†™s parents in 1990, he became an owner with Jewel, her sister Ginger and her husband Billy. After a divorce in the mid 90†™s, Bill, Billy and Ginger were left to carry on the company. Bill remarried in November 1999 to Marcie and they have been together since. They loved to take off and see the country when business was slow. Some of Bill†™s favorite times were when he and Marcie were able to meet up with his sister, Barb, and brother-in-law, Bud. They had a motorhome and were always ready for a call from Bill saying, †œWell, where are the Dabney†™s at this week?†� Unfortunately, this didn†™t happen near as often as they would like. The business limited the time he could be gone. However, he took advantage of this every chance he got. Marcie was a tremendous caretaker of Bill during these past three years. Bill worked tirelessly for the family business, but loved visiting Barb and Bud in Florida. He loved the beach and The Sunshine State and always enjoyed a good soak in the Atlantic. He loved Florida but Colorado was always home. Barb and Bud also loved to visit Bill in Colorado and would venture up the mountains to catch some fresh powder. Ginger passed away in 2006 and the brothers-in-law were left carrying the torch. Billy has been a constant in the company for more than 30 years. Billy works relentlessly to keep the business running. Billy†™s work ethic was unlike anything that Bill had ever seen and was always in awe of how Billy never seems to stop. In September of 2011, the company made a huge move to a new shop in Henderson. Bill was SO proud of the new building and really took pride in the fact that everything the company owned was paid for. His practical and logical way of approaching each situation will forever resonate in his family and the company. He was able to take two amazing vacations this summer and early fall. He and Marcie went up to Yellowstone, and back south through Utah earlier in the summer. In September, he and Marcie drove 4,500 miles around the east coast. Of course, he had to stop in Iowa first to see the †œAmerican Pickers†� place. Bill always loved the areas around Boston and he finally got to see Niagara Falls. Bill always said his kids were his greatest accomplishment. He instilled his values in them and his presence will never fade. Sam and Sarah earned degrees from Metro State and are currently consumed with the daily management of Interstate Shippers. Sarah studied Elementary Education and substitute teaches in the Jefferson County School District whenever she can. Susan graduated from CSU-Pueblo and majored in political science. She is currently working at the Colorado State Capitol as the Minority Office Director for the Colorado House Republicans. Bill is survived by his wife, Marcie, his children, Samuel J, Sarah Joan, Susan Jennifer, his sister, Barbara (Bud) Dabney and his niece Joyceline (Richard) Aemmer. Bill was preceded in death by his parents, his brother Robert Raplee, and his aunt Mary Laman. Bill did not want a funeral with everyone standing around crying. A celebration of life (the First Annual Bill Raplee car show?) will be held in the spring of 2019. For more details, contact his daughter Sarah at [email protected]. If you would like to drop by for a visit, or to say hi, just come by the shop, the address is below. 9740 Emporia Street Henderson, CO 80640 303-908-8976 Donations can be made to the American Cancer Society.