Malcolm Highland

Malcom Bart Highland passed away on June 1, 2025, after suffering catastrophic brain injuries when he fell off a ladder while working outside his home 9 days earlier in Loveland, CO.  

Born October 8,1944, in Superior, WI, Mal grew up in Ft. Morgan, CO; Vernal, UT; and Cortez, CO.  

Mal served in the US Air Force from 1966-1970 as a Staff Sergeant during the Vietnam era.

He was stationed in Turkey with top secret crypto clearance protecting classified information. After his service with the Air Force, he served for a short time in the US Navy receiving an Honorable Discharge.

Mal graduated from Colorado State University with a BBA in Business. Before his enrollment at CSU, he attended some classes at Ft. Lewis College in Durango, CO because he was driving his younger, quadriplegic brother there every day anyway.  

He married Judi Turmaine in 1978, adopted her two children Guy and Kristi, and a few years later they welcomed daughter Kelli to the family. Mal was a natural with the baby and  treasured the nights rocking Kelli back to sleep. As a family, they enjoyed camping (in a tent in those early years) and backpacking. Mal taught all three of his children to drive.  

Mal’s outgoing personality and his love of driving was evident throughout much of his work history. In the 1970s, he was a State Trooper with the Colorado State Patrol. In addition to serving the community in this role, he also taught pursuit driving, but what he loved most of all were the opportunities to speak at local high schools about safe driving and the potential life-long impacts that can be made from behind the wheel of a car.  (While patrolling Larimer County driving down from Estes Park one night during the beginning of the 1976 Big Thompson River Flood, he stopped his car to look closer at something along the side of the road. When he exited his car, he saw just a few feet in front of him that the road had completely washed away. We are so thankful his story didn’t end that night!) He later sold Peterbilt trucks at Rush Truck Centers in Denver whereat he earned the “Richard Petty Driving Experience” - a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to drive a racecar on the Pikes Peak International Raceway. It was during his years working at RV America when Mal fell in love with “glamping” (like camping, but in glamorous RVs, in paved, manicured campgrounds). After semi-retiring, Mal realized he missed the public and the roads, so he drove a shuttle bus to and from Denver International Airport before finally retiring for real.

Mal lived in the Denver area until he married Shari on October 29, 1999 and moved to Loveland, CO.  

Mal and Shari loved doing life together. Together they loved travelling and had gone on several cruises. They especially treasured the times camping in the mountains or just  around the corner at Boyd Lake State Park, with church friends from the Loveland Church of Christ, with family, or simply just the two of them.  

They hosted innumerable family gatherings making holidays extra special for family and friends alike. They had perfected the art of working side by side in the kitchen preparing meals. They enjoyed cheering for their favorite sports teams - the Denver Broncos and whatever sports the local grandkids were playing.

Mal was an avid reader of mystery/crime books, often reading an entire novel in one day. He enjoyed taking long bicycle rides on the beautiful paths behind McKee and the Seven Lakes area. In recent years, Mal joined the Loveland Pickleball Club playing as much as 3 times a week. He loved food – preparing it, grilling it, cooking it, sharing it, but most of all - eating it! His special holiday shrimp dip will be greatly missed. (His refined taste for stinky bleu cheese and malt vinegar... not so much!)  

Mal took genuine interest in the lives of those he met. He could lift a stranger’s spirits with his infectious smile, one so big it literally made his eyes twinkle. He was a man’s man. He was a romantic. He was Shari’s “Sweet Baboo”, a great dad, and the best grandpa.  

Mal is survived by his wife of  25 years Shari Highland; children Guy Highland and wife Missy; Kelli Highland and fiancé Adam Rosenthal; Shari’s children Melissa Sobczak and husband

Harry; Joy Williams and husband Rob; sisters Penny Stevens and husband Joe, Raye

Highland and husband Bill Brown; and grandsons Andrei Sobczak, Sergei Sobczak, Mason Gott, and Jaden Williams. He was preceded in death by his parents Bart and Scotte Highland, brother Gill Highland, and daughter Kristi Murphy.

“When we face the darkest of the night, I’ll reach out for your hand.

And I know your love will hold me tight ‘til we can see the sun again.

For God has given me a taste of heaven here on earth.

‘Til life is through, I belong to you.”

God Knew That I Needed You by Dick & Mel Tunney

A memorial service with miliary honors will be held at:

2:00 p.m. Saturday, June 28, 2025

Loveland Church of Christ

4100 S. Taft Ave. Loveland, CO 80537

Cards can be sent to the family in care of the Loveland Church of Christ.