William Hubbard

1930 - 2023

Hubbard, William
Bill
09/201930 - 11/07/2023
Petroleum engineer and Businessman

William Cole Hubbard, (Bill), petroleum engineer and Denver businessman, passed away on November 7, 2023, while under hospice care, following a brief illness. Bill was born in Enid, Oklahoma, on September 20, 1930, the son of Ellis H. Hubbard and Mary Cole Hubbard.
Bill's parents were both educators, allowing summer family road and camping trips during Bill's youth to Colorado, the national parks and California. Travel and camping remained one of Bill's great interests throughout his life. He visited all seven continents. He loved the outdoors-skiing, climbing half of the state's fourteeners, and camping He camped with his family annually for over 65 years in the Flat Tops Wilderness Area of northwest Colorado.
Bill attended Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, participating in ROTC and graduating with an engineering degree in 1952, simultaneously receiving an Army officer commission. Military service followed at Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD and White Sands Proving Ground, NM. Upon discharge, Bill joined Phillips Petroleum. Subsequent employment with American Metal Climax, (AMAX), brought him to Colorado.
He left the oil business and purchased a small, two-person messenger service. This was to become "Speedy Messenger," one of the largest and most comprehensive locally-operated delivery companies in Colorado. Speedy maintained a large fleet of trucks and vans serving the Front Range and beyond, as well as bike riders making deliveries downtown. Bill attained "mascot" status for his company by appearing in newspaper stories riding his bike downtown. In the 1980's he completed the Denver Post's "Ride the Rockies" annual bike tour.
Bill was a 56-year member of the Kiwanis Club of Denver, serving once as its President, and again as a Board member on the Club's Foundation. He also served on the City of Denver's Ball Park Neighborhood Planning Committee, and various city-wide YMCA boards.
He loved classical music and opera, jokingly claiming to have known Mozart in a previous life. He organized annual family trips to the Santa Fe opera.
Bill is survived by three children, six grandchildren and seven great grandchildren. His parents preceded him in death, as did a brother and sister.
Plans for a memorial service are underway.