George Hottel

1959 - 2018

George Hottel was born Nov. 18, 1959, in Alamosa and died Jan. 25 in Evansville, Wyoming.
His primary residence as a boy growing up was in Brighton.
George met Cindy Walker in Brighton in 1977 when she was 15. He was 17 years old. They got married in 1979 and had two sons. Kory Hottel in 1981, and Andrew "Jake" Hottel in 1982. 
George began working in the oilfield in several different capacities until he eventually found his way to Wagner Caterpillar in 1983. George learned welding and fabrication and after working there for 15 years, he decided he wanted to work for himself. He started up as a sole proprietor of Hottel Welding and Machine in 1998. Soon after that, George was providing contract welding to Halliburton Services in Fort Lupton.
In 2009, George and his son, Jake, formed Hottel Welding. They grew the company into a successful business. He worked in Fort Morgan, Casper, Wyoming, Williston, North Dakota, and back to Fort Lupton until his death. 
George made many friends throughout his life. He loved hunting elk with them every year in Gunnison and also in Casper, Wyoming. Hunting camp was one of his favorite places to be, and although he loved the excitement of bagging one, he was equally happy just being up there with several of his best friends sharing stories. George was a life member of National Rifle Association.
One of his nephews and his sons got him interested in rock crawling and, soon, the group of three or four turned into many friends and about 15 rigs enjoying several years of trips to Moab, Utah, and to Montrose, Buena Vista, Penrose and wherever else big rocks could be found.
He was always trying to make his rig better, and he could often be found out in the shop cutting things off and welding things on. His recent interest was to buy a side by side and join up with friends again to run trails in Colorado. No matter what the hobby, George just loved being with his friends, family and, especially, with his sons doing things together. George also enjoyed growing vegetables in his garden. He was out there every summer hoeing, watering, fertilizing, and producing buckets of tomatoes and other vegetables to share. 
George is survived by his wife of 38 years; his oldest son, Kory Hottel, and his wife, Joni Zisman, of Baley; Andrew "Jake" Hottel, of Fort Lupton; a brother, Ed Hottel, of Brighton; sisters, Hallie Sue Sawyer, of Bridgeport, Neb., Ann Sack, of Brighton, and Kayce Phillips (Joe), of Keenesburg; and numerous nieces and nephews.
His sister, Sarah Hottel; and his parents, Bill and Mary Lue (Smith) Hottel, of Allenspark; his brother-in-laws, Stan Sawyer and Bernie Sack.
A celebration of life was Feb. 2 at Tabor-Rice Funeral Home in Brighton, which handled the arrangements.