John T. "Jay" Windell

1930 - 2020

On Jan. 8, John T. (Jay) Windell, a long- time resident of Fort Lupton, a loving son, brother, father, uncle, grandfather, passed along on his last journey down the river of life while living along the South Platte River. His age (89), he would say is only a number.
Jay was born April 1930 in Hessville, Indiana, to Beatrice Davidson and Albert Porter Windell. He attended and graduated from Griffith High School, where he played football and basketball and, soon after, completed his undergraduate studies at Indiana Central College. Jay became the biology teacher and football coach at Griffith High and was eventually recruited by Indiana Central College for head football coach and biology professor.
Jay served in the U.S. Army medical corps for two years. Using his GI Bill, he earned a doctorate in zoology/limnology at Indiana University. In 1959, he married Janet Sue (Susie) Prather and moved to Boulder to become a professor at the University of Colorado, for more than 30 years. Together they raised three sons; Brad, Greg, and Tim.
Professionally and intellectually, Jay was fascinated by fishes, rivers and wetlands of the West bringing their web of life, and ecosystems function to the public with lectures at symposium, stakeholder meetings and many branches of government. Throughout his academic career, he published more than 216 scholarly papers and three books and co-authored many more, while finding time to write popular articles about rivers, fisheries and fly fishing. While at CU he held the largest campus lecture and became the chairman of the general biology department.
Jay went on to serve on the Water Quality Control Commission after an appointment by gov. Richard Lamm. During his time on the commission, he helped in the development of the Clean Water Act standards, managed many Environmental Impact Statements and influenced EPA rules and regulations. Jay started his own company, Aquatic and Wetland, where he designed, developed and constructed projects like the restoration and renaturalization of Boulder Creek, 4UR Ranch, Caribou Ranch, Cow Creek Ranch, Hancock Ranch, Skylark Ranch and Orvis fly fishing ranches. He exercised his love of nature by also growing native riparian plants for thousands of acres of wetlands throughout the west.
Jay was a lifetime lover of rivers, the fish in them, and the people that would float them. He was an avid fly fisherman and, by some accounts, the best one to have lived. He had a passion for the outdoors -- river rafting, hiking, camping, as well as swing dancing along river banks. Jay found freedom and a deep appreciation for the cycles of life on the river when rafting with friends. He rafted thousands of miles of rivers and oared the Grand Canyon nine times on his own raft. His last river trip at age 89, was spent with his grandchildren, son, and friends in the Frank Church Wilderness. He soaked in hot springs and breathed the cool moist air that can only occur before rapids of a wild and scenic Salmon River. He was known for his storytelling, infectious laugh and breathing life into everyone he met. The Salmon River is known as the "River of No Return" and Jay left a part of himself there on the river last summer.
His parents; and a brother, Duane, preceded him in death. Survivors include his sisters Lollie (99) and Jean (87); three sons; five grandchildren; six nephews and two nieces,
Jay's services are to be announced. If you knew Jay on the river, we ask you to apply for river permits in his honor.