Robert M. Senterfit

Robert Michael Senterfit, 90, died at his home in Boulder, Colorado, on April 7. Michael was born November 22nd, 1934, to Eulalie Beyer Senterfit, a single mother in Sarasota, Florida. He developed rheumatic fever at 6. Recuperation was lengthy and uncertain in the days before antibiotics, so Michael’s family kept him at home until he was 13. His education came from his mother and siblings, plus a large group of aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, books, and the radio. The experience left him with a rich inner life, a love of baseball and reading, and the ability to find joy and satisfaction in simple things. He liked to say that “when I was a kid, they hadn’t invented anxiety yet.”

Michael entered school in the 9th grade and began making up for lost time. He did well enough to get into the University of Florida, but could only stand it for one year there before leaving to see the world. He hitchhiked to Oregon and worked as a fire tower lookout in the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest. When the season was over, he spent a year at the University of Missouri, then went back to Oregon to work as a “Smokejumper,” parachuting into the backcountry to fight wildfires. After that summer, he enlisted in the Army and did two years at Maryland’s Fort Meade, playing in a fife and drum corps.

After completing his Army service, Michael embarked on a transatlantic journey, exploring Europe by motorcycle, bicycle, and hitchhiking. In 1957, he met and fell in love with a young Swedish woman, Marie-Louise Töreskog, in Copenhagen; they married in Sweden in 1962. Returning to the U.S., they moved to Missouri, where he completed his degree in Geology. In 1963, the two rumbled over the hill into Boulder in a Ford Falcon, and Michael remarked, “This looks like a nice place to live.” They traveled to Alaska for an early assignment and purchased land in Anchorage. In 1964, they sold the parcel and soon purchased a small house in West Boulder.

Michael and Marilla spent more than six decades together in that house, but in 1964, their adventures were far from over. In 1965, they bought a Volkswagen bus and spent a year on the road with two friends. They drove through Europe, the Middle East, and over the Khyber Pass to Pakistan and India. They continued by freighter to Australia, hitchhiked across that continent, then sailed to Yokohama and toured Japan by thumb before sailing back to the US, arriving exactly 365 days later.

Michael was a lifelong jazz drummer. As a soldier in uniform, he often hitchhiked to New York City to see performances by Count Basie, “Philly” Jo Jones, and other titans of jazz. He carried this experience with him for the rest of his life, playing drums professionally for many years. He also enjoyed making music at home while Marilla sang, and a parade of friends filled in on other instruments.

Michael took a job with the U.S. Geological Survey that was steady, but also allowed him to travel throughout the American West and Alaska. One day at 4 am, just north of Las Vegas, after hearing a Louis Prima set, he set up seismic equipment, put on dark glasses, sat in a lawn chair facing northeast, saw the bright flash of a nuclear explosion, and watched as a huge mushroom cloud rose out of the darkness.

Michael and Marilla spent their winter weekends working on ski patrols at Winter Park and other Colorado slopes. Michael also ran Figaro, a mail-order company that sold postage stamps to collectors and worked ceaselessly on his property, which he called “a little slice of heaven” or “the crumbling empire,” depending on when you asked.

After retiring, Michael earned a history degree from the University of Colorado at the age of 72. He and Marilla also continued to travel, both overseas and to his son’s home in New York’s Hudson Valley. In his final years, Michael struggled with short-term memory loss, but his sense of humor and appreciation for life were undiminished.

Michael died at his home on April 7, at the age of 90, after a short illness. He is survived by his wife, Marilla, of 62 years, a devoted son and daughter-in-law, Ben and Ana, two grandchildren, Raphael and Julian, and many friends who were captivated by his warmth, humor, and stories from a remarkably adventurous life. Services will be private.