Ariel Q. Robison, Jr.

Ariel Quincy Robison, Jr., passed away Feb. 27, 2016, at age 86, at the home of his daughter, Jill Trask, in Highlands Ranch, Colorado.

AQ, as he was often called, was born in Los Angeles June 14, 1929 and was raised in Glendale, Calif.

He was an adventurous young man, piloting his first airplane at age 14, water skiing and snow skiing at the family cabin in Lake Tahoe, and living for a time on his own sailboat, doing cruises up and down the California coast. He even had some Hollywood passengers aboard... one of them being Art Linkletter.

A.Q. was on one of those cruises when he got the word his Air Force Reserve Unit had been activated and he had to literally jump ship and report for duty to leave for Korea the next day.

After serving during the Korean conflict as an airplane engine mechanic, Ariel took a job working for a friend of his father in Phoenix. Later, he established a career in Phoenix with Garrett AiResearch.

He stayed with the company through its evolution to Allied Signal and then Honeywell Aerospace until his retirement as a senior support services manager in 1993.

He was honored to be included on the inaugural flight of the Boeing 707 from Miami to San Juan, Puerto Rico to New York in 1957.

In the summer of 1963, Ariel took a leave of absence from the aerospace industry to try his hand at cattle ranching in Mancos, Colo. His love for the outdoors and horses were taken to a new level during that chapter of his life. He was known by many as a “jack of all trades” and, fortunately, master of many.

He played hard and worked hard, being an accomplished hunter, fisherman, tennis player, dancer, water and snow skier, boater, swimmer, diver, pilot, landscaper, electrician, plumber, and builder (mouse houses to people houses, swing sets and pools and more).

In his “spare” time through the years and then in his “retirement,” Ariel worked as a general contractor, building 20-plus homes, primarily in Fountain Hills in the later years.

In Phoenix in 1953, Ariel married Irma Kokko Nelson, who died in early 1966, leaving him with four young daughters. He married Bette Ann Holmes Myers later that year, and added a fifth daughter to his family. The family lived in Arizona and California.

In 1985, when the couple was empty nesters, Ariel and Bette moved from Scottsdale to Fountain Hills. Ariel and Bette remained devoted to one another for 48 years, until she preceded him in death in October 2014 in Fountain Hills.

After Bette’s death, Ariel was unable to live alone and his daughters moved him to Highlands Ranch, Colorado in November of 2014.

Ariel's five girls, Kristin Donato and Janine Weyers (Ron) of Phoenix; Quin Stringham (Shand) of Carlisle, Pa.; Tiffini Anderson (Steve) of Portland, Ore.; and Jill Trask (Gary) of Highlands Ranch, Colo., as well as his 12 grandchildren and seven great grandchildren, and his sister Betty Cline and family of Folsom, Calif., are saddened by his passing, but grateful to know he is at peace and has finally gone home.

He will be remembered fondly for the amazing man he was, his charming smile and fun wit, and his love for his family, westerns, and of course, ice cream.

A funeral service was held Saturday, March 5, 2016 at Valley View Christian Church, 11004 Wildfield Lane, Littleton, Colo. A burial service was held on Tuesday, March 8, at 11 a.m. at Paradise Memorial Gardens, 9300 E. Shea Blvd., Scottsdale, where Ariel was interred with his wife, Bette Ann.