Dillon Michael Emerson

Dillon Michael Emerson died suddenly on November 8th 2021. He was born on Sept 4, 1980 at St. Francis hospital in Peoria, IL at the same hospital his father and grandmother was born as well as his younger brother Chase. The family moved from Illinois to Colorado when Dillon was 3 and he enjoyed growing up in the Black Forest in Colorado Springs. He attended Corpus Christi grade school and Wolford Elementary, Timberview Middle School, and Liberty High School. When Dillon was a Junior in High School, the family made a move to Windsor, Colorado where he graduated from Windsor High School with honors. He was involved with Student Council and was a National Honor Society member. He was on the high school basketball team that was 2nd in state in 1998. He was the recipient of the Weld County Sertoma Club scholarship as a Senior.

After discovering the old Windsor High School block letters in the basement of the middle school, Dillon wanted to put them back to use in front of the high school. He loved trying to figure out how to preserve things of historical significance. He was fascinated with learning all kinds of history. If he didn’t know how to do something he would read about it and was a quick study and a great student. At 16 he taught himself to do body work on his first car which was a Jeep.

After High School, Dillon was enrolled at Creighton University in Nebraska. In a short time, he changed majors from medicine to architecture and enrolled at CU Boulder to study architecture when he realized he needed to find a profession he loved. One afternoon his dad arranged a flight for him at the Loveland airport with a friend who was a flight instructor. Quickly he found himself back in Nebraska at UNO striving for a degree in aviation studies. He earned a bachelor’s degree and held not one but 2 masters degrees. After graduation, he arrived in Benton Kansas for several months learning how to fly a twin-engine plane with Herb Pello at Prairie Air Service. The rest is history as he discovered what he was made to do which was to have a career in aviation.

He moved to Denver and worked at Jeppesen Aviation, a Boeing Subsidiary. From there he went to Express Jet and then landed his dream job working for United Airlines. He flew many different types of planes during his career…. Regional Jets, 737, Airbus, 757, and 767. He was currently working as an instructor in TK (Training Center for United). It was the perfect job as it gave him so much pleasure to instruct about the “thing” he loved which was flying.

As much as Dillon loved flying, he loved his children Sophie, Riley, and Skyler the most! Everything he did in life was geared toward his children by giving them many kinds of learning experiences which brought family bonding time. He loved to travel with them and always looked forward to family trips to the mountains to ski or visits to Florida for fun late-night swims. He wanted to enrich their lives and made sure they had golf, ski, tennis, and swim lessons, and was always up for a casual game of frisbee.

As a single father of 3, he attended mass regularly with them. He was also a member of the Knights of Columbus. He loved to travel and vacation with his children. He was a Ski Instructor at Copper Mountain. He loved dirt bikes and wave runners and was in the process of obtaining his glider license. Dillon was a true learner of life who from the time of being a child always wanted to know how things worked.

His surviving relatives are his three beautiful children Sophia Emerson 13, Riley Emerson 12, and Skyler Emerson 11, his parents: Michael and Kim Emerson of Windsor, Colorado, his brothers Chase Emerson, and Parker Emerson. 3 uncles: Stephen Michael Herzfeldt, Fullerton CA, Matthew (Laura) Emerson, Anaheim CA and Mark Billings of Morton, IL. His cousins are Lorin Herzfeldt, Anaheim, CA, and Erin (Matthew) Zauss and one second cousin, Kingston Zauss of Whittier, CA.

Mass of Christian Burial will be held Tuesday November 16, 2021 at 11:00 am at Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Church in Windsor, CO. Interment will be held at a later date at Grandview Cemetery in Ft Collins, CO. Arrangements entrusted to Marks Funeral & Cremation Services in Windsor, CO.

PLEASE MAKE ANY DONATIONS IN CARE OF THE BANK OF COLORADO TO THE DILLON EMERSON CHILDREN FUND PO BOX 263, WINDSOR, CO 80550 IN LIEU OF FLOWERS.