Steamboat Pilot & Today

A 69-year-old Steamboat Springs man died Friday afternoon in a two-vehicle accident along Colorado Highway 9 near Green Mountain Reservoir, just a day after three local women were killed along the same stretch of road.

Francis "Bo" Fry, was traveling northbound on Colorado Highway 9 with his 5-year-old grandson when he drove into the southbound lane into oncoming traffic, the Colorado State Patrol said.

Timothy Everley of Aurora, 41, was traveling in the southbound lane. Everley swerved into the northbound lane, while Fry did the same. The vehicles then collided.

Kenneth Sklar, who was riding with Fry, was airlifted to Children's Hospital in Denver. He was released Monday with a broken leg.

Everley was taken to Saint Anthony Hospital with serious injuries. He has not been released.

Fry was a retired insurance company executive who was a ticket checker at the Steamboat Ski Area for two years and was active in the Holy Name Catholic Church.

Fry was driving back from Denver International Airport where he picked up his daughter's family. Four other members of the family were traveling in a second car. Family members described Fry as being a humble, soft-spoken and intelligent man who liked to work with his hands, whether fixing cars or adding onto the family house in Evergreen.

A Kansas native, Fry worked for the Hartford Insurance Company in Kansas City and then Denver for 20 years. Fry then helped form the Colorado Physician Insurance Company and worked with the company for 20 plus years before retiring to Steamboat with his wife, Beverly.

His daughter, Betsy Sklar, said her father dreamed of living in Steamboat and bought property here. He built his house along Ridge Road.

For two years, Fry could be found wearing a big cowboy hat and checking skiers and snowboarders' tickets as they made their way on to the gondola at the Steamboat Ski Area. The family said his favorite part of the job was seeing his grandchildren pass through the line.

"When he came to Steamboat, that was it, he didn't want to be anywhere else," son-in-law Todd McCague said. "It was the happiest I ever knew him."

In Evergreen, Fry was a volunteer firefighter and helped develop Evergreen's fire department.

In Steamboat, Fry volunteered with Horizons, taking children with developmental disabilities bowling on weekends. His daughter Ann Fry said he had just given blood Thursday.

He leaves behind his wife, Beverly; four children, Mike Fry, Ann Fry, Betsy Sklar and Cathy McCague; and three grandchildren.

The accident, which happened at 1:50 p.m. Friday, took place about 20 miles north of Silverthorne, less than five miles from the spot where three Slovakian women were killed Thursday. Miriana Feketova, 21, Nina Huskova, 22, and Monika Grigova, 23, died from injuries suffered in the accident. The driver, Juraj Polerecky, 22, and another passenger, Gabriel Stasko, 22, survived the accident. All five worked in Steamboat.