Grojean
Studio

David Stewart Grojean passed suddenly and unexpectedly from natural causes on September 7, 2022. David was born in Springfield, Ohio on September 22, 1947, to Joanie and Charles Grojean. His father was an Admiral in the U.S. Navy, which meant the family had to relocate frequently, with mother, Joanie at the wheel of their overcrowded station wagon. David was the eldest followed by sister Charlotte, brother Peter, and youngest Peggy. Those early trips, their closeness in age, and their shared experiences adjusting to a succession of new places, schools, and neighbors, created close sibling bonds that remained vital to David throughout his life.

 

As a Marine serving in Vietnam, David earned a Purple Heart for the painful shrapnel wounds he sustained when he and his fellow Marine accidentally triggered an enemy landmine. That experience and those wounds haunted his memory and life. After returning from the war, David entered college and graduated from the American University in Washington, D.C.

 

He then moved to Boulder in 1975 to attend graduate school at CU where he earned his Master's Degree in Fine Art. He and his former wife Deborah had come to love Boulder and stayed to raise their family. And it was in Boulder where David began his long career as a creative artist, painting vivid, vibrant, and joyous abstract pieces, until finally closing his Boulder studio this past August. He had decided to start a new chapter of his life in San Antonio, where he would be close to brother Peter and Peter's wife, Janet.

 

That chapter proved brief. David was like his art; joyful, imaginative, and complex. He loved and was deeply loved by his children, Jessica and Alexi. And he was also loved by his many friends with whom he kept in frequent contact, making it a point to call or join them for coffee, brunch, or lunch. His friends were vital to David.

 

He is survived by son, Alexi, daughter, Jessica, her husband Daniel Hillman, and grandchildren Porter, 8, and Jordan (JoJo), 3. As well as his sisters, brother, and many cousins, nieces and nephews. Friends and family alike, all of us who knew and loved you, David, we think of you and thank you for enriching and brightening our lives!