UPDATE (2/25/2017): Justin’s final rest has been arranged. A memorial service will be held March 29th, 11:00am at St. Martin de Porres Catholic Church in Boulder. Internment will follow at Garden of Memory in Longmont.
Justin Joseph Lloyd passed away on September 19, 2016 from complications of Crohn’s disease. He was 44 years old, and he left us far too soon.
A life-long Colorado resident, Justin was born in Boulder on August 26, 1972. His parents divorced shortly after his birth and he grew up in the care of his mother, the youngest of six children. His schooling was pretty standard, but his life path seemed unclear until he discovered his fondness of and aptitude for cooking.
He started his culinary career as a line cook, where he seemed to enjoy the challenges and pressures of the periodically busy restaurant. From restaurant work he moved on to catering and institutional (corporate) kitchens, where he had the good fortune to find some mentors to help him develop and hone his skills. It wasn’t until he began working for a retirement community that he truly found his calling. Working progressively upward from cook to chef to director-level positions, he blossomed into a true professional, crafting dishes and menus that garnered rave reviews from inside and outside his workplace. His innate skills for management came to the fore as well, and he was able to run his food service operations with virtually no employee turnover and with budgets that would have stymied lesser managers. More than all this, though, he truly loved providing quality meals and service to the community residents. He thought of himself as having been invited to cook in their home, and always held himself to the highest standards to reflect the privilege that invitation implied.
Although cooking was his work and his passion, he had other interests to help fill out his life. Being Colorado born and bred meant that Justin had the outdoors in his blood. He was no stranger to Rocky Mountain National Park, and spending a weekend camping — by himself or with others — was always something he enjoyed. When weather or other circumstances preventing his outdoor sojourns, there were indoor activities to fill his time. He found a proficiency and peace as a student of the martial arts, being skilled enough to finish well in tournaments and teach an occasional class. Justin had a fondness for animals, especially cats, and would try to help the strays and abandoned cats he encountered. This went hand-in-hand with his volunteer work at the Humane Society, where, as a donation driver, he would travel to assorted locations and businesses to collect donated food and supplies. This was typically done in the mornings before he had to go to work, and, as an added “thank you” to the donors, he would often bring coffee.
His personal life had its share of ups and downs, with Justin choosing to focus on the former rather than the latter. He was privileged to be the father to two outstanding daughters. He always did his best to support them, and they have grown to be two intelligent, talented and capable young women. After a long-term relationship and marriage ended, he was again able to find love, and that sustained him until the end.
Justin was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease when he was 18, so he literally dealt with it the entirety of his adult life. Although there is no cure for Crohn’s, after several years of tests and trial, a treatment was found that gave him stability and the opportunity to live a relatively normal life. Unfortunately, Justin’s condition worsened in 2015, when his Crohn’s was able to compromise his lymphatic system and, essentially, began to poison his body. Even after the doctors finally were able to identify what was happening, the rarity of the situation meant there was no viable treatment available. Justin battled this condition far longer than the doctors’ predicted timeline, but it was both a blessing and a curse: he was better able to settle his affairs and could say “good-bye” to those close to him, but he was in ever increasing pain until the end.
Justin is survived by his mother, Barbara; his brothers, Peter, Andrew and James; his sisters, Mary and Charlotte; his daughters, Savannah and Victoria; and by his girlfriend and the woman who was with him at the end, Lorene Nardell. Nearly innumerable friends, acquaintances, retirement community residents, professional colleagues and others also mark his passing and remember the impact he made on their lives. His ready wit and easy smile made him a joy to be around, his talents in the kitchen endeared him to those he served, and his compassion and caring for the people in his life make him a stellar example of what anyone of us would hope to accomplish in our own lives.
He will be dearly missed.
