SERVICE:  Wednesday, December 7th at 10:00am. The service is in the Chapel Daniel Vigil was born on Cinco de Mayo, 1974, in Las Vegas, New Mexico, to Linda and Rick Vigil, joining his older sister, Teresa. His younger sister, Ramona, completed the family a few years later. When his parents divorced, Daniel lived with his mom and sisters for four years in Jefferson County, Colorado, before rejoining his father in New Mexico, at age 11.   Eventually, Daniel and his Dad moved back to Denver to be closer to family. Daniel’s dad would give him a quarter to play video games, and Daniel quickly learned to master these games in order to make the most of his twenty-five cents.  As a young child, Daniel showed signs of extraordinary intelligence. His preschool teacher couldn’t keep him busy, so she taught him chess. Thus began a life-long love of gaming that gave him hours of enjoyment and created a tight network of gaming friends.  In elementary school, signs of his gifted qualities continued to emerge, and he skipped the 2nd grade, attending local schools in Colorado and New Mexico, including Prospect Valley Elementary School, Presentation of Our Lady, and Regis Jesuit High School. After high school, Daniel began his college education at CU Boulder, and went on to graduate with a degree in Mathematics from the University of Chicago. During a summer break from college, Daniel and his dad began the restoration of a Victorian home in NW Denver, an accomplishment Daniel was always proud of and enjoyed sharing with others.  To help pay off college debt after receiving his degree, Daniel enlisted in the U.S. Army where he was trained in and served as an Arabic Linguist and Radio Intercept Operator. While assigned on the Sinai Peninsula, he was honorably discharged two weeks prior to the start of the Iraq War in 2003. Daniel returned to Colorado and began his medical training at CU Anschutz in Denver. During this time, Daniel began attending Pathways Church and became interested in offering his overseas experience and medical training on a church mission trip to Rwanda. This life-changing trip is where Daniel and Kathleen met, and realizing their mutual passions and faith, fell in love.  Kathleen and Daniel’s beautiful wedding took place in Kathleen’s parents’ backyard on a rainy June evening in 2010. With little time for a honeymoon, the couple moved immediately cross-country to Ohio so that Daniel could start his rural family medical residency. One year later, they moved back to Northern Colorado where Daniel continued his residency. He started working with the Poudre Valley health district utilizing his talents as the Program Planning and Evaluation Specialist. In 2013, Daniel began the Preventive Medicine Masters of Public Health Residency at Anschutz. During this residency, he had a rotation with the Colorado Department of Health and Environment (CDPHE). Upon graduation, he began working for CDPHE as a Program Manager, with the opportunity to participate in some high profile advisory groups. One of these roles was the Program Manager of the Marijuana Health Monitoring and Research Program, responsible for compiling and analyzing data to address issues surrounding the legalization of marijuana in Colorado. In 2019, Daniel decided to pursue his love of math and computing, and switching gears, he began a Computer Science Degree at Colorado School of Mines.   Although going back to school was fun, it was also expensive. At the start of the pandemic, an opportunity became available for Daniel to work for the Department of Labor in the role of Expert Methodologist for the Colorado Division of Workers’ Compensation. He played an integral role in the development and revision of Colorado’s Workers’ Compensation Medical Treatment Guidelines. This work ignited his passion to help workers, and he was accepted into an occupational medicine residency at the University of Colorado that he was excited to start in July, 2023. In his free time, he loved to solve problems (math and otherwise), parkour, playing various board games, spending time with family - especially his nieces and nephew (Lain, Nimah, and Zak) - being in nature, studying the Bible, all things involving math, being goofy, making people laugh, watching movies, spending time with his wife, driving fast, and brownie sundaes (not necessarily in that order). Daniel is survived by his wife Kathleen and son Micah; his mother Linda and his sisters Teresa and Ramona and their families; his Aunt, Uncle and cousins from the Morey and Vigil families; his in-laws and his dear friends Paul, Brian, Ben, Tom, and Greg with whom he played many board games. Daniel is remembered always for his huge heart, deep love of his wife, Kathleen, and their families, persistent faith in God and persevering study of the Scripture, quick and quirky sense of humor, fixing all kinds of things, strategic thinking, playing anything board game, and rich intellect. Donations in honor of Daniel’s life will provide water filters to the people of Ukraine (a cause and people to whom he was very committed). Donate online: bit.ly/TributeDaniel (In the “sponsoring” box, kindly write “water filters” and in the “tribute” box, kindly write “Daniel Vigil”) or via check: Young Life Ukraine, 420 N. Cascade Ave, Colorado Springs, CO  80903 (In the memo of your check, kindly write “water filters / Daniel Vigil”)