Billy Colpean passed away in hospice care after 17 months of living with pancreatic cancer. When a doctor told him the life expectancy was normally six to twelve months, he said “good thing I’ve never been normal a day in my life!” In this circumstance and many others, his family was Grateful for it. And what a long, strange trip it’s been.

Billy was born in Saginaw, MI to William James Colpean Sr. and Shirley Jean Colpean, and let life proceed by his own design. He moved to Fort Wayne, IN after meeting his future wife, Sandy, while running sound for a rock band. In the first of many love letters he wrote to her, he provided a formal introduction (or at least, as formal as he got):

“About the Author: Billy is a young rising talent, with only one way to go, up (he’s already at the bottom), and just because he works for rock & roll bands, doesn’t mean that he partakes in all those nasty things that those darn rock bands do. Basically he’s a nice guy, a regular kid next door type.”

And up he went! Billy spent his 68 years touring the US with rock bands (most enduringly his chosen brotherhood in the FBC Band), attending 49 Grateful Dead shows (often with his best friend Phil), building custom cars, refurbishing furniture, celebrating 39 years of steadfast marriage with Sandy, and being adored by his two children Michelle and Zack (and later, their spouses, Faris and Maddie) who never went a day without feeling his love and pride. Their world will always have a Touch of Gray without him in it. Where his spirit travels next, he will join his beloved grandson Sami to play the Floor is Lava, while Earthside, his granddaughter Salma fondly remembers him as a beloved half of “GrammaGrampa.”

His wit, creativity, devotion, orneriness, and sense of fun will long be honored and remembered by the family and friends who were lucky enough to know him. In his memory, the family asks that you play your music too loud, create something beautiful, make someone laugh, and break a rule or two.