For 28 years, Young Suk Fero met the demands of running a small neighborhood bar and restaurant that served breakfast early in the morning and Budweiser until 2 a.m.
"Customers were her life. They were her friends — people she knew and trusted. Her customers were almost family," said her estranged husband, Danny Duane Fero, 58, of Aurora. "She didn't have a mean bone in her body and I can't imagine who would do something like this."
Denver Police Chief Paul White said that the bodies of four women and one man were discovered inside Fero's Bar and Grill, 351 S. Colorado Blvd., at about 1:50 a.m. after a fire was reported at the
business.Fero spoke with police, and they told him the people found in the bar have not been identified.
"We don't know anything yet — you know how it is," he said Wednesday as he surveyed the damage to Young Fero's restaurant. "But her car is in the parking lot, and I don't see her walking around."
Fero said Young Fero, 63, had a few employees, including her younger brother Tae Moon Park.
Fero said he met his wife when he was working as a spokesman and photographer for the U.S. Army in Seoul. He went to the Korean Ministry of Agriculture in 1977, where his wife-to-be was a clerk.
He was taking video of the office when he backed up and fell on her desk — and her lunch. He offered to take her to a restaurant to make up for destroying her meal.
"It didn't hurt that she was real cute," he said. "One thing led to another and we ended up getting married."
She insisted on buying him a three-piece suit so he could make a formal request to her grandfather for her hand in marriage. Young Fero's father imported and exported sweaters to and from other countries.
"We were married in Korea with a stamp at the U.S. consulate," he said.
They moved to the United States, and in 1980 Young Fero gave birth to a daughter, Kandice. The Feros were able to bring her parents, four brothers and one sister to the U.S., he said.
In 1984 they bought the Cinema Lounge at 351 S. Colorado Blvd. for $125,000. They changed the name to Fero's Bar and Grill. They later bought an adjacent restaurant. The restaurant and bar took up 2,200 square feet.
"We had our regulars. It was just a neighborhood bar," Fero said. "She was there all the time."
In 1988, after Fero left the Army and became an agent for the Federal Protective Service, Young Fero took over the bar and restaurant completely.
The restaurant opened for breakfast, sold sandwiches, pizzas, hamburgers and steaks. They even delivered meals, Fero said. They also served Asian food including tofu and a Korean favorite, kimchi.
She was so proud of a Westword award for the best "Martini and Tofu" dinner that she had it framed and mounted above a full-length bar. The restaurant had red carpet and light bluish grey walls. Recently she invested in new bar stools.
"It had a '70s look to it," Fero said.
Young Fero would greet customers at the door. She remembered their names, what they ate and drank. "She was the ultimate hostess," Danny Fero said.
They had live bands on Friday night and would hire DJs. Young Fero was known to sing Elvis tunes along with a karaoke machine, show bar towel tricks and crack corny jokes. She had a collection of unusual glasses she showed off to an entertainment writer once.
She would work from 2 p.m. to 2 a.m. seven days a week at the bar, Fero said. She was only 5-feet tall and weighed about 100 pounds.
"I called her the Energizer Bunny all the time, but of course she didn't know who the Energizer Bunny was," he said. "She cared about her customers."
She often would call a taxi when a client got too drunk.
Young Fero worked until closing and then cleaned the bar and restaurant and set up for the breakfast opening a few hours later. She banked at a Wells Fargo branch across the street and would sometimes bring the day's receipts home at night.
But the Feros drifted apart. Many years after their marriage, Young Fero told her husband the only reason she married him was so she could come to the U.S., he said.
"I maintained a relationship for the sake of my daughter," Fero said.
When their daughter graduated from high school in 1998 and went to the University of Colorado in Boulder, he moved into another home. Although they were separated they remained friends and never divorced.
Young Fero ran the restaurant by herself. She joined a Korean business association.
"When she would call me every so often, she would sound so tired," Fero said.
Her parents both died within the past five years.
Occasionally, Young Fero would call and talk about how the business was doing. She would complain about how much food costs or how slow business was. The business was her life.
When Danny Fero awoke early Wednesday morning, he heard what happened at his wife's restaurant. He immediately called his daughter, who lives in Maryland. She's a research scientist at the National Institute of Health.
Two weeks ago Kandice became engaged to her long-time boyfriend.
"I'm not so much worried about me, but my daughter. She is devastated," Fero said. "I didn't love (Young) any more. She was a friend. If I would have been there, though, I would have given my life to save her or whoever else was in there."
Police have said that the victims showed signs of trauma, indicating that they were killed before a fire was set to the bar and restaurant.
"The only thing I can think of is somebody went in there to rob them," Fero said sobbing. "I probably never will know the last few moments."
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206, Facebook.com/kmitchelldp or twitter.com/kmitchelldp
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