James E. Peters
Funeral services for James E. Peters, 84, of Ordway were held at 10 a.m. Saturday at the First Methodist Church in Ordway, Colo.
Mr. Peters died Dec. 17, 2008, in a Pueblo hospital from injuries sustained in a car wreck near Sugar City.
He was a lifetime rancher in Crowley County. He was a board member of the First National Bank of Ordway.
He is survived by his wife Lola; daughters Kathleen S. “Kathy” Marsh of Ordway, Carol L. Carson of Alamosa and son Steven J. Peters of Pueblo; six grandchildren, four great-grandchildren and two sisters, Elizabeth Mitchell and Esther Hesemann, both of California.
The family prefers memorials to his church or Crowley County Community Betterment Foundation in care of First National Bank of Ordway, P.O. Box 278, Ordway, CO 81063.
Griffy Family Funeral Home of Ordway is in charge of arrangements.
Melva Jean Rains
Funeral services for Melva Jean Rains, 74, of Rocky Ford, Colo., were held at 2 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 19, at the First Baptist Church in Rocky Ford with Pastor Chris Becker officiating. Burial will be in the Hillcrest Cemetery in Rocky Ford. Visitation will be Thursday from 1 to 6 p.m. in the Ford-Ustick Funeral Home.
Mrs. Rains died Friday, Dec. 12, 2008 suddenly at the St. Mary-Corwin Medical Center in Pueblo.
She was born in Trinidad on Jan. 23, 1934, the daughter of the late Charlie and Elizabeth Marie (McClendon) Jameson.
She graduated from Branson High School in Branson.
She was the widow of Floyd Wesley Rains. He preceded her in death on Sept. 21, 2008. They were married on Aug. 20, 1955 in Trinidad.
She worked as a Dietician/Recreation Director at Rocky Ford Nursing Center.
She is survived by her daughter Koye (Tom) Hendrix of Wray, son Kim Rains of Timpas, brother-in-law Bill (Faye) Rains of Boone, brother-in-law Joe (Sandy) Rains of Greeley, grandsons Matt (Breeann) Hendrix of Fort Collins and Kyle Hendrix of Wray, step-grandchildren Arah Minck, Ka Cee Mitchell, John Mitchell, all of La Junta, step-great-granddaughters Lexi and Aalyha of La Junta; sister-in-law Joyce Rains of Colorado Springs, sister-in-law Joyce Jameson of Sultan, Wash., and sister-in-law Vee Jameson of Springfield, as well as several nieces and nephews.
Ford-Ustick Funeral Home in Rocky Ford is in charge of arrangements. Condolences may be sent to www.fordustick.com.
John M. Rose
A memorial service for John Michael Rose, 66, of Fowler, Colo., will be held at 10 a.m. Friday, Dec. 26, at the Gobin Building in Rocky Ford. A pot-luck luncheon reception will follow.
Mr. Rose died Dec. 18, 2008, as a result of metastasized pancreatic cancer.
He was born Aug. 22, 1942, in New Albany, Ind., to Bertha Maxine Stevens Rose and Thomas Edwin Kent Rose. After his youth in Prestonsburg, Ky., he joined the Air Force when he was 17, serving in Japan, Germany, and in the US. After the Air Force, he worked in the medical sales industry until founding his own sales and marketing firm.
He married Jolean “Jolly” Lucas in 1966 and had two children.
He was an advisor to local, state, and federal governments and community leader and a champion for the economic development and environmental sustainability of the Arkansas Valley and rural Colorado.
John felt strongly that healthy and growing economic and environmental resources are critical to the Lower Arkansas Valley and rural Colorado. He believed that precious water resources are increasingly being siphoned away from rural communities by sprawling metropolises. He was concerned that the robust family farm and the economic stability that it provides to small, pastoral communities are losing ground at a pace unseen since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.
Even during the economic boom of the mid-1990s, John recognized this threat when he moved to Fowler in 1996 after his retirement from a career in medical sales and owning a successful sales and marketing firm in Denver. As the capstone to an already full life, he became active in community and political organizations to lend his support and leadership to the fight to save the Valley. In 1998, he was nominated to sit on the local Soil Conservation District. Based on his counsel, the Otero County Commission created the Water Works! Committee and appointed John to be the coordinator. This led to the creation of the Arkansas Valley Preservation Land Trust, the Arkansas Valley Water Preservation Group, and the revival of the Arkansas Valley Conduit project.
In gratitude for his service to rural Colorado, then-Congressman Bob Schaffer saluted John in the Congressional Record in 2002, saying before the United States House of Representatives that “John Rose is a good neighbor, and he typifies the Western values I hold dear.” He continued to say that “He is a valuable member of his community, and I am proud to have represented such a vigorous conservator in the Congress. John is a man of integrity who does the right thing even when it isn’t the easiest thing to do.”
He is survived by his wife; children Robin (Gary) Reed and Luke (Aimee) Rose; five grandchildren, Zack and Jesse Reed, and Jack, Atticus, and Hiroko Rose.
He was preceded in death by his parents and two brothers, William Kent “Bucky” Rose and Thomas Edwin Rose. He is survived by two sisters, Nancy Allen Rose, of Montana, and Elizabeth Ann Rose, of Kentucky.
The family has requested that no condolence gifts be made. Instead, donations should be made to the charity of each person’s choice or to Arkansas Valley Hospice, 118 W. Fourth St., La Junta, CO, 81050.
Griffy Family Funeral Home in Fowler is in charge of arrangements.
