Elton Stephen Exum

ELTON STEPHEN “STEVE” EXUM Memorial services for longtime Cortez resident Elton Stephen “Steve” Exum will be held at 2 p.m. on Thursday, April 13 at the Ertel Memorial Chapel. Inurnment will follow at the Cortez Cemetery with Military Honors provided by the Ute Mountain American Legion Post #75. Ron Exum and Dale Gifford will officiate. Steve was born on June 30, 1919 in Elkins, Ark., the son of Stephen Laurence and Effie Lucinda (Wright) Exum. He passed on Saturday, April 8, 2006 at his home at the age of 86. On July 17, 1968, Steve married Betty J. Weaver at the Cortez Church of Christ. He was a devoted member of the American Legion and V.F.W. In his spare time Steve enjoyed reading and listening to music. He was very interested in history and loved discovering new facts. Surviving Steve are his wife, Betty of Cortez; and his children, Ron Exum and wife, Artie of Seattle, Wash., Marsha Gifford and husband, Dale of Redding, Calif., Landis Porter and husband, Toad, Dick Keck and wife, Maxine, and Brenda O’Brien and husband, Rick, all of Cortez. He also leaves behind his sisters, Arleta Exum of California, and Wilma Callaway of Abilene, Tex.; 16 grandchildren; and 9 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents; his first wife, Dora; and his daughter Janet Conner on July 28, 2000. Memorial contributions may be made in Steve’s memory to Hospice of Montezuma.