Elvin James Vavra

ELVIN JAMES VAVRA Graveside services for longtime Dolores resident Elvin James Vavra will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, August 7 at Summit Ridge Cemetery. Visitation has been set for Friday evening from 5 to 7 p.m. at Ertel Memorial Chapel. Elvin was born January 21, 1930 in Caldwell, Kans. the son of James Anton and Libbie Emma (Subera) Vavra. He passed away at San Juan Regional Medical Center in Farmington, N.M. on Tuesday, August 3, 2010 at the age of 80. Elvin grew up on the family farm during the Great Depression. He served our country by joining the Navy in January 1951 and was honorably discharged in October 1954. He was on the battleship USS New Jersey. He came home and married Jackie on December 8, 1956 in Sedan, Kans. He started working in the oil fields and moved to Monticello, Utah. He lived there for a short time and then moved to Cortez, Colo., and then on to Dolores where he raised his children at their home on the beautiful Dolores River. He continued to work in the oil fields and was a driller for Mesa Drilling Co. for many of those years. Since his retirement, he had lived in Dolores and made frequent trips to his family farm in Kansas. He loved to visit with family and friends and attend auctions and military or political events. Elvin has strong work ethics that he continued to have until the day of his accident. He had an accident that lead to his death while he was cutting firewood. Elvin will be sorely missed by his family and we thank everyone in advance for their condolences. Surviving Elvin are his sister, Betty Ann Norman of Paden, Okla.; his children, Deborah Jean (Michael) Rosso of Cortez, Glen Elvin (Debbi) Vavra of Bloomfield, N.M., Linda Sue (Ted Hawkins) Vavra of Cortez; his step-son, Monte Carl (Linda) Pope of Anchorage, Alaska; 12 grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren. Elvin was preceded in death by his parents; by his wife, Jacqueline Roxanne Vavra; by his son, James Anton Vavra; by his brother, Frankie Vavra; and by his step-son, John Dwayne Pope. Memorial contributions may be made to the Ute Mountain American Legion Post #75, Cortez.