Jack Herman Ott

JACK HERMAN OTT Memorial services for longtime Mancos resident, Jack Herman Ott will be held at 10 a.m. on Monday, November 24 at the Mancos First United Methodist Church. Pastor Craig Paschal will be officiating. Of all of Jack Ott's wonderful accomplishments, we are most grateful for his stewardship of our land on Mancos Hill land and for marrying our mother Mary Ann, a young widow with five small children in 1959. Jack was born December 3, 1929 in Grand Haven, Michigan. He enjoyed a free childhood exploring the Grand River and Lake Michigan. with his two little brothers and sister in tow. He graduated from high school in in 1947, and from Michigan State University School of Forestry in '52. Upon graduation he hired on with the U.S. Forest Service, heading a spruce bark beetle survey crew near Kremmling and in the Black Hills. He was drafted in 1953 and served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps as a high speed radio operator during the Korean War. Returning to Colorado in 1955, he worked out of the Dunton Guard Station, then the Animas Ranger District as assistant ranger. He transferred to the Mancos District in 1957. He purchased his land on Mancos Hill in the spring of 1959 with winnings from poker games he'd saved over the years and immediately began reclaiming the soil and oak woods. He began building a house with the help of his little brother Pat in June. On December 24, 1959 he married Mary Ann Rawlings whose husband Bill Rawlings, a Forest Service colleague, had been killed in a line-of-duty horse accident near Stoner earlier that year. The Rawlings' children are Bill, Jeannie, Woody, Larry and Mark. Jack adopted these children and had two more children with Mary Ann, John, b. 1961 and Grace, 1964. Jack retired in 1981 after 30 years of federal service. He went right to work on his place, helping his son Woody who owns Ott's Mill and Logging, and helping out his other children. He made up for the honeymoon he and Mary Ann never had with winter travels, eventually buying a beach condo in Hilo, Hawaii where they have spent the last 27 winters. In 2004 his name was read into the Congressional Record in honor of his service to the Forest and his community. Jack volunteered with 4-H, the Boy Scouts; he was a member of the Society of American Foresters, the Masonic Order and the VFW. He served the Mancos United Methodist Church over the last 55 years in many capacities including Treasurer, Sunday School Superintendent, Board of Trusties and perpetual handyman. He loved to work, especially on his land and on his children's homes, he was an avid fisherman, hunter and old fashioned outdoorsman. On November 18, Jack passed peacefully after a short illness in his own bed, in the house he built on the land he loved surrounded by his wife and grown children. He was two weeks shy of his 85th birthday. True to form he met his death with dignity and no fuss. He was preceded by his father, Herman John, mother Viola Bosma, his mother's second husband Chet Berry, his brothers Herman and Patrick, his sister Shirley. He will be missed by his wife, his seven children and their spouses, his 15 grandchildren, his sister-in-law Lois, brother-in-law Charley and a dozen nieces and nephews. Jack was cremated wearing an Aloha shirt, cut off jeans and a red lei. The family will scatter his ashes over the many beautiful places he's loved. The service was held in the United Methodist Church on November 24 with Reverend Craig Pascal officiating. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Mancos United Methodist Church. Plant a tree and live well in honor of our beloved Jack.