Marjorie Ann Coppinger

MARJORIE ANN COPPINGER Funeral services for Marjorie Ann Coppinger will be held at 2 p.m. on Thursday, March 16, at Ertel Memorial Chapel. Interment will follow at the Lebanon Cemetery. Bud Rousset will officiate. Visitation has been schedule Thursday morning from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Ertel Chapel. Marjorie was the 3rd child of B and Helen Slade. She was born on the Dunkley Ranch near Hayden, Colorado on September 6, 1932, three days before her father's birthday. When she was little they moved back to Nebraska where her father came from originally. They was only there a year or two when then moved back to Colorado and settled up on Summit Ridge, then they moved to the place right next to the Lebanon Cemetery. When Marjorie was 10 years old, she met her future husband when her older sister Virginia started dating my dad's older brother Clyde. Dad enjoyed playing checkers with my granddad Slade. If he let Granddad win then he could spend time with my Mom. In 1949, my Dad was working for the crusher crew near Trinidad, Colorado. My Aunt and Uncle were coming home for a visit, my Dad asked them to bring my mom back or do not bother to come back. My mother was raised as a Catholic and when my Aunt and Uncle eloped; my Grandma's request was that Mom be married in the church. Mom was only 16, so she wrote a note giving permission for mom to marry. On March 8, 1949, a Catholic priest in Trinidad, Colorado married my parents. They lived in a tent while dad worked with the crusher crew. Later that year they lost their baby boy William Lee and was never able to have any more. They came back to Lewis, Colorado and worked for Charles Porter while his son was in the service. Then they went to Alamosa, Colorado and worked on a ranch until my Granddad Coppinger called and said there was a job opening with the State Highway up at Granite, Colorado. Dad had only worked for a month or two when he was drafted to serve in the Korean War. He served his time in Germany. When he got home, he got his Civil Service job back with the state highway and went back to Twin Lakes then they moved to Leadville, Colorado. While in Leadville, they decided to adopt. In late, June of 1964 then went to Canon City to get Wanda but she had the 3-day measles so they had to go back next week and get her. The joke in the family was if that second trip was worth it or not. In February of 1967, they went to Fort Morgan Colorado to get their other daughter, Alice. In the early summer of 1970, the family moved to Montrose, Colorado, we spent 6 years there. Then in June of 1976 my parents wanted to come back home to Cortez. Mom was a homemaker most of the time but she did part time babysit at a bowling alley and then later worked with Wanda at Bob's Drive in here in Cortez. In the later 80's and early 90's she spent her time caring for her parents until they passed away. Then her mom's sister in Hot Sulphur Springs, Colorado was declining in health so mom and dad mover her down here to care for her until she passed away at the age of 100. In early 2000 mom was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, but survived and suffered from some bad side effects from the treatments for the rest of her life. The last 4-5 years of her life, she suffered from Alzheimer's disease. We kept her home as long as possible. In November of last year, we had to put her in the Vista Grande Inn nursing home where she received the very best care. It was a hard separation for both my parents. Last Wednesday while mom was in the hospital, they had their 68th Wedding Anniversary but they were together for 74 years. They shared an amazing life of love and happiness together. Marjorie Ann Coppinger is survived by her loving husband of 68 years, Harold; her daughters Wanda of Cortez, and Alice, and grandchildren she never seen; her sister, Mary Lou Hines of Casper, Wyoming; her cousin, Richard Hite of Henderson, Nevada; her nieces and nephews, Roger Coppinger of Cortez, Barbara White of Show Low, Ariz., Jo Ellen Keigley, Guernsey, Wyo., Donna Anderson, Helen Norcross, A.D. Hines and Stacie Flagerstone of Casper Wyo.; and last but NOT LEAST her Pansie (the family dog), whom she referred to as her little Sugar Plumb. Marjorie was preceded in death by her baby boy, William Lee; her parents, B and Helen Slade; her sister, Virginia and brother in law, Clyde Coppinger; her brother, George B. Slade; her aunt, Mary Hite, and another uncle and aunt, William (Billy) and Leroux Hite; her in-laws, Attley and Carrie Tagg Coppinger; and by her sisters-in-law, Angie Lewis and Rose Porter.