United States High School Yearbooks by County
James Leslie Morlan
Alamosa resident James Leslie Morlan, 70, died May 27, in
Colorado Springs after a long battle with diabetes and heart
disease.
Morlan was born April 3, 1936, in Leadville to Leslie G.
Morlan and Emily Faidiga Morlan.
Morlan grew up in Leadville, graduating from Leadville High
School. He attended Adams State College in Alamosa where
he earned a bachelor of science in chemistry and industrial
arts, later returning for his masters in education and
industrial arts. After college he joined the Air Force where
he was stationed at Lowry Air Force Base in Denver and
Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Morlan met his future wife, Nancy Cain, at Adams State.
They were married Feb. 13, 1960, in Akron, Colo. They had
five children: James, Jr., Leslie, Robert, Katherine and
Susan.
Morlan began his teaching career in the fall of 1966 at the
Alamosa Ortega Middle School teaching math and science.
He taught for 27 years before diabetes and related health
problems forced him to retire. These health problems
plagued him for the rest of his life.
Morlan thoroughly enjoyed his five children and 11
grandchildren, taking them camping, fishing, hunting,
gathering wood and rock hunting. He also enjoyed the
many animals the family acquired, the last being Jake, his
white lab service dog; Honey, Jake’s mother, and young
Tazzee, a chocolate lab. For 30 years he met with his old
buddies for their 3 o’clock coffee.
Morlan was a member of Sacred Heart Catholic Church, and
he had taught religious classes and marriage preparation
classes and helped start the prayer group, which he led for
several years. He also participated as a search parent for
13 different searches. He served on the parish council and
Sacred Heart Credit Union.
Morlan and his wife loved traveling, visiting friends and
family and going to rock shows.
He is survived by his wife Nancy of Alamosa; all five
children, James Morlan, Jr. of Leadville, Leslie J. Salazar of
Alamosa, Robert M. (Linda) Morlan of Manitou Springs,
Colo., Katherine M. (Jason) Pennella of Canton, N.Y., and
Suzie J. (Jesse) Carrasco of Alamosa; sister Bettimae
Bureau of Leadville; grandchildren Anthony, Alisha, Jeremy,
Aaron, Jesse, Zachariah, Ron and Madeline; great-grandchildren
Jack, Stella, Amelia and one more on the
way; dogs Jake, Honey and Tazzee, and many caring
friends.
Morlan has touched many lives through his teaching in the
community and health facilities. They loved him for his
dumb jokes, silly songs, sense of humor and wild socks.
Cremation was chosen and a vigil service was held on
Sunday, June 4, at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in
Alamosa. A memorial mass was held on Monday, June 5,
also at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Alamosa.
Interment of cremains was Tuesday, June 6, at the Mt.
Olivet Cemetery in Buena Vista. Contributions may be made
to Tu Casa or to the James Morlan Memorial Fund, which
will be used towards recliners for the ICU at the Colorado
Springs Memorial Hospital, in care of the funeral home
office.
Rogers Family Mortuary of Alamosa handled the
arrangements.
Arthur L. Vincent
Arthur L. Vincent, formerly of Leadville, died Monday, June
5, at St. John’s Hospice in Denver.
Services will be at Olinger Crown Hill in the Denver metro
area on Wednesday, June 7.
Carolee Jane Blevins
Carolee Jane Blevins, 75, passed away Tuesday, July 3, at Mercy
Regional Medical Center due to complications of coronary failure.
Blevins was born June 28, 1931, in Salida to Claude and Genevie
Loser. She attended Center Consolidated Schools where she
played basketball and was an avid horsewoman riding in the Ski Hi
Stampede every summer in Monte Vista.
After graduating from high school, Blevins attended Denver
University where she earned her nursing degree and worked
briefly for Dr. Bunch in the Alamosa Clinic.
In 1952, Blevins married her high-school sweetheart,
Harvey Skoglund, Jr. Since he was deployed, Blevins
returned to Center, Colo., and gave birth to their son, David
Wesley, on Dec. 27, 1953. After leaving the Navy, the
couple remained in the San Luis Valley to attend Adams
State College to earn their degrees in education. During this
time, Blevins gave birth to their daughter, Leeann, on Feb.
6, 1956.
The couple then moved to Climax where her husband
worked as a chemist and she worked as a nurse. Later, she
taught language arts and literature at the junior high and
high schools in Alamosa and Leadville. After pursuing her
degree in counseling, she worked in the Lake County school
district as a middle-school counselor. She was instrumental
in initiating the Meals on Wheels program for homebound
seniors and starting the Suicide Hotline in Lake County.
After the death of Harvey Skoglund, Jr., Blevins remained in
Leadville and met and later married James (Jim) Blevins in
1977.
After she retired from Lake County School District in 1980,
the couple moved to Archuleta County and set up
housekeeping on a 40-acre ranch, south of Pagosa Springs.
During this time, Blevins kept busy working for a local
plumbing company, bussing tables at Pagosa Lodge and
helping out at the Silver Dollar Liquor Store.
The couple began spending winters in Mexico and
eventually moved to Yuma, Ariz., where Blevins began her
full retirement, enjoying the desert heat and growing
tomatoes. After the death of her husband in 2001, Blevins
remained in Yuma for two years before returning to
Colorado in the summer of 2003 to be near her children,
family and friends.
Back in Pagosa, she became involved and active in
everything she could. She enjoyed fishing, sitting on her
deck with a cold Coors Light, and most of all watching the
Denver Broncos. She loved watching her grandchildren,
Kade Skoglund and Stephanie Skoglund, participate in their
sports and school programs. She also became an active
member of the Silver Foxes Den, enjoying afternoon bridge
and such outings that included river rafting and hot-air
ballooning.
Blevins was always quick to smile, lend an ear, and eager
to help in any way she could. She was the strength and
backbone of her family, and she will be dearly missed by
those whose lives she so gently touched.
A gathering to celebrate Blevins' life will be held at her
home, 288 Ute Drive, Pagosa Springs, for all her family and
friends on July 15, starting at noon. Call Leeann at (970)
731-3225 for directions and more information. Blevins has
requested her ashes to be taken to Bristle Head above
Santa Maria Reservoir and released to soar with the eagles.
Blevins is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, David
and Patti Skoglund of Hesperus, Colo., daughter Leeann
Skoglund of Pagosa Springs, stepson Mark Blevins of
Albuquerque, N.M., and grandchildren Stephanie and Kade
Skoglund.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Silver
Foxes Den, P.O. Box 1507, Pagosa Springs, CO 81147.
Warren Cureton
On June 29, Warren Cureton went to be with his beloved
Ruby who passed away on March 18, 2003, after 56 years
of marriage.
Children Richard, Marsha and Van survive them, along with
the grandchildren: Richard’s children Cindy and Chad,
Marsha’s children Allen, Misti and Dean, and eight beautiful
great-grandchildren. A son, John Harding, born between
Rich and Marsha, preceded his parents in death. He was
born too fragile and rests in Roselawn Cemetery in Pueblo,
near Cureton’s grandmother and grandfather.
The Curetons lived most of their lives in the homes that
Cureton built at Balltown. They were married at Raton, N.
M., in an exciting run to the border to elope and return to
begin their lives together at Pueblo.
They lived in Pueblo a little over a year and returned to
Granite, where they lived in Ruby Cureton’s parents’ extra
home. Cureton then built a sawmill and home at Balltown,
and the career of father, logger, builder, dancer, hunter and
card player began to grow. The couple worked together to
build their family, many businesses, and five homes and
enjoy many friends.
They saw more changes in their lifetime than most will get
to experience, from the milkman delivering milk to the
kitchen table to their great-grandchildren playing with handheld
computers, but they always kept the basic lifestyle as
theirs, always welcoming their many friends, neighbors and
beloved family into their home, never requiring advance
notice.
Ruby Cureton passed away at Bullhead, Ariz. She requested
cremation as did her husband. The children have placed the
two together at the Granite cemetery where they can rest
in the mountains they knew so well. They will always be
loved and missed by their family.
Althea Richardson Cook
Althea (Thea) Richardson Cook was born in Agular, Colo., in
1926. She lived in Leadville most of her youth and then moved to
Helper, Utah, where she graduated from high school.
She married Ralph A. Richardson in 1944 who pre-deceased her
in 1971. Shortly after her marriage,
they moved back to Leadville where her husband was the
Colorado State Unemployment manager until they
purchased the Gambles Store (next to the Silver Dollar) in
the early 1950s.
During this time, they had three children: a son Douglas,
born in 1946, daughter Holly Dee, born in 1954, and a son,
Rohn, born in 1955.
In the late 1960s Cook started her art career, and in the
early 70s she, along with Audie Mullings, started the Little
Cottage Gallery on West 8th Street. They featured local
artists along with their own works. Cook painted more than
700 paintings (mostly oil). She was particularly known for
her landscapes and aspen trees.
She loved driving the old roads through the mountains with
the top off of her jeep. This was her great inspiration for the
art she created. She loved Leadville and Lake County.
She sold the Gambles Store after meeting Deahn “Stub”
Cook, an entrepreneur from Denver. They met while
participating in a club for antique cars. Both of them loved
antique cars and airplanes.
Cook continued to paint up until she lost the ability to see.
At that time, she began to write books, with the help of her
husband. She has three published books which made her,
and those around her, very proud.
She is survived by her husband Deahn “Stub” Cook of
Westminster; and children: Doug Richardson of Arvada,
Holly Drush of Arvada, and Rohn Richardson of Grand
Canyon, Ariz.
Thea Cook may have passed from the earth, but her spirit
lives on in her paintings and books that portray who she
really was – a beloved mother, wife and friend.
