John Ernest Gregg Jr.

John Ernest Gregg Jr, also known as “Ernie” or “Sonny” to his Texas Family, passed away peacefully at Collier Hospice Care in Denver on March 2, 2016 surrounded by family after suffering a traumatic brain injury resulting from a fall raking pine needles in his front yard.

Ernie was born August 5, 1924 in Marfa, Texas to John Ernest Gregg Sr. and Mary Elizabeth (“Bessie”) Gregg. His father was Superintendent of Schools for the Marfa Independent School District and Ernie told many stories of growing up in the Davis Mountains of west Texas. He often spoke of his favorite horse, Pecos, which he could shoot from the saddle and the horse never flinched.

After graduating high school in 1942 from Marfa High School where he played football, tennis and ran track he went on to attended Texas A&M University where he graduated with Honors in 1948 with a degree in mechanical engineering. His studies were interrupted by WWII where he was training to be a flight navigator with the Army Air Corps on the B-29 bomber, training for the potential invasion and bombing of Japan but, the war ended before he flew any combat missions.

After his military service and upon graduating, he started work with the Bureau of Reclamation in Chico, California working on the Shasta Dam project and transferred to Durango, Colorado in 1953. During his 33 years with the Bureau of Reclamation he worked on many water storage and irrigation projects including Lemon Reservoir, McPhee Reservoir, the Animas-La Plata Project, as well as the Navajo Nation Irrigation Project. He retired as the Chief Project Engineer from the Durango office in 1979.

Ernie married Mary Ann Creek, a widow with three small children on June 28, 1975. After being a bachelor for many years, he loved his new wife and children dearly. They enjoyed many outings to the family cabin at Vallecito Reservoir, camping in their Twilight Bungalow camper, traveling the western slope for swim meets, back packing the San Juan’s, snowmobiling, canoeing, boating, camping with Boy Scouts, and traveling across the west and to Europe.

In addition to enjoying family outings, Ernie was a master gunsmith, enjoyed woodworking, hunting, fly fishing, and fly tying and was on the Federal Lumber Bowling team for many years. Ernie was also a member of Kiwanis and enjoyed photography, bird watching, and gardening and took great joy in the strawberries he could grow at 6500 Ft. His love for flying continued for many years in his Cessna 172 as he flew his kids to swim meets, family reunions and Girl Scout camps across the country. Ernie also was a lifetime member of the NRA and designed and helped built the indoor gun club located on Florida road and helped build the warming hut at Chapman Hill.

Not only was Ernie a wonderful father and husband, he was a devote Christian and member of the First United Methodist Church for over 50 years. During his time serving the Lord and the Church, he held every office in the Methodist Church and has been a member of the Methodist Men’s weekly breakfast prayer group where he perfected his recipe for biscuits and gravy and enjoyed his coffee.

After his retirement, Ernie and his wife enjoyed traveling around the world. Their travels took them to Norway, Scotland, Ireland, The Holy Lands, Switzerland, Germany, Mexico and Alaska, not to mention the many camping trips across Colorado and the west with the Good Sam’s Club. Ernie also was an avid Denver Broncos, Colorado Avalanche, Colorado Rockies and Houston Astros fan. He enjoyed watching many games on TV with the fire crackling and eating popcorn with his bride.

Ernie is survived by his wife, Mary Ann of Durango, Sisters, Elaine Boyer of Decatur, Texas and Mary Gregg of Denton Texas. Ernie was father to Mark Creek of Flagstaff, Arizona, Jim Creek of Fort Collins, Colorado, and Mary Jo Gerster of Golden, Colorado. Ernie also has three nieces, Jann Rainey of Hilton Head, South Carolina, Judy Boyer-Deaton of Decatur, Texas and Ellen Boyer of Fort Worth, Texas. Ernie was also blessed with nine grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday March 12th at 10:00 a.m. at the First United Methodist Church in Durango. The family requests that in lieu of flowers that a donation be made to Flight for Life, or the First United Methodist Church.