Robert Douglas Prather

Services will be at 11 a.m. Jan. 4 at Callahan-Edfast Mortuary.

He is survived by his wife, Mary; one son, Jason of Grand Junction; two daughters, Lori Latham of Texas and Sarah Richmond of Grand Junction; three brothers, Lyle, Ned and Dick, all of De Beque; one sister, Nancy Gibson of Denver; seven grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.

Memorial contributions to Catholic Outreach St. Martin Phase II Housing for Veterans, 245 S. First St., Grand Junction 81501.

Robert Douglas (Bobby Doug) Prather

October 23, 1943 - December 18, 2013

Bobby was born to Robert E. and Merline (Burdick) Prather at St. Mary's Hospital October 23, 1943 and was raised on the family ranch on Roan Creek. He was predeceased by his mother and father.

Bobby is survived by is wife, Mary; son, Jason (Jennifer); daughters, Sarah (Robbie) Richmond, Lori (Greg) Latham; brothers, Lyle (Margaret), Ned (Dollie) and Dick (Connie) all of DeBeque; his sister, Nancy Gibson of Denver; and his special friend and son-in-law, Stu McClaskey (Dora). He is also survived by seven grandchildren, a great-grandchild and one on the way as well any many nieces and nephews.

Well my Sweetheart, you left for higher ground while asleep at home in your favorite chair, with what you commonly referred to as the joyous noise of children, dogs, family and friends surrounding you with a little country music in the background. It was just a few hours short of the anniversary of your cancer diagnosis of December 19, 2011 when you passed. With the help of Dr. Chipman you turned your six month sentence into two years of visiting distant friends, family, especially sister, Nancy, and as many Bench Rest shooting competitions as time allowed. You considered yourself lucky to avoid the agony so may encounter with cancer. You were able to take a cancer drug, handle the side affects, ""with a little help from my friends"" and live life to the fullest. You took time to cherish it. ""I'm a happy man,"" you said. ""I go to sleep with my puppy and wake to have coffee and sweet rolls with my baby grandson and hugs and kisses from my grandchildren, (Kaitlyn, Karen and Hunter), who live across the street.

Your first passion was motorcycle racing - desert and motocross and trails throughout Colorado, Utah and Nevada. While you were in the Marines you purchased your first Triumph and found yourself riding sometimes with Steve McQueen in the California desert. You bought your son, Jason, a little Suzuki JR50 when he was five and taught your nieces and nephews how to ride. We'd gather up Jason, nephews, Paul and Jake and off we'd go racing. That little bike is still in action. And when you coached soccer and basketball, while Jason was growing up, your booming voice kept everyone in line.

You always looked forward to being with your brothers in hunting camp, sitting around the table with a little ""mist and seven"" sharing hunting stories that became more embellished as the years went by. The hunt wasn't as important as being with your brothers.

You liked to brag about the two of us getting married in Las Vegas, May 1, 1969 saying ""we've been together forty-six years - forty-four married and two years practice.""

You wore many hats: cowboy, ranch veterinarian, getting to fly with Betty Clark ""the wild woman"" to check livestock. You were the founder of the Prather Guide and Hunting service that is still run today by brother, Ned. You worked for Occidental Petroleum during the oil shale boom, becoming good friends with your boss, Harry McCarthy, and sharing venison steak and cream gravy with Harry and Dr. Armand Hammer. They gave you the opportunity to present a history of oil shale on a Nova documentary because of your family's history in oil shale. You always appreciated Dr. Hammer's respect for the landowners. After the oil shale bust you cut and sold firewood. Jason and I stacked six cords at a time in your dad's old yellow truck. You went on to be a heavy equipment operator and a ""damn good cat skinner."" You worked for Gould at Snowmass, Charlie DuCray building microwave towers throughout the Mountain West and Nebraska, Nielson Construction working on the Grand Valley Canal, and for Elam Construction on the Delta highway. You worked for your friend, Mike Brady, for many years building roads and pads for the oil companies around DeBeque and Parachute, finishing 26 years for Brady Construction.

You had a banner year in Bench Rest shooting in 2013, shooting a record four small groups - three in the 100 yard and one in the 200 yard at the Muy Grande at Greeley, Colorado in July. Your last gun shoot was at Don Deckerts in South Dakota at the Butch Kimmel Memorial shoot, in honor of your good friend who also died of cancer.

You liked building your own guns after apprenticing under Rodgers White. You admired your friend Truman Wilson's artistic work at setting the action into the stock. ""None better than Truman"" you said. And you appreciated your friend, Dan Dowling, for his machinist knowledge in building guns. You belonged to the NRA, the National Bench Rest Shooters Association, Lands End Bench Rest Shooters lifetime member and Hall of Fame Member in the Northern Colorado Bench Rest Shooters Association.

For many years you and Butch and Truman put on the Bench Rest shoots at the Orchard Mesa Gun Club.

In 1961 you graduated from DeBeque High School and after doing a stint of mostly partying at Mesa Junior College, you enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. The Vietnam issue was emerging and when you entered boot camp you found Vietnamese soldiers being trained at the same time and you thought the war was coming. You were a top marksman in the Marines, but were eventually assigned to the MACS - 3 Airborn Squadron working with the telephone and teletype communications involving some of the earliest transportable computers. Your unit was classified.

Services will be at Callahan-Edfast Mortuary at 11 a.m., Saturday, January 4, 2014. Internment will be at Veterans Cemetery on D Road, Monday, January 6, 2014 at 1 p.m. As a Marine, Bobby cherished the role of not only looking out for each other, but all the brotherhood of veterans. Charitable donations may be made to Catholic Outreach, St. Martin's Place, Phase II for Veterans housing.

Semper Fi my love.

Published in The Daily Sentinel on Jan. 1, 2014

In Memoriam

To our Friend, fellow Competitor, and frequent Nemesis

Robert D. Prather

We, your friends, wanted to express our esteemed appreciation for your candid, folksy, genuine fellowship and friendship for these many years of benchrest association and participation.

The long tedious hours of practice and even competition were punctuated by your humor and wit. The good natured jabs and kind insults broke the everyday monotony and awoke it with laughter. Your innate ability to find fun and humor, in an otherwise drab world, makes you a sought after companion and trusted friend. The pictures you painted with your descriptive stories and tales of your youth were widescreen and in technicolor. Your audience could virtually crawl into the picture with you and live the excitement along side of you. We all have lived out some of our dreams vicariously through your exploits.

Your constant effort to do better lifted your performance both in life and benchrest to a level far above average. Your ability to think on your feet, make an intelligent decision and follow through with the appropriate action gave you and your family tangible benefits. Had you been born one hundred years earlier you could have been a Bill Hickok, Kit Carson or a Jim Bridger, all common men with uncommon qualities. While economics and the basic circumstances of life may have prevented you from realizing your maximum potential, these same conditions gave you the personality and endearing qualities that we all find so captivating.

When the time comes to slip the surly bonds of earth and rise to touch the face of God, be assured that you will not be gone, but will still live in the hearts and minds of all those who love you.

Your imposing stature, needle sharp wit, booming voice, entertaining conversation, and competitive drive will forever be with us.

Friend, we bid you comfort and peace.

Truman Wilson, Dave Gibson and Tom Stiner

Published in The Daily Sentinel on Jan. 1, 2014

In Memoriam

Thank you from the Prather Family

For the many people who were there for us during the recent illness and loss of our husband, father, brother, uncle and friend, Bobby Prather, we want to thank all involved.

The medical care was above and beyond including the Box Butte Hospital in Alliance, NE, St. Mary's Hospital, and the Regional Cancer Center, including Drs. Chipman, Frank and King, and NP James Rice. A special thank you to Dr. Nelson who provided his pain relief during his last days. Thanks also to Dr. Ono at the Veterans Hospital and the superb weekend nursing staff including Conrad (and fellow Marine) who shared many conversations about their common duties but different generations in the same unit along with Marsha who gave him tender loving care, and Steven and Holly on the night crew.

Home Health Care of the Grand Valley and HopeWest also deserve thanks including those who volunteered to make a bundle of teddy bears out of his t-shirts for Bobby's grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

Old family friend Bill Callahan's personal touch is still carried on by Gary Shane Blackburn at Callahan-Edfast Mortuary and was very much appreciated. Another old family friend, Bobby Ferguson, who officiated, receives our thanks for his special attention. Thanks also to Truman Wilson for delivering the eulogy and to nephew, Paul Prather for reading the obituary. We also thank the Marine Honor Guard at the memorial for ther touching flag ceremony.

Thanks also go to the very special Military Honor Guard and the beautiful patriotic ceremony at the Veteran's Cemetery and their personal condolences.

We also need to thank IntelliTec College and especially Director, Dr. Dave Scott, Travis Parks, and Jerry Bosick for providing special space for the dinner. And finally, special thanks for all the food, flowers, cards, and donations to Catholic Outreach Veterans Housing from family and friends.

Published in The Daily Sentinel on Feb. 2, 2014

Robert Douglas Prather

October 23, 1943 - December 18, 2013

""Smile"" , a favorite old song of yours helped us through this first year. The words in the song are so ""you"", as to how you lived your life. Yes ""though tears have been ever so near"" we've enjoyed remembering your life through the many gifts you left us. We have spent the year traveling to many of your favorite places, visiting and sharing with family and friends, your sense of humor and animated stories that I'm sure have become ""taller tales"" as the stories unfolded, leaving us with smiles and laughter.

We're keeping your sense of history alive and caring for our ""Old Folks"", and remembering where we came from and keeping our flag and country in our hearts. As far as you were concerned there were no strangers you met along the way, just the beginning of new friendships.

On a trip to Vega Lodge this fall, we found ourselves caught up in the large herd of mainly white faced Herefords and I thought, how appropriate, remembering you up yonder instructing us as to how to handle our Herefords. This brought back a long ago memory of my first time trailing cattle up Conn Creek to the summer mountain range. My horse, being a little skittish, concerned me. How would she react heading up the very steep and narrow shale trail to the top? Your advice, ""not to worry, just give your horse rain, she'll take care of herself and if you fear heights, don't look down"". For years after that, trailing up Conn was a piece of cake.

Forever describes you very well. What you started years ago, continues on with the marriage of our granddaughter and new great-grandson, and a new grand baby in the oven. What a good year.

There's a favorite quote of yours above the photo of Ute Chief Buckskin Charlie at the Montrose Ute Indian Museum. ""There is no death, only a change of worlds.""

Til then my love.

Your family.

Published in The Daily Sentinel on Dec. 18, 2014