David Roy Slemon

October 16, 1940 to February 13, 2026

After a full and colorful life, Dave Slemon passed away on February 13 2026. He was 85.

Dave attributed his notorious enthusiasm and exuberance to “… the best family and friends a man could ever dream of …”

Dave was the son of Air Marshal C. Roy and Marion P. Slemon. His father was an original in the Royal Canadian Air Force who commanded the RCAF Bomber Command 6 Group in World War II, and who subsequently became Chief of the Royal Canadian Air Force in Ottawa. Thereafter, his father served as Deputy Commander in Chief of the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) in Colorado Springs during the cold war, and during his command was credited with averting World War III with the Soviets.

Dave was born in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada while his father was at war, and spent most of his youth in Canada. He was 17 when his father became the Canadian head of NORAD and the Slemon family moved to Colorado Springs in 1957.

Dave attended Fountain Valley School in Colorado Springs; Colorado University in Boulder; and the University of Denver College of Law where he was a Senior Staff member of the Denver Law Journal before graduating with a Juris Doctor Degree in 1966. He became a US Citizen in 1967 in order to practice law in the United States.

After initially practicing law with then Governor John Love’s law firm in Colorado Springs, Dave and a close friend from law school established their own law firm in Aspen, Colorado in 1969. Dave often stated that the practice of law during Aspen’s notorious 70’s was a wild and glorious time never to be duplicated.

While practicing law in Aspen, Dave also served as an Eagle County Planning Commissioner. He became involved in real estate development in his early years in Aspen, and subsequently became the visionary and manager of many residential developments in Western Colorado including Aspen, Basalt, Rifle and Grand Junction.

It was Dave’s personal commitment that his developments create significant value both for its residents and for the greater community as well. Most notably Dave envisioned and pioneered the development of the Redlands Mesa Golf Course Community in Grand Junction. Among many other national recognitions Redlands Mesa was awarded ‘Best New Public Access Golf Course in America’ by Golf Digest at its inception in 2001.

Dave worked and played with equal exuberance and led an adventurous outdoor life. As a youth in Canada he enjoyed canoe trips and portaging from lake to lake in Ontario. Upon arriving in Colorado he played hockey, basketball, and Gymkhana at Fountain Valley School. In Aspen he loved to ski, flyfish on Roaring Fork Valley’s gold medal trout streams, and ride horseback into the mountains surrounding his West Buttermilk home. He also loved to waterski on Lake Powell, and he and his wife Charlene would often host memorable gatherings of friends and family on his houseboat on the Lake.

Dave met his dear wife Charlene during Aspen’s wild ‘70s. Charlene helped raise Dave’s gregarious and multi-talented son from a prior marriage, Erik Slemon. Their love grew and they married on November 28, 1991. They lived in various homes in the Roaring Fork Valley before relocating to Grand Junction after Dave developed Redlands Mesa. Dave had grown to love Grand Junction, its rural character and the genuine people and friends he had made. The Redlands area where they moved perfectly accommodated Charlene’s love of horses and other animals.

Dave and Charlene also developed a passion for windsurfing and ventured far and wide from Hawaii to Bonaire to South Padre Island in Texas to sail. Later in life Dave was captivated by the game of golf. He often commented on golf’s propensity to establish and maintain good friends. He was pleased and proud that after 63 years his fraternity brothers from Colorado University would still gather every September for a golf tournament.

Dave’s enthusiasm and exuberance will be missed. He expressed that he would not want a formal ceremony when he died because his family and friends are spread geographically so far and wide. Instead he just wanted to be remembered “with a smile…or a laugh.”