Ted Everett Dwyer

The youngest of three siblings, Ted Everett Dwyer was born to Clarence Henry (aka Harry) and Maude Dwyer (Kendall) in Collbran, Colorado on January 17, 1925. He passed away at his home in Grand Junction on December 29, 2015 at age 90 due to a failing heart. He is survived by three sons: Kevin, Blaine and Mark, daughter in-law Patricia (Blaine), and three grandchildren: Jenna, Brendan, and his namesake Ted. He was preceded in death by siblings Tom and Lucille (Hunter).

After graduating from Fruitvale High School in 1941, Ted enrolled at Mesa College expecting to soon join the war effort, which he did initially in the Army Air Corps where he was enrolled in an elite engineering program at the University of Indiana. After the program was cancelled half way through its baccalaureate degree program, the cadets were transferred to the infantry where Ted then served our country as a rifleman in the European theater. After the war, Ted completed his civil engineering degree at the University of Colorado graduating in 1950 as a member of both the Chi Epsilon and Phi Theta Kappa honorary academic fraternities.

A job offer from the Bureau of Reclamation in Grand Junction took Ted back to his beloved Western Slope. His career progressed to head of engineering for the Colorado Area Office as he played key roles in most of the major west slope water supply projects of the time including Blue Mesa, Morrow Point, Ridgeway, Silt, Rifle Gap, Crawford and Collbran projects. His ability to work with water agencies across the Western Slope led to an Honor Award from the Secretary of the Interior in 1974 that also commemorated his 29 years of service to the United States at only 49 years of age.

Ted then started Dwyer-Shepard Engineers with his great friend, John Shepard. Later, he took a long term assignment in the Philippines with wife Evelyn and high school son Mark and also worked on water programs in many other Asian and Latin countries. His formal career culminated with relocation to Washington D.C. to work for the World Bank where he was responsible for water programs throughout Asia. However, Ted never completely retired. He took periodic consulting assignments and maintained his Colorado Professional Engineers license even to age 90.

In 1955, Ted married Evelyn Groves. Together they raised three boys in Grand Junction. Ted always had projects underway at home or at the family cabin near Telluride. Summers were spent sawing wood, hammering nails and pouring concrete. He was a craftsman, committed to the proper use of a level and square. He loved executing complex projects with hand tools aided only by a power drill. He finally gave into the use of a circular saw to the great relief of his then teenage sons. He was an accomplished gardener and took great pride in his flower and vegetable gardens; a passion that continued even up to November of 2015. His flower beds and landscaping around his townhouse complex, especially his seven-foot-tall dinner-plate dahlias, huge iris and daylily beds were enjoyed by the residents for some 25 years. Ted also greatly enjoyed time with friends hunting, fishing, hiking and playing cards, board games and billiards. He was an avid sports fan and for three decades applied his formidable mathematical skills to modeling baseball statistics and developing algorithms to rank the players. This work resulted in three unpublished books on the sport’s all time best hitters, pitchers and defensive players. If Ted did something, he did it with passion and purpose. True to his ways, Ted finished his life on his own terms. With terrific support of close friends, he lived at home until his passing. Of all his great attributes, what we all will likely miss the most is his quick wit and infectious laugh.

Services honoring Ted will be held January 9, 2016 beginning at 11 am with a brief ceremony with Color Guard at Memorial Gardens, 2970 North Avenue and continuing at noon with a Celebration of Ted’s Life at the Wine Country Inn in Palisade. Per Ted’s request, in lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to your favorite charity.