John Raymond Basgal Jr. returned to his heavenly home, peacefully passing away in his sleep June 24, 2019. He was born on September 22, 1929 in Page, New Mexico. to parents, John Raymond Basgal Sr., of Marienburg, Volga German Russia, and Alma Ruth Cowart Basgal of Eddy, Texas. The family moved to Colorado around 1947 to farm and run the Basgal Dairy on Hwy 50 Boone, Co. Raymond married Joan Lavonne Starmer (1933-2017) in 1951 which ended in divorce in 1965. Seven children were born to this union. Surviving daughters: Ramona Rae (James) Cox, St. George, Utah; Pamela Jo (Lance) Fry, Pueblo, Colorado/Leeds, Utah; Vickie Kay Durand, Canon City, Colorado; Zoetta Jean (Thomas) Staehle, Canon City, Colorado; and Brenda Ruth (Leon III) Fay, Rio Rancho, New Mexico. Surviving sisters: Mary Ann Basgal Polich (Benny), Walsenburg, Colorado; Joyce Esdell Basgal Tate (Bill), Canon City, Colorado; Sharon Elaine Basgal Gibson Bartlett, Pueblo West, Colorado. Preceding him in death were two young sons, John Raymond Basgal III and Shawn Ray Basgal; three sisters, Esther Ann Basgal, Virginia Ruth Basgal Alexander Cannon, and Frances Jean Basgal Stamps; one grandson, Matthew Ray Durand; two wives, Dolores Irene Vaughn DiGrado Basgal and Geraldine Jones Basgal preceded him in death. Raymond has fifteen grandchildren and nineteen and growing great-grandchildren.
Dad was born in what we always referred to as “the little round house” on the Basgal homestead in Zuni Mountains of Page, New Mexico. He was schooled in McGaffey and Gallop New Mexico until his family moved to Boone, Colorado about 1947. He graduated from high school in Avondale, Colorado in 1949.
Dad went into the Armed Forces of the United States of America, Army Reserve from 30 March 1951 to 3 October 1956 when he was honorably discharged.
Dad worked for his father for about three or four years on the Basgal Dairy on Hwy 50 in Boone, Colorado after starting a family and living in the little two story house on the property, and then moved his family into Pueblo, Colorado to work for the Colorado Fuel and Iron (CF&I) from 1955 until retirement in 1991. Dad was a farmer at heart and worked additional jobs helping Harry White in Blende, Colorado on his farm. Dad spent much of his retired life fishing around the state’s lakes and up to the day of his passing, he met his fishing buddies daily at 4:30 a.m. at the Pueblo Reservoir. He went bowling every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at the Pinelle’s Bowlero Lanes with the “Oldies But Goodies” league with the most unimaginable form to most of us trying for strikes, but he made them! He loved growing vegetables in his gardens, and shared many fresh or preserved bottled quarts of beets and pickles. He taught his daughters how to bottle beets and pickled and cooked a great green chili sauce. He was a member of the Flower Fad garden club, meeting once a month for dinners and here and there when their flower garden required some maintenance. It is a lovely center median flower garden close to the intersection of 4th Street and Abriendo Ave.
Dad contributed to the National Audubon Society, Boys Town, St. Labre Indian School, National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, Defenders of Wildlife, and Disabled American Veterans.
Dad will be lovingly remembered by his family and friends. Funeral service will be held at 10 a.m. Friday, July 12, 2019 at T.G. McCarthy Funeral Home in Pueblo, Colorado. Interment at Brookside Cemetery in Rye, Colorado.
