Benjamin Clark Burkey

Services will be held this summer. Burial will be in Palisade Municipal Cemetery.

Mr. Burkey was a driver’s license examiner.

He is surived by one daughter, Celia Boyd of Walla Walla, Washington; two grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

Memorial contributions to the Burkey Park Fund, c/o Rio Grande Federal Credit Union, 760 Rood Ave., Grand Junction 81501.

Benjamin Burkey

March 5, 1926 - January 25, 2015

I, Benjamin Clark Burkey, was born March 5, 1926, in Cherokee, Oklahoma. I was the youngest of eight children. My siblings were John, Lewis, Robert, Richard, Celia, Gladys, and Nellie.

We moved to Grand Junction, Colorado, when I was 16, where the family business, Burkey Lumber Company, was started. I graduated from Grand Junction High School with the help of some good teachers. I spent two years with the Army in the South Pacific during World War II. After the war, I met Vera Venita Brown. We were married May 2, 1948, in the Methodist Church in Grand Junction, CO. Our marriage was blessed with two daughters, Celia Jeannette and Anne Lorene.

We moved to Delta, Colorado, in 1950, where I worked at Burkey Lumber with my brothers.

In 1968, I quit the lumber business. I went to work for the State of Colorado as a Drivers' License examiner in 1972. I held that position for 18 years, retiring in 1989. I enjoyed traveling to visit friends and family during my retirement.

My family and friends are holding a life celebration at the Palisade Seventh-day Adventist Church on Friday, July 17, at 6:00 p.m.