Burgette Anna Cahoon “Scotty” Hart died at her residence Saturday, April 21, 2018 at the age of 95 years. She was born on October 7, 1922 on the family farm near Monona, Iowa. Her parents were Elbert Anson and Esther Van Cura Cahoon.
During a major Denver, CO snow storm in January of 1949, she met Paul M. Hart. She married him in Boulder on July 7, 1966, and reluctantly said “goodbye” to her sweetheart and best friend when he departed this world on June 2, 2005.
Burgette attended a rural school for one year at the ages of 5 and 6, and the next two years was home schooled because her father was involved in a lawsuit with the school board. After rural school, she graduated from Monona High School as the valedictorian and later obtained a degree from Iowa State Teacher’s College (now the University of Northern Iowa). She taught in the Hawkeye, IA public schools for two years. After attending the US Weather Bureau Training School in Kansas City, MO, she worked at various US Weather Bureau stations (mostly located in airports) in Missouri, South Dakota, Nebraska, Illinois, and Colorado. Having lived in Denver since 1949, she moved to Boulder in 1955. She worked for the Department of Commerce Boulder Laboratories as a meteorologist. She authored and co-authored several published papers and received three Department of Commerce superior performance awards. She retired in 1982.
She was a member of the American Meteorological Society and Sigma Xi. She was a 50-year member of the Colorado Mountain Club and climbed over half of the state’s 14’ers. She was a member of the Mountain View United Methodist Church and of the National Association of Retired Federal Employees (NARFE). She belonged to the DV chapter of PEO and was a lifetime member of IA Chapter 73 of the Order of the Eastern Star. For twenty-two years she worked one or two volunteer shifts every week at Boulder Community Hospital. She enjoyed hiking, fishing, and traveling with her husband. They had season tickets to the Denver Broncos and University of Colorado Buffalo football games for over 30 years. Burgette did genealogy searches for her family and her husband’s family. She loved cats and was a long-time supporter of the Boulder Valley Humane Society.
Survivors include 11 nieces and nephews, along with numerous great- and great-great nieces and nephews. She had a close special relationship with her brother’s six children who became orphaned at an early age – David, Daniel, and Todd Cahoon of Monona, IA; Kirby Cahoon of Waukon, IA; Kim Cahoon of Tucson, AZ; and Colleen Cahoon Allen of McFarland, WI. Special people who helped Burgette after her retirement were her good friend, Joyce Mennitt, and Paul’s nephew, Keith Ricken and his wife Joan. Burgette was preceded in death by her husband Paul, her brothers Eugene and Wilbur Cahoon, and her sister Arlene Cahoon.
A memorial service will be held at Crist Mortuary on June 2nd at 2pm. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to the Boulder Valley Humane Society or the Boulder Community Hospital Foundation. Cremation will follow, with ashes interred in Green Mountain Cemetery in Boulder.
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