Lois Corinne Cheney

Longtime resident of Estes Park, Lois Cheney, passed away on April 14, 2025. She was 97. Lois was born September 2, 1927, in St Clair Shores, Michigan to William and Helen Warfield. She was one of 8 kids, including 5 brothers and two sisters. She grew up and went to school in “The Shores”. After high school, her adventurous spirit and willingness to seek new challenges took her on numerous trips to find her place in this world. Tired of the cold damp winters in Michigan, at the age of 26, and against her father’s approval, she loaded up her car and started on a cross-country trip looking for her next adventure. She landed in Wickenburg, Arizona and soon found work at a winter seasonal horse ranch and guest lodge. The managers of the horse stock of the Wickenburg guest lodge also worked at a summer seasonal guest lodge at Sprague’s Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park. They invited Lois to come to Colorado for the summer. In the summer of 1957, while working at Sprague’s Lodge, she met Robert “Bob” Cheney, who worked at the adjacent Stead’s Ranch in Moraine Park.

Bob and Lois were married in October of 1958 at the Community Church of the Rockies in Estes Park. They lived and worked at Stead’s Ranch until the National Park Service forced the ranch to cease operations in 1962. They built a house on Bob’s father’s homestead property in Estes Park. They raised four kids: a daughter Corinne Burke of Estes Park, and three sons Reese of Eagle River, AK, Flint of Evergreen, CO, and Regan of League City, TX. Lois has seven grandchildren.

Lois kept plenty busy raising four kids, managing the household, chauffeuring kids to various school events, sporting events, church events, and scouting events. After Bob’s retirement, they spent winters in Mesa, Arizona for about 25 years. Bob and Lois operated Alpine Gift Shop on Elkhorn Avenue during the summer months between 1983 and 1997.

Lois is preceded in death by her parents, William and Helen Warfield, all five brothers (Leo, Walter, Bill, Rolland, and Keith), oldest sister Shirley, and Lois’s husband Bob (2017). Lois has one surviving sister, Gail, of Traverse City, MI.

A private family memorial service will be held this coming spring or summer in Estes Park. Please visit www.allnuttestespark.com to leave a message for the family.