Marcia J Neal

Marcia Neal was born on November 9, 1933 in Gunnison, Colorado to Don and Gwendolyn (Peacock) McKee. She grew up on a ranch nine miles north of Gunnison on Ohio Creek. They had no electricity until she was about 6 and FDR established the Rural Electric Association.

Her father was the 3rd generation of McKee ranchers in Gunnison, having made their way from Chebanse, Illinois in the late 1870’s. She had a sister Ann and two brothers, Don (Jr.) and Keith. Marcia graduated from Gunnison High School and then from Western State College in 1955. In 1957 she married Russell Neal, also from Gunnison and after a fairly brief stay in Denver, they moved to Grand Junction where she has remained. She and Russel had three children, Melissa, T.J. and Mitch.

Marcia was an employee of KREX for several years and saw the introduction of TV to Western Colorado. There was one channel from 4:30PM to 10:30PM for quite a few years. She was there when JFK visited and later had the dubious distinction of likely being the first person in Grand Junction to hear of his death. Marcia was walking by the teletype machine when it erupted into the famous “Shots fired in Dallas, Texas” scenario; she tore it off and carried it up to the radio broadcasting booth to Bill Cleary. She moved on to a teaching career, teaching sixth grade at the new Scenic Elementary.

Russell died suddenly in 1976. Following his death, she owned the Rimrock Bookstore in Grand Junction for nearly 10 years. She was very involved with the Downtown Development Authority as well, serving as president for a year. Afterwards, she transitioned back into education, teaching American History and Geography at Grand Junction High School.

Following her retirement, she was urged to run for a seat on the Mesa County School Board. She won the race and spent the next eight years on the board. In 2008 she ran for the Colorado State Board of Education, representing the 3rd CD and was elected. Marcia served seven years before finally retiring.

Marcia loved to read and her house was always full of books. Many treasured conversations were had with Marcia regarding her book recommendations and the current reading lists of her family and friends. She also loved to travel and she traveled extensively both abroad and in the U.S. Her grandchildren have fond memories of summer trips which always entailed interesting history lessons and museum visits.

She is survived by her daughter, Melissa (Chris) Loncarich, son Mitchell (Cindy) Neal, seven grandchildren and one great grandson – Hank! She was preceded in death by her son T.J. Neal and husband Russell Neal.

A memorial open house will be held on August 18th at 4:00PM at Redlands Community Center at 2463 Broadway, Grand Junction, CO 81507. Please visit the family's memorial website to share any memories, stories, send condolences or to see photos from Marcia’s life at www.marcianeal.com.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.callahan-edfast.com for the Neal family.