Donald William Wamsley

Donald William Wamsley passed away peacefully at home on March 11, 2012 at the age of 90. He was born November 1, 1921 to Leonard Burl and Sarah Katherine Hardin Wamsley on the Charles Murphy Ranch by the Michigan River in North Park. In April of 1924, Donald's father and uncle bought the A. K. Marr Ranch in Coalmont, Colorado, and Don lived on that ranch for the rest of his life. Don attended school at the Coalmont schoolhouse from grades 1 to 9 his brother thinks it was the only class that went through grade 9 and then went to Walden for high school, graduating in 1939. He attended Colorado State University for one year, after which his father's declining health brought him home to help operate the ranch. In 1964 he married Sandra Faye Elf in Cambridge, Minnesota and they had three children born to them: Tamlyn Kaye, Robert Dean and Marin Marie. His life's work was as a rancher and heavy equipment operator. Donald had a gift for engineering custom ranch equipment, and with help from his brothers and some ranch hands, he built or modified several pieces of machinery to serve specific needs. Over time, the ranching operation acquired several pieces of heavy equipment, which Don used to build and maintain ditches, roads and dams for stock ponds, fish ponds and other small reservoirs for the Wamsley ranch and for other North Park landowners. He was proudest of his dam project, which was mostly completed in the 1960s. The 64, 000 yard dam that he designed created a reservoir of about 105 surface acres. Many neighbors benefited individually from Don's generosity through the years, and service to the community as a whole was important to him. He helped to organize the North Park Soil Conservation District and was appointed to finish out his father's last term as County Commissioner after Burl died in 1958. Donald was a member of North Park Stockgrowers Association and served one term as its president. He was also a member of Colorado Cattlemen's Association. He became a member of North Park Community Church in the early 1950's and along with the rest of his family, contributed calves for the annual sale in the fall of each year to benefit the church. Managing the business affairs of Wamsley Cattle Co., Inc., building and running equipment, and filling in as needed to help his brothers with cattle and other ranching chores left little time for recreation. He liked airplanes and owned a one-half interest in a Cessna for a few years sometime around 1950. When he could get away, Donald enjoyed day and weekend pack trips to the mountains and fishing in the mountain lakes in Alaska and in Washington state. He liked to visit family when he travelled and made numerous trips to Massachusetts to visit his daughter Tammy and grandson Liam Maginnis, to California to visit his sister Iris and her family, and to Minnesota to visit in-laws. Donald is survived by his wife, Sandra; daughters, Tammy and Marin; son, Robert Dean; sister, Iris Gaekle; brothers, Robert Burl and Richard E. Wamsley; one grandson, Liam Maginnis; and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, Burl and Katherine Wamsley and one brother, Jerry Wamsley. A memorial service will be held in June.