Jimmy Ray Guire

Longtime Nucla Resident

Jan. 14, 1945 — July 14, 2008

NUCLA — Jimmy Guire, a longtime resident, businessman and entrepreneur in the Nucla, Colo. area passed away on July 14, 2008 at the Southwest Memorial Hospital, Cortez, Colo. He was 63.

A funeral service is set for Saturday, July 19, 2008 at 10 a.m. at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Naturita, Colo. Mr. Butch Priestley will officiate. A visitation will take place on Saturday at the church from 9 a.m. until the time of the service. A private interment will take place later that day. In lieu of flowers, and in Memory of Jimmy Ray Guire, a trust fund has been set up at the Citizen’s State Bank, located at 111 Hwy. 97, Naturita, CO 81422 or call (970) 865-2255, to benefit kids with cancer so they might enjoy the beauty of the Uncompahgre Plateau at the ranch.

Jimmy was born to Charles Andrew and Jesse Lee (Hendrickson) Guire on Jan. 14, 1945 in Moab, Utah. He attended schools for 14 years, and became self educated in mining and heavy equipment operations. On July 30, 1966, Jimmy wed Rose Anne Madsen in Las Vegas, Nev. They were blessed with two children.

Jimmy worked as a miner in the uranium mining industry for years. In 1993, he and his family returned to Nucla, Colo. to start work for Western Fuels Coal Co. as a superintendent for five years. At this time, Jimmy had an opportunity to purchase the family ranch. This was Jimmy’s family’s homestead. (The Rice and the Winter homestead). He also worked at the New Mont Gold Mine in Elko, Nev. as a supervisor for nine years. Jimmy and Rose Anne owned and operated hotels in Utah for the past 10 years, until his retirement in 2007. He and his son, Jimmy, designed and engineered a major water system at their ranch.

Jimmy was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

His special interests were photography and all sorts of water sports. Jimmy was a four-generation Nucla resident, and a five-generation Colorado native.

Jimmy Ray Guire is survived by his wife of 42 years, Rose Anne Guire; a son, Jimmy Ray Guire II; and a daughter, Corina Renee Guire; two siblings by marriage, Dianna Guire and David Guire. Jimmy’s mother was the first woman in the western United States to be diagnosed with leukemia, and died at the young age of 25, leaving Jimmy at 5 years of age to be raised by his aunt Joan and uncle Schell Hendrickson, with their children (Joyce Calhoun, deceased, and Carl, deceased), Jon and Darrel Hendrickson, Debbie Irish and an aunt, Clara Lear; and other family members.

Cortez Four Corners Funeral Chapel, Hale & Gerken is serving the family.