Longtime Hesperus rancher Lawrence R. Huntington, 96, did on Saturday. Huntington’s family roots in the area go back to 1857, pre-Civil War, and he spent most of his adult life ranching on his great-grandparents’ homestead in the Hesperus area.
Longtime Hesperus rancher Lawrence R. Huntington, 96, did on Saturday. Huntington’s family roots in the area go back to 1857, pre-Civil War, and he spent most of his adult life ranching on his great-grandparents’ homestead in the Hesperus area.Courtesy of the Huntington

When someone dies at 96, as Lawrence R. Huntington did on Saturday, it’s hard to find any contemporaries to share stories.

But maybe we don’t need them. The Exhibit Hall and Livestock Barn at the La Plata County Fairgrounds, Durango High School and Lake Nighthorse are all results of his labors.

Huntington’s family roots in the area go back to 1857, pre-Civil War, and he spent most of his adult life ranching on his great-grandparents’ homestead in the Hesperus area.

“He just loved the place,” his daughter Cindy Winn, said. “And he enjoyed serving the community.”

Huntington spent decades on several boards.

He was a charter member of both the La Plata-Archuleta Cattlemen’s Association and the La Plata County Fair Board.

“I remember when (Mahlon) “Butch” White took three or four members of the fair board, including my dad, in his plane,” Dan Huntington said, “to look at fair facilities around the state. That’s where they got the Exhibit Hall and Livestock Barn.”

Lawrence Huntington served on the Durango School District 9-R Board of Education in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

“I remember he gave me my diploma,” said Winn, who graduated in 1973. “And he was definitely on the board that built the new high school.”

Huntington worked hardest and longest on the Animas-La Plata Conservation District Board, joining it in the 1950s and working for decades to help the water-storage project come to pass. He was particularly pleased to see the lake filling as the fruition of his labors, Winn said.

“I know he served as president of the cattlemen’s association at least twice and was Cattleman of the Year in 1978,” said Barbara Jefferies, a former president of the association herself. “When the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association held its centennial, he was instrumental in getting them to hold it down here and pulling it together.”

Huntington also served on the La Plata County Water Conservancy, La Plata Electric Association and Farm Credit System boards, some of them for decades.

“He was very quiet but knew what needed to be done,” Jefferies said, “and he worked to get it done.”

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Memorial service

A memorial service for Lawrence R. Huntington will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, March 14, 2015, at the Ballroom in the DoubleTree Hotel. Burial will take place at Greenmount Cemetery afterward.
Memorial contributions may be made to the La Plata-Archuleta Cattlemen’s Association Scholarship Fund, P.O. Box 2524, Durango, CO 81302.
Huntington was born to Leonard and Emma Huntington on June 18, 1918, in Durango. His family had been in the Four Corners since 1857. Growing up primarily in Hesperus, he attended the Rockvale School in Hay Gulch and high school at the Old Fort Lewis College Campus in Hesperus and Farmington, graduating from Durango High School.
Upon graduation, he drove a propane truck from Cortez to the San Luis Valley.
When World War II started, he enlisted, serving in the 2nd Armored Division, participating in five major campaigns, including D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge. The division was known as “Hell on Wheels.”
Once home from the war, he would spend the rest of his life working on the family homestead. In 1946, he married Leola Bacus in Gallup, New Mexico. They had four children together before her death in 1965.
In 1966, Huntington married a former high school classmate, Margaret O’Brien Macdonald.
Huntington was preceded in death by his wife of 31 years, Margaret Huntington, in 1997; and grandson Justin Shupe.
He is survived by his children Dan Huntington, of Hesperus; Roberta Shupe and Cindy Winn, both of Durango; and Lenna Echols, of Aztec; siblings Frances Hotter, of Durango, and C.W. Huntington, of Redmesa; stepchildren Patricia Smith, of Cedar City, Utah, Robert Macdonald, of Evergreen, and Jeanne Turner, of Bend, Oregon; numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren; and extended family members.