{"id":14128,"date":"2026-01-05T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/community-remembers-influential-bayfield-couple-who-died-in-house-fire\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:44:04","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:44:04","slug":"community-remembers-influential-bayfield-couple-who-died-in-house-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/community-remembers-influential-bayfield-couple-who-died-in-house-fire\/","title":{"rendered":"Community remembers influential Bayfield couple who died in house fire"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Jim
Jim and Terry Fitzgerald at the Bayfield Farmers Market in this undated photo. (Courtesy of Cary Lindley)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Sometimes, certain people make such an impact that their passing sends ripples far and wide. Jim and Terry Fitzgerald \u2013 who had lived outside Bayfield at the foot of the pi\u00f1on and sagebrush-blanketed HD Mountains since 1970 \u2013 did just that.<\/p>\n

The Fitzgeralds died Tuesday night<\/a> when their house on County Road 525 burned down. The news sent shock waves through La Plata County.<\/p>\n

By many accounts, the north star in both Jim\u2019s and Terry\u2019s lives was trying to create a better world. A quick scan through social media reveals just how far-reaching their impact was, stemming from a shared love for people and the environment.<\/p>\n

They served in Chile through the Peace Corps together<\/a> in the 1960s \u2013 where they fell in love \u2013 before moving to their off-grid home in Bayfield. There, they embedded themselves in the community.<\/p>\n

A Facebook post from Pine River Shares, a food share program in Bayfield,<\/a> said the Fitzgeralds were \u201cthe heart and soul\u201d of the program.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey brought us the stories of this Valley we call home and tied us to it with threads that bind us together, loving and caretaking this place and each other,\u201d the Pine River Share\u2019s post said.<\/p>\n

The Fitzgeralds were also longtime attendees and mentors at the Bayfield Farmers Market. According to a post from the organization,<\/a> the Fitzgeralds \u201cfueled the dream\u201d of the market\u2019s organizers by offering advice during long talks at their homestead kitchen table.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey came every season and told us they were proud,\u201d the post said.<\/p>\n

Another post from Upper Pine River Fire Protection District\u2019s<\/a> page said the Fitzgeralds died as they lived, \u201cinseparable, robustly connected to the land.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their house itself was an extension of their appreciation for the land, the Upper Pine post said. The timber of it was harvested directly from the property when it was built in 1910. They even moved the original structure to get a better vantage of one of Jim\u2019s favorite trees. Together with their family, they formed the bricks that would make some of the adobe walls with mud from a nearby canyon.<\/p>\n

\"Jim
Jim and Terry Fitzgerald at their house east of Bayfield. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The Fitzgeralds were also fiercely protective of the environment in which they lived.<\/p>\n

Terry Fitzgerald was vocal in the permitting of oil and gas drilling<\/a> in the HD Mountains east of Bayfield, which their property abutted. When President Joe Biden signed an executive order prohibiting any new oil and gas drilling projects on public lands in 2021 \u2013 which halted the sale of 1,500 acres of land in the HDs \u2013 it felt like a victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re absolutely delighted,\u201d Terry Fitzgerald said in a 2021 Durango Herald<\/em> article<\/a>. \u201cWe thought the leasing around here is the most ridiculous thing in the world, and we\u2019ve been fighting the destruction of the HDs for years now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both Terry, a registered nurse, and Jim, an FLC professor, personally touched the lives of many.<\/p>\n

FLC published a statement Friday stating that Jim, who taught Spanish and sociology at the college for three decades, was deeply influential. His classroom environment \u201cwas a space where students were challenged to think critically, honor culture and see themselves as part of a larger human story.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are deeply saddened by the loss of Jim and Terry Fitzgerald,\u201d FLC President Heather Shotton said in the release. \u201cJim spent three decades at Fort Lewis College mentoring students and helping shape a campus grounded in curiosity, culture and belonging. The Fitzgerald family\u2019s legacy, carried forward through their daughter Janine\u2019s service to Fort Lewis College, is deeply woven into this community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their daughter, Janine Fitzgerald, also taught sociology at the school, carrying her father\u2019s legacy forward and making her own contributions to the school \u2013 including securing $25,000 in funding<\/a> for the \u201cReturn to Din\u00e9tah: Community-Based Language Learning\u201d project.<\/p>\n

Linda Simmons, another former professor at FLC, said her and Jim helped run a study abroad program in Mexico. That program \u2013 in which students had to live with a Mexican family, bolstering their understanding of Spanish and how people there lived \u2013 gave students a better understanding of different ways of life.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would recommend the international experience to anybody, because it really causes people to lose the stereotypes that they so frequently have about folks in other countries,\u201d Simmons said. \u201cFor the students, having to live with a family \u2013 understanding both joys and the difficulties that they face in their lives \u2013 it just makes them a better human being. Jim was really good at that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simmons spent time with both Jim and Terry at their home \u2013 where the two sometimes hosted international exchange students \u2013 and said they exemplified kindness.<\/p>\n

Maria Samora, an FLC alum and one of Jim\u2019s students, said he was a very kind and generous man who was committed to social justice and dedicated to his students. She said she learned more about Spanish \u2013 her first language \u2013 from him. She also went to Mexico with him.<\/p>\n

Samora said Fitzgerald inspired her to go on to get her master\u2019s and doctorate degrees and become an educator herself after her graduation from FLC. She said he was generous with his time in and outside the classroom \u2013 a truly valuable trait for an educator.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing I learned from him was the power of empathy for others,\u201d Samora said.<\/p>\n

A memorial service for the Fitzgeralds<\/a> will be held from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday at the La Plata County Fairgrounds in the Exhibit Hall. All are welcome and encouraged to bring stories about the couple.<\/p>\n

sedmondson@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

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