{"id":41519,"date":"2022-03-23T22:13:57","date_gmt":"2022-03-24T04:13:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/family-and-friends-honor-late-commissioner-joel-stevenson-in-cortez\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:01:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:01:41","slug":"family-and-friends-honor-late-commissioner-joel-stevenson-in-cortez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/family-and-friends-honor-late-commissioner-joel-stevenson-in-cortez\/","title":{"rendered":"Family and friends honor late Commissioner Joel Stevenson in Cortez"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"U.S.
U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, left, stands with the family of the late Joel Stevenson, a Montezuma County commissioner and Colorado brand inspector. Boebert presented Stevenson\u2019s wife, Sheree, with an American flag that has flown over the U.S. Capitol. (Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Late Montezuma County Commissioner Joel Stevenson was honored by family, friends and U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert during a memorial Wednesday at the county annex in Cortez.<\/p>\n

Fifty family and friends gathered to remember Stevenson, who died Jan. 18. He served as county commissioner for Mancos District 3 and was a longtime state brand inspector.<\/p>\n

County Administrator Shak Powers and Boebert spoke of Stevenson\u2019s cowboy values, strong commitment to family and friends, and his public service.<\/p>\n

In honor of Stevenson, Boebert gave an American flag that has flown over the U.S. Capitol to the family.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a time of mourning and also celebration for someone who served the community selflessly,\u201d Boebert said.<\/p>\n

\"U.S.
U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert spoke Wednesday in Cortez at a memorial for late County Commissioner Joel Stevenson. (Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

She gave a prayer and recited her Feb. 9 speech<\/a> to the U.S. House about Stevenson, which has been entered into the Congressional Record<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the prayer, Boebert thanked Stevenson for his life of \u201chonor and goodness.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lord\u2019s holy spirit will \u201cheal the hearts of the family and bring times of joy and remembrance,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

During her minute-long speech to the House, Boebert said, \u201cStevenson will be remembered as a larger-than-life champion of rural Colorado who never wavered in his belief that the world needs more cowboys.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAmerica needs more cowboys like my friend Joe Stevenson, but I know that heaven just gained one,\u201d she said, quoting her speech to the House.<\/p>\n

Stevenson served as a Southwest Colorado brand inspector for 20 years.<\/p>\n

Powers spoke about Stevenson\u2019s \u201cstrong voice for the common people and strong voice for agriculture.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The
The late Joel Stevenson served as a Montezuma County commissioner and brand inspector for the Colorado Department of Agriculture. (Courtesy of Facebook)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

As a commissioner, he had a practical, commonsense approach and pushed back against government overreach.<\/p>\n

Stevenson\u2019s life as a \u201cfamily man, friend, confidant and community leader will not be forgotten,\u201d Powers said.<\/p>\n

A plaque from the county in appreciation of Stevenson was presented to the family.<\/p>\n

Jeff Martinez grew up with Stevenson in Mancos and was a lifelong friend of more than 50 years.<\/p>\n

He will remembered for his \u201cgreat personality, for his love for everybody, and for his love of animals. He was an all-around great person.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was also compassionate and generous man.<\/p>\n

When Martinez had a life-threatening illness, Stevenson promised \u201cthat my family would be taken care of if I did not make it. That says a lot, meant a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of his favorite childhood memories was roping cows with Stevenson from the top of haystacks and getting pulled off.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe became a great cowboy. It is hard to explain how much he will be missed,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cI don\u2019t know anyone who disliked him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert offers speech, prayer and a flag<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41520,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[21,28,109,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-41519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cortez","tag-headlines","tag-montezuma-county-commissioner","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41519"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84998,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41519\/revisions\/84998"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41519"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=41519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}