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Ivy May Gaines

1929 - 2021

Ivy May Gaines obituary, 1929-2021, Durango, CO

BORN

1929

DIED

2021

Ivy Gaines Obituary

Ivy May Gaines passed away peacefully on March 4th at her home in Durango with family by her side. She had just turned 92 years old on February 26th. Ivy was born to Mary Ella (Keane) and Robert Grimes and grew up on a ranch in the Upper Piedra, north of Pagosa Springs. She and her siblings attended the one-room school, Deb's School House, which they reached by horse. Ivy would later write her childhood stories which included escapades of playing rodeo with childhood friends, Peggy Case and Edward Toner, on a real bronco, interminable hours of herding sheep, and listening in on others' party line phone calls. Ivy moved to Durango when she was about 16 years old to live with her older sister and attend Durango High School.

When Ivy was 21 years old she met Charlie Gaines at the Waikiki Bar (now the Derailed Saloon) and they were married on March 21st, 1951. They raised their three children in Durango. Ivy loved reading, quilting, writing, flower gardening, and playing bridge. She was a member of the La Plata Quilters Guild for many years. She participated in the Sr. Center's Writing Group. In the early 1970s, she and three other friends started the Crazy 8 Bridge Group which is still active today and made up of dear friends. She and her husband took their children on numerous adventures skiing and camping. As well, Ivy white-knuckled many airplane trips in her husband's Cesena through storms, turbulence, and one mid-air engine failure to places that included the Northwest and the Baja Sur of Mexico.

Ivy is survived by her son, Ron (Eleanor) Gaines of Vancouver, Washington, daughter Carolyn (David Boyle) Gaines of Durango, grandchildren, Alison (Brian Hake), Patrick, and Andrew Gaines, and her nephews and nieces: Susi (Neil) Hubertus, Shelley (Shelly) Hubertus, Mike (Elizabeth) Hubertus, Tom (Luann) Hubertus, Steve (Amy) Hubertus, Cathy McWhirter, Dennis (Suzie) Kleckner, Roger (Patricia) Kleckner, Scott Kleckner, Dale (Pam) Peterson, and Deborah (Darryl) Snook and numerous beloved great-nieces and nephews. She is preceded in death by her parents, her daughter, Marcie Jean, and husband as well as her siblings: George Kleckner, Carl Kleckner, Pearl Nieshe, and Margy Peterson and nieces and nephews: Patricia (Hubertus) Tobin, Robert Hubertus, Dean Peterson, and Linda and Steve Nieshe.

Special thanks to Ivy's wonderful caregivers: Deidre Bia, Emma Shew, Lyndsay Chavez, and Dawn Haisman of Shining Star Caregivers and independent caregivers Kara Weese and Eve Winlock as well as the amazing staff and volunteer at Hospice of Mercy.

A celebration of life will be held this summer. In the months preceding her death, Ivy often dreamed of riding her childhood stubby-legged pony and her sister's powerful bay horse over the ranch country of Upper Piedra mountains. Now she can do so with abandon.

Published by The Durango Herald on Mar. 15, 2021.
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Ronnie, sending condolences to you and your family. Randy McEwen

Randy mcEwen

March 15, 2021

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