Charlie Gaines Obituary

Durango resident Charlie Gaines died Sunday, March 13, 2011, at his home. He had celebrated his 84th birthday two days earlier.

Known as "Charlie," "Bud" or "Chuck," depending on which family member or friend he was talking to, he was born to Cyrus "Mac" and Julia Pearl Gaines on March 11, 1927, in Durango. His sister, Bertha, called him her "buddy" from the time he was born – a nickname that stuck. In the mid- to late 1800s, Mr. Gaines' grandfather and great-uncles homesteaded in the Animas Valley.

When he was 18, he enlisted in the Navy, beginning his service in 1945 and fighting during the end of World War II in the Pacific Theater. During the postwar years, Mr. Gaines was stationed aboard a ship that was involved in atomic-bomb testing until his discharge in 1948.

After his military service, he returned to Durango and worked on a seismograph crew in Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico. In 1959, Mr. Gaines started his own collection agency, San Juan Recovery Bureau.

In 1951, he married Ivy Grimes in Durango. She had grown up on a ranch in the Upper Piedra River area near Pagosa Springs.

Mr. Gaines took up flying, a life-long dream, in 1974. Throughout his life, he explored the mountains and deserts of the Four Corners, backpacking, skiing, camping and fishing with family and friends. His flying adventures took him to the Baja Peninsula in Mexico, where he fell in love with the region's culture, people, language and rugged terrain.

For the last 38 years of his life, Mr. and Mrs. Gaines lived across the street down a couple of houses from the house where Mr. Gaines was born.

Mr. Gaines was preceded in death by his daughter Marcie Gaines.

He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Ivy Gaines, of Durango; son, Ron Gaines, of Vancouver Wash.; daughter Carolyn Gaines, of Aztec; three grandchildren; and several nieces, nephews and great-nieces and nephews.

A celebration of life will be held this summer.