Kathryn Michael Obituary

Former Durango resident Kathryn F. Michael died Sunday, Sept. 28, 2014. She was 88.

Mrs. Michael was born to Streeter and Luella Jones on Dec. 27, 1925, in Durango. She was born in her grandmother's rooming house, which now houses the Durango Music Store on East Second Avenue.

The family lived on the Dryside of La Plata County for three years farming and ranching. They became lonesome for their families, who still lived in Oklahoma, so they packed up, drove a truck and herded their cows on horseback, back to the Panhandle of Oklahoma. They stayed there for nine years, at which time the drought and sandstorms of the Dust Bowl during the Depression brought them back to Colorado.

One of three children, Mrs. Michael went to elementary school at the Mountain View School and stayed there until the ninth grade, when she had to go to school in Marvel. She lived with her teacher during the week and went home on the weekends. For the remaining years, she moved to Durango and shared an apartment with her dearest friend, Gladys Davies, who was from Kline, until graduation in 1944. They remained friends for 76 years.

On Jan. 20, 1947, she married Oliver Sherman Michael in Gallup, New Mexico. They moved back to the Dryside of La Plata County and lived on Sherman's folks' homestead until 1960. They soon learned that if they stayed out on the Dryside, their children would have to ride the bus for hours to and from school, so they moved into town.

Mrs. Michael went to work at Farmer's Supply, candling eggs to determine the condition on the yolk and white with her friend Davies. They both worked there until the egg business was discontinued. At that time, she went to work at Grant's Department Store, staying there until it went out of business. She then worked at the original City Market bakery, which used to be located near where the train tracks intersect with 13th Street, where she stayed until retirement.

"Some of her greatest joys were music and dancing," according to her family. "While on the Dryside, the family lived in a one-room house, but they still had room for a piano. She would play the piano, and Sherman would play the mandolin in the evenings until it was time for the "Grand Ole Opry" to start on the radio.

The Michaels stayed in Durango until 1995. They decided to move to Aztec, where the weather was less severe, but she always considered Durango her home, her family said.

Mrs. Michael was preceded in death by her husband of 66 years, Oliver Sherman Michael, on Jan. 30, 2013.

She is survived by her children Merle Michael of Mancos and Sharon Roth of Bayfield; two grandsons; three great-grandchildren; and two nephews.

Services will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2104, at St. Mark's Episcopal Church, 910 East Third Ave.