Roger Hunt Obituary

Former Durango resident Roger L. Hunt died Thursday, March 25, 2010. He was 88.

Mr. Hunt was born to Lewis and Esther Hunt on Nov. 11, 1921, in Waterloo, Iowa.

After graduating from high school, he worked in the Bremerton Naval Yards in Washington until he volunteered for the

Army Corps of Engineers during World War II. After basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., he was sent to school in

Atlanta and then to Granite City, Ill. There he was interviewed by Gen. Leslie Groves, the officer in charge of the

Manhattan Project, who transferred him to Los Alamos, N.M.

In Los Alamos he met his future wife, Marie Wilkinson, who was working for the University of California. The couple

married June 22, 1945, in the Presbyterian Church in Santa Fe.

After the war, in 1947, the Hunt family moved back to Waterloo. The next year they moved to Greybull, Wyo., where Mr.

Hunt worked for the U.S. Forest Service. For 11 years, he managed the Greybull shop that serviced both the Big Horn and

Shoshone national forests.

In 1959, Mr. Hunt was transferred to the San Juan National Forest office. He was the equipment manager there until his

retirement in 1978. In 1991, Mr. and Mrs. Hunt moved to Farmington.

In Greybull, he became a member of the Presbyterian Church and the Masonic Lodge. After moving to Durango, Mr. Hunt

joined the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks Lodge No. 507.

He enjoyed hunting, fishing and camping. After his retirement, he and his wife traveled to all 50 states. They toured

almost every state capitol building.

Mr. Hunt was preceded in death by his granddaughter Kim Klatt Titus.

He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Marie Hunt, of Farmington; sons Darryl Hunt of Durango, Douglas Hunt of Denver

and Randy Hunt of Farmington; daughter, Jené Klatt, of Cedar Hill, N.M.; brother Richard Hunt of Cedar Falls, Iowa; 14

grandchildren; 26 great-grandchildren; three great-great-grandchildren; and a niece and numerous nephews.

A private family memorial will be held in celebration of his life.