William Thurston Obituary

William R. "Bill" Thurston, 90, a committed community philanthropist and arts lover, died Monday at his home south of Durango.

Thurston, with his wife, Beatrice "Mickie" Thurston, moved to Durango in 1977 and purchased Weaselskin Farm. The Thurstons immediately became involved in the local arts scene, supporting community theater and the Abbey Theatre.

"They were down to earth," former neighbor and professor emerita of Fort Lewis College Rochelle Mann said. "They supported the arts, but they weren't snooty intellectual snobs. They were just my neighbors who loved great art."

The Thurstons founded Four Corners Opera in 1980 and were generous supporters until its dissolution in 1984. They were some of the earliest – and longest – sponsors of Music in the Mountains when it was founded in 1986.

"The two of them reveled in live music," said Jim Foster, who formerly presided over the boards of both Music in the Mountains and the Fort Lewis College Foundation. "They liked live music so much, they seldom listened to recorded music. But Bill didn't just support music, he was also a big supporter at Fort Lewis."

The couple was actively involved in organizing the Raise the Roof concert series to build the Community Concert Hall and creating the Artist in Residence program. Thurston also endowed several geology scholarships and sponsored the Animas Room in the new Student Union.

Thurston passionately supported Crow Canyon Archaeological Center from its founding in 1983.

Richard Ballantine, publisher of The Durango Herald, served with Thurston on the center's board of trustees.

"Bill Thurston enjoyed uncovering the archaeological past, as he did so many other things, and his enthusiasm for the ideas and the artifacts that are so commonplace at Crow Canyon was wonderful to see," Ballantine said.

Thurston received his bachelor's degree in geology from Harvard University while training to fly torpedo bombers for the Navy after Pearl Harbor.

While his plane was riddled with bullets several times, Thurston was never injured. He would stay over the target sites after bombing runs to take photographs of the results. The photos were later published in a book about his air group.

Between his service stints in World War II and the Korean War, Thurston worked for Sun Oil Co., becoming assistant to the division geologist for South Texas. After the Korean War, he joined an independent oilman headquartered in Denver, with responsibilities for exploration. By the time Thurston was in his 80s, he owned interests in more than 400 oil wells.