James Headley "Jim" Farris

James Headley "Jim" Farris
Oct 8, 1905 - Aug 21, 1981
Jim Farris, age 75, of Silt, died Friday, August 21, 1981, at Claggett Memorial Hospital in Rifle after a lengthy illness.
Mr. Farris, spent most of his life in Colorado. His family moved from Missouri to Boone, Colorado, when he was 11. Boone is 22 miles east of Pueblo. In 1923, they moved to the Parachute area.
He was born October 8, 1905, at Red Bird Missouri, to John Henderson and Valeria
Hildegard "Hilda" Martin Farris. Hilda was 17 years and 12 days old on her wedding day.
Jim spent his childhood and attended school in Missouri. He had 5 adult siblings, sisters Dovie Ethel and Verda Valeria, and brothers Leslie Hayward "Hack", Charles Oren, and Lowell Austin "Sunshine". A sister Bern was born October 29, 1920 but only lived 11 days.
Jim's family moved to eastern Colorado in 1916 where they engaged in farming. After seven years, they moved on to Grand Valley where they lived for nine years. They settled at Garfield Creek in 1932.
Jim's father John Henderson Farris would pass away February 11, 1974, in Rifle, at the age of 91. Jim's mother Hilda died May 13, 1955, in Glenwood, at age 70.
Jim married Leilamae "Lela" Buck July 21, 1930, in Glenwood Springs. They had one daughter Alice, and one son Clyde.
Alice was born July 15, 1938 and passed away November 15, 2020, in Pottsboro, Texas at the age of 82.
Clyde was born August 3, 1933 and passed away July 10, 1946 in Glenwood at the age of 13.. He died from burn wounds suffered March 25, 1946 as he and his father were burning weeds on a ditch. A sudden shift in the winds caused the boys clothing to catch fire. Clyde was treated in the Glenwood Porter Hospital but passed away after 108 days.
Lela was born January 10, 1910, at New Castle to Arthur Leo and Wilsie May Fenner Buck. Lela was an only child. Lela's mother would pass away young in 1933.
As a small child, Lela moved with her family to Palisade where she began school, and later attended schools at New Castle and Morrissania Mesa.
Jim was engaged in road construction for a number of years, and they lived in many places in Colorado, Utah and Kansas.
The 1940 census shows them living in New Castle. In October 1940, his military registration shows him working for Larsen Construction Company in Minturn.
During World War lI, Jim was in national defense and they lived in Salt Lake City and Denver.
They purchased a ranch on Garfield Creek in 1943, and operated it until1963. They retired from ranching in 1963, at which time they moved to Silt.
Leilamae was a member of the New Castle Rebekah Lodge. She died at her home in Silt April 25, 1971, at the age of 61, where she had lived for her last 8 years.
Jim then married Sarah Elizabeth Williams June 14, 1972, at Rifle. Sarah was born January 21, 1914 in Loudon, Tennessee to William and Addie (York) Williams.
Sarah was the 11th of 13 children. She had 3 sisters: Julia, Maude, and Carrie. She had 9 brothers: Malcolm, Bill, Jack, Frank, Marsh, John, Charles, George and Roy.
Sarah spent her childhood in Tennessee. Her family moved to Parachute in the 1920's in the hope that the oil shale industry would bring prosperity.
Sarah's father William ultimately became an employee of the D&RG Western Railroad and they lived in Grand Junction, DeBeque, and Glenwood.
Sarah married Fred Werhonig April 8, 1947, in Craig. She was 33 and Fred was 59. They did not have any children.
Fred was born at Mahrenberg, Germany November 8, 1888, and came with his family to the United States in 1893. His first wife was Leona Spencer, to whom he was married about January 31, 1924. They had two children, Gene and Ben, and were sheep ranchers in Grand Valley. They were divorced February 10, 1937, and it appears the boys stayed with Fred.
On August 14, 1963, Fred Werhonig was stricken by a heart attack at his home. He passed away while being taken to Clagett Memorial Hospital in Rifle. He was 74, had been married to Sarah 27 years.
So finally on June 14, 1972, Sarah and Jim Farris were married. It was the second marriage for each after their spouses had passed away. She was 58 and Jim was 66.
Jim would live another 8 years and pass away August 31, 1981 in Clagett Memorial Hospital in Rifle at age 84 following a long illness.
Sarah lived another 31 years passing away June 3, 2004, at the E. Dene Moore Nursing Home at age 90.
Sarah was especially fond of her donkeys and Jim's draft horses. She died June 3, 2004, at the E. Dene Moore Nursing Home.
Jim farmed all his life without ever using a tractor. Here is his story in his words:
"I farmed a 110 acres and never had a tractor on the place, just five head of good workhorses. Anybody that was farming, thirty, forty acres could farm it so damn much cheaper with stock. It'd take you three head of horses to do it.
If that's all you had that's all you'd need around. Stack your hay instead of bailing it. Get you an old buck rake and you ain't out no money to speak of--just a man to stack it, you know.
You go out here and you buy a tractor, and it would cost you a lot of money. A good tractor would cost you a pile of money, and you've got too much money invested for just sitting around doing nothing most of the time. Pretty quick when you do do it, but hell all you've got to do is do it yourself anyway, so just take a little longer and it won't cost you nothing.
Everybody used to laugh about it and talk about it up there on that creek, those damn fellas that do it all with horses, they're the first ones through and going to help everyone else finish up!
Anymore it's a good thing that they got machines because it's a lost art. Driving a team is just like driving a car or anything else. If you can't do it right, you just better not do it. lt's a damn Iost thing anymore, there's so many people if they went out to work these horses the damn horses wouldn't work for them because the horses know more than they do."
Three years before Jim passed, The Garfield County Fair began the Annual Jim Farris Memorial Draft Horse Pulling Contest. Sponsored by Budweiser- Orrison Distributing Co. of Glenwood, there was a $1,000 cash award given to the first six place winners. The 1981 first place winner was Buford Huffstetler's team from Yampa that won by pulling 6550 lbs 15 feet.
At the time of his passing Jim was survived by his second wife Sarah, one daughter Mrs. Dean (Alice) Wight of Glenwood Springs; three brothers, Leslie (Hack) of Rifle, Charles of Carbondale, and Lowell of Silt; two sisters, Mrs. Dovie Hawkins of Pueblo, abd Mrs. Charles Hamilton of Fritch, Texas.
Also surviving Jim were three grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
Sarah's survivors included nieces Alena
Douglas of Parachute, Ruth Keithley of Rifle, and Irene Peyton of DeBeque. Both
husbands and 12 brothers and sisters
preceded her in death. She was buried at the Battlement Mesa Cemetery.

      

 

   

 

     

 

 

  

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

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