Browning

Yuma County Pioneer Photographs:

Linnie Browning, Francis M. Browning, Lewis D. Browning, Thomas Browning, Jaqua

In 1898 A.J. Browning, of Jaqua, Kansas was a witness for the claim of George F. Klie in 3S 42 W.

Also in 1898, Lewis D. Browning was a witness for a timber claim of William M. Barnes for a quarter in 18, 4S 42W.

Linnie proved up a quarter in 31, 4S 42W in 1899.

William proved up a quarter in 31, 4S 42W in 1903.

Thomas cash-claimed a quarter in 32, 4S 42W in 1981.

Lewis cash-claimed a quarter in 29, 4S 42W in 1891, and proved up another quarter in 1898.

1902 Wray "Clinton Browning of Jaqua, Kansas marketed hogs here Monday."

In 1913 Clinton Browning, Robert Kirkland, Harry P. Wiley, and Edward Browning were witnesses for the claim of Owen D. Shirley in 4S 42W.

Rex W. Shaver went home to be with his Savior on Saturday, April 16, 2011 in the Hillcrest Care Center in Wray, Colorado. He was 86 years of age.

He was born on March 25, 1925 on the family farm near Armel, Co. to Zell and Blanch (Browning) Shaver. He graduated from Armel High School and then enlisted in the U.S. Navy where he was a machinist on the USS Munda.

Rex and Patricia Lou Gustafson were married on June 19, 1946 in St. Francis, Kansas. They resided in rural Colorado, Denver, Gunnison, North Platte, NE, St. Francis, KS and Ellis, KS. They also served at Maranatha Bible Camp near Maxwell, Nebraska for many years.

Following the death of his wife Patsy, Rex and Gwen Allen Cranmer were married on April 12, 2003. They resided in Wray, CO. Gwen passed away on April 15, 2011 at the Wray Memorial Hospital after a brief illness.

Survivors include sons, Ned (Vickie) Shaver and James (friend Martha) Shaver, both of Hays, KS; three daughters, Vicki Shaver of Dumbarton, Scotland, Mary Lou (Richard) Matzke of Ellis, KS, Sherri (Stan) Faulkender of rural Ogallah, KS. and a stepson Gary (Patty) Cranmer of St. Louis, MO.; brother Richard Shaver of Thornton, CO., sisters Jane Soehner of Winslow, AZ, and Peggy Busby of Casper, WY. Grandchildren include Blake (Amanda) Matzke of Ellis, KS, Wendy Matzke (Patrick) Geschwentner of Ottawa, KS, Dallas Faulkender (Brian) Bieker of Manhattan, KS, Molly Faulkender (Scott) Bieker of Overland Park, KS, and three step grandchildren, Jay Siercks, Kelly Williams, and Michael Zerr. Rex had 6 great grandchildren, Adrienne, Alexis, Cole, and Macy, Moriah, Noah and 8 step great grandchildren.

Services will be held for both Rex and Gwen Shaver on Friday April 22 at 2:00 p.m. MST at Beecher Island, Co with interment at the Armel Colorado Cemetery. Memorials may be sent to the Schmidt Spellman Funeral Home, 427 Adams St., Wray, CO 80758 for the Cranmer Educational Scholarship Fund.

A memorial service was held Wednesday, March 26, 1986 at the Community Church of the Rockies for Charley Alden Browning who died March 21 at his home in Mesa, Ariz.
Mr. Browning was born Nov. 19, 1901 near Armel, Colo., the son of Clinton and Estalla Dolly Baker Browning.
He spent his boyhood and school years in the Armel area. Charley married Marie Davidson in April 1934. He farmed for many years in the Armel area, and in 1948, the Brownings moved to St. Francis where he worked as a carpenter. In 1957 they moved to Longmont, Colo. where he continued his work as a carpenter. In 1960, the Brownings moved to Estes Park, where he worked at the YMCA of the Rockies until his retirement in 1968.
On March 27, 1966, he married Esther Miller Focht. Charley was a member of the Community Church of the Rockies, and served as a deacon, an ordained elder and an usher.

Esther Muriel Browning, 95, of Ft. Collins formerly of Greeley, passed away on Monday, September 10, 2012 with her daughter by her side. Esther was born on June 1, 1917, near Armel, Colorado to Ethel (Hettinger) and A. Wilson Hanna.
She was a very young lady when she first knew Harold Browning. They attended grade school and high school together, and were married on August 4, 1937, and then settled in Greeley where their son Gary and daughter Dalene were born.
Esther was a talented seamstress, homemaker and piano teacher for many years after which she attended CSC in Greeley and graduated with a BA degree in Education in 1962 at the age of 45. She taught in the Greeley Public School system until retirement. She was also a Mary Kay beauty consultant for over 30 years. Esther and Harold spent many years traveling the world in their color coordinated clothing. They celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 1987 and after 53 years of marriage, Harold passed away.
Her granddaughter, Lori, would like to share the following about her grandmother. "I could swear her purse felt like it weighted over 200 lbs., and she always insisted upon carrying it when we went to the mall. I looked like a mugger trying to wrestle it away from her, but she was secretly relieved, I'd like to think, but perhaps her pride gnawed at her a bit. We use to have lunch at Mimi's café, Perkins, the Cheesecake Factory, or at some diner, while nary a moment of silence passed between us. We discussed history, the latest book she was reading, parenting, religion, her latest exotic trips, movies, what my children were involved in, how the business was doing, and most interestingly, life and times of her youth. I remember her when she was still in her 80's and she would come to visit. I would take her on our ritual trip to the mall. She walked so fast that she left me breathless. She used to travel the world with people 20 years younger than she, because those were the only ones who could keep up with her. She insisted upon walking, until a short time ago when only a broken pelvis could stop her. I knew that when she stopped walking, not long after, the time would come, and she would let go of this world and all its hindrances. And she did…I love you, Grandma."
Esther is survived by her loving children: daughter Dalene Anderson of Ft. Collins, and her son Gary Browning (Maureen) of Mesa, AZ. She is also survived by her brother Rev. Earl K. Hanna (Rhonda) of Littleton; sister-in-law and childhood friend, Ruby Cody of Burlington, CO, and 5 grandchildren, 11 great grandchildren, and 2 great-great grandchildren. Esther was preceded in death by a brother Dale Hanna.
Graveside service 10:00 a.m. Saturday at Sunset Memorial Gardens.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to RNCR(Rehabilitation & Nursing Center of the Rockies) or Turnberry Place (A senior facility) in care of Stoddard Funeral Home, 3205 W. 28th Street, Greeley, Colorado 80634

Robert Clinton Keeler, one of Colorado's outstanding heroes of World War II, died Wednesday, April 15, 2009 at the Broomfield Care Center in Broomfield, CO. He was 90.

Mr. Keeler was a former publisher of the Longmont Ledger, a weekly newspaper. He operated the paper with a partner from 1954 to 1966; then became the sole owner.

He was born Feb. 14, 1919 on a farm near Armel in eastern Colorado. His parents were Harry Keeler and Nell Browning Keeler. He was a descendant of the pilgrim John Alden, who came to the New World on the Mayflower. He also was a nephew of one of the principals of the old Tyler-Keeler-Wadsworth (TKW) department store, an early-day dry goods store in Longmont.

He attended a one-room country school, and graduated from Armel, Colo. High School. His graduating class consisted of six students, three boys and three girls, Mr. Keeler and his sister, Doris, rode a horse to school.

Following high school Mr. Keeler enrolled at Colorado A&M, now Colorado State Univ., to study forestry. His studies were interrupted by World War II and the army. He took basic training at Camp Roberts, California, and was trained as a specialist in the use of instruments for survey work. Mr. Keeler then took and passed tests for the paratroopers, but was called to duty in his specialty the day before being accepted into the paratroopers.

Mr. Keeler served in Panama before he returned to the U.S. to train for the war in Europe. He landed on Omaha Beach, Normandy on D-Day plus 1, the second day after the primary invasion.

He once related the story that his first three Christmases in the service were not so good. The first was in 1942 on a ship off the coast of Cuba, where all aboard were sickened on spoiled turkey. The second was on a ship leaving New York harbor, when the ship caught fire. The third, in 1944, was at the Battle of the Bulge, one of the most decisive battles in the European ground war. He noted that the fourth Christmas, in 1945, his luck changed and he became engaged to the former Barbara Wallace of Cleveland, Ohio.

Mr. Keeler was a technical sergeant at the time of the invasion. During the fighting in Belgium he was given a field commission as a 2nd lieutenant. Although his unit officially was the 87th Field Artillery Battalion, he was attached to other units during the war. During the Battle of the Bulge he was a part of the 101st Airborne. Despite some very close calls, he went through most of the war without being wounded. On one occasion a bullet left a 2-inch hole on the side of his steel helmet, but did not penetrate the helmet liner. On another occasion, a bullet went through the windshield of a jeep and passed between him and a sergeant.

Mr. Keeler's job as a forward observer was one of the most dangerous in the army. He would make his way, usually crawling, in front of his own unit to survey the landscape ahead and report back on his walkie-talkie radio what he observed. On April 16, 1945, he was attached to an infantry division, on the outskirts of Achen, Germany. On that day he and an infantryman crawled to a slight rise in the terrain in order to spot the enemy. They observed a gun emplacement and a German Tiger tank situated to defend the city from the advancing Americans.

Mr. Keeler and his fellow soldier began radioing back instructions on where to fire artillery shells to take out the cannon and the tank. The cannon was the "88", the most feared artillery piece in the German army. It was apparent to the Germans that their first response to the American artillery was to take out the men who were directing fire on their positions. One of their first shells wounded the infantryman in the shoulder. He crawled back to his unit to be treated for his wounds, leaving Lt. Keeler alone at his observation position.

Artillery fire usually is bracketed, with some shells to the left or right or in front or behind, until the precise target is hit. Shortly after the infantryman was wounded, another shell from the German 88 landed almost directly upon the observation position where Lt. Keeler was situated. The exploding shell shattered his legs.

Despite his severe wounds, Lt. Keeler continued to direct fire on the enemy's positions. However, the battle between the two opposing forces was so intense that the Americans did not fight their way to Lt. Keeler's observation position until 24 hours later. By that time gangrene had set into his leg wounds and both legs were amputated, one above the knee and one below. The Germans surrendered three weeks later, on May 8, 1945.

For his courage and valor under extreme conditions, Lt. Keeler was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the nation's second highest military decoration. He also was awarded the Legion of Valor by the French government, an honor bestowed only on those who had earned the DSC or the Medal of Honor. In addition, he received Five Bronze Stars, the Purple Heart, American Campaign Medal and the World War II Victory Medal.

He was sent to Percy Jones Army Hospital in Battle Creek, Mich. He was in the bed next to a wounded paratrooper who was paralyzed from the waist down. The soldier was Stanley Wise, the brother-in-law of Barbara Wallace, who met Lt. Keeler during a visit to the hospital. She was in nurse's training at the time at Cleveland and was later to become Lt. Keeler's wife. They were married in the hospital chapel on June 4, 1946.

Barbara was a daughter of Fred B. and Lelah Proxmire Wallace. Mrs. Wallace was a cousin of the late U.S. Sen. William Proxmire of Ohio.

Mr. Keeler's first job was as a bailiff at a murder trial in the county court- house. That was a temporary position and he was soon out of work. At Barbara's suggestion he applied for a job at one of the two newspapers in Wray. The Rattler hired Mr. Keeler on the spot.

That was the beginning of Mr. Keeler's career in the printing and newspaper business. In 1951 he began working at the Times-Call in Longmont, Colo. In January, 1954, he and a former co-worker, Gerald Archuleta, bought the weekly Longmont Ledger, the oldest newspaper in Boulder County, established in 1879.

He continued to publish the Ledger until 1972, when new operators leased the equipment and changed the name to "The Scene". That paper soon folded and Mr. Keeler sold the printing equipment. He then went to work at the printing and publications department of the University of Colorado in Boulder. He worked there more than 20 years, until his retirement in 1992.

Mr. Keeler was active in community affairs. In 1954 he was appointed by the governor as a member of the first Anti-Discrimination Commission. He later was appointed to the board of the School of Corrections at Golden, Colo.

He also was commander of Post 2601 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, exalted ruler of Longmont Elks Lodge 1055, a lifetime member of the Disabled American Veterans and the American Legion, president of the Golden K Kiwanis Club of Longmont, a 32-degree Mason, the Last Man's Club and a member of the United Methodist Church of Longmont. Bob is also listed in the Who's Who in Colorado.

Mr. Keeler was preceded in death by his parents; his wife, Barbara; his daughter Laurie Rademacher; a sister, Doris Kroeger; and two brothers: Clifford and William Keeler.

Bob is survived by two daughters: Sandi Keeler of Overland Park, Kansas and Sally and her husband, Dr. Tom Dodd of Poplar Bluff, Missouri; seven grandchildren: Megan Clark, Chad King, Ellie Waxman, Courtney Dodd, Matthew Dodd, Adam Rademacher and Jessica Barrera; six great grandchildren; three brothers: Lyle Keeler of Citrus Heights, California, Gene Keeler of Wray, Colorado; and Walter Keeler of Lorena, Texas; two sisters: Kay Atwood of Westminster, Colorado and Phyllis Adamson of Wray; along with many nieces, nephews and friends.

Visitation will be held on Monday, April 20 at Howe Mortuary from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, April 21 at 11:00 a.m. at Longmont First United Methodist Church. Burial with military honors will be held at Fort Logan National Cemetery in Denver at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

The family request memorials in lieu of flowers be given to Laradon Hall, 5100 Lincoln Street, Denver, CO 80216 or the UMYF program at First United Methodist Church, 350 11th Avenue, Longmont, CO 80501.

Yuma County, Colorado Photographs

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Yuma County, Colorado
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