Yuma County, Colorado
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Yuma County Pioneers:

James and Nora Brophy, Eckley

 

June 14, 1889


Photographs and family information from granddaughter Theresa Brophy

This history was written by Jimmy Brophy in 2006.

 

James Patrick Brophy and Nora Marie Sullivan married on October 10, 1910 in Denver, Colorado.



Wray Rattler, December 11, 1913

"James Brophy has a new barn about completed on his ranch 24 miles northwest of Wray.... 60x 56, room for 16 horses, stanchions for 17 cows, and 2 sheds besides. Self-supporting roof gives a large mow for storing feed and will be equipped with a hay fork for lifting."

Holyoke Enterprise, Holyoke, Colorado, March 21, 1940

FUNERAL HELD FOR JAMES BROPHY, SR.
Yuma County Pioneer Dies After Two Days Illness; Born in Ireland

Funeral services were conduced in Holyoke Saturday morning for James Patrick Brophy, Sr., resident of
northeastern Colorado the past 54 years, who died at 8:15 o’clock Thursday morning at the Holyoke
hospital, where he had been a medical patient two days. Death was due to complications of advanced age.
At the time of his death, Mr. Brophy was 75 years, 11 months and 19 days old.

A requiem mass was read at 10:00 o’clock at the St. Patrick church with the rector, Rev. Francis J. Brady,
officiating. Burial was made in the Holyoke cemetery. Serving as pallbearers were five sons, James, Peter,
Edward, Joseph and Michael Brophy, and a grandson, Paul Brophy, all of Yuma County.

The out of town relatives attending the funeral were Michael Brophy and son of Roseland, Nebraska, Mr.
and Mr. Terry Murray, Dennis Andrews and Mr. and Mrs. Timothy Sullivan of Yuma, and Mr. and Mrs.
Hubert Casey, Miss Agnes Brophy, Mr. and Mrs. Leon Loughman and Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Davis of
Denver.

Deceased was born March 25, 1864 at Kullihill in Queen’s county, Ireland, a son of James and Hanora
Brophy. He was an only son in a family of four children. He immigrated to America in 1883, settling at
Weston, Iowa, on September 7 of that year. He was married to Miss Julia Muldowney July 13, 1884 at
Weston, Iowa. In 1886 he moved to Colorado and located on a tree claim south of Haxtun, where he
remained until the year 1893, when he moved to Colorado Springs and engaged in railroad work. Returning
to Phillips County in 1904, he located on a homestead southwest of Holyoke, where he resided three years.
In 1907 he moved to a homestead in Yuma County, where he had since lived.

The late Mr. Brophy was a member of the St. Patrick church.

Surviving are his window, Mrs. Julia Brophy, Chicago, Illinois; seven sons, James, Joseph, Michael, Peter
and Edward of Yuma County, Stephen of Chicago, Illinois and Dan of Oakland, California; one daughter,
Mrs. Fred Lagler of Thurman; a sister, Mrs. Annie Jensen of Weston, Iowa; 42 grandchildren; four great
grandchildren and six nieces and nephews. An infant daughter and two sisters, Mrs. Lizzie Murray and
Mrs. Mary Brougham, preceded him in death.

CARD OF THANKS
We wish to express our heartfelt appreciation and thanks to our friends and neighbors for the many
kindnesses and acts of sympathy extended us at the time of the death of our beloved James P. Brophy, Sr.
Not only did we appreciate the kindnesses and acts of sympathy but also the many beautiful floral and
spiritual offerings given in his memory. – Edward, Michael, James, Joseph, Peter, Stephen, and Dan
Brophy and Mrs. Fred Lagler and families, the Peter Loughman family, Mr. and Mrs. Terry Murray, Mr.
and Mrs. Byron Riley and other relatives.
 

 

Front Row l to r:  Betty, Nora holding Lorretta, Charles, James IV, Robert, Desmond, James V
Back Row l to r:  Agnes, Judy, Mary, Paul, John, Tom




Dorothy Armagost Brophy died in 2016 -

Dorothy Mae (Armagost) Brophy was born in the family home just northeast of the town of Eckley, Colorado on May 31, 1929. She died peacefully and quietly at the age of 86 at the nursing home in Yuma, Colorado, January 25, 2016.

Dorothy was the seventh of eight children born to Edith “Pearl” (Miller) and Ralph Beaumont “Pete” Armagost. Her siblings were Jack, Rex, Ralph, Bonnie, Mervin, Jenon and Rosalie “Rosie.” Dorothy grew-up on farms around Eckley before the family moved to town.

Throughout her teens, Dorothy worked as a telephone switchboard operator with her sisters, as her dad ran the Eckley telephone company. Dorothy graduated from Eckley High School in 1947. Following graduation, Dorothy attended college in Denver for a time. On January 30, 1948, Dorothy married James Patrick Brophy V and the young couple began raising crops, cattle and children on several farms northwest of Eckley. On March 13, 1948, Dorothy joined the Catholic Church by receiving the sacraments of Baptism, Reconciliation, Communion and Confirmation. Dorothy and Jim were blessed with seven children: Theresa Pearl, James Patrick VI "Rick," Charles Ralph "Chuck," Nora "Kay," Martin Daniel "Marty," Maureen Bernadette and Joni Elizabeth. Rick was stricken with rheumatoid arthritis at the age of two-and-a-half. The disease took the couple to Children’s Hospital in Denver throughout Rick’s childhood. (In recent years, Jim came to the realization Dorothy raised “five sets of twins,” as Rick’s cruel disease demanded every bit of attention as that of a newborn.) In 1960, Dorothy and Jim purchased the “Waters place” (17 miles NE of Yuma) and lived the majority of their married life on the farm they eventually dubbed ‘Rooster Run.’ While juggling caring for the home and the kids, Dorothy gladly helped Jim whenever needed. She happily drove a grain truck, even though she could barely see over the steering wheel. She once even pulled a sugar beet out of the throat of a young steer, as hers was the only arm small enough to fit!

St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Yuma was an integral part of the lives of the Brophy family. Dorothy served as cantor, Eucharistic minister, a member of the Altar and Rosary Society and she helped Jim take communion to the homebound. Dorothy and Jim were actively involved in Catholic Rural Life. They also attended Cursillo and Marriage Encounter. They got so much out of Marriage Encounter that they encouraged and helped many other couples to attend by generously caring for the couples’ children in their home during the Marriage Encounter weekends.

Dorothy and Jim enjoyed being members of the Yuma Squares square dancing club, as well as a long-standing, going-on five decades in-the-running, bridge club with Blachs, Brueggemans, Bushners, Mitchells, Nieslaniks and Seedorfs. Dorothy and Jim were blessed to travel extensively with Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, Northeast Fertilizer and Chemical and on their own. Highlights of their travels were taking the entire family in a motor home to: the Four Corners, Monument Valley, Grand Canyon, San Diego, Disneyland, up the coast, into the Redwood Forest and Oregon, visiting relatives along the way; as well as Hawaii; Alaska; Lourdes, France; Rome; Medjugorje, Yugoslavia; the Holy Land during their 50th year of marriage where they renewed their wedding vows at Cana; and four trips to Ireland.

Dorothy was a seemingly tireless taxi service shuttling her kids to dancing and piano lessons, 4-H meetings and sports practices. She graciously hosted many a family party and many a family dinner, and was never surprised when her bachelor brothers-in-law Tom and Rob quietly slipped-in the house at meal times. Her kitchen and dining room tables were the site of too many pitch and bridge games to count. She ground her own flour and baked the most fantastic homemade whole wheat bread and out-of-this-world cinnamon rolls! Her homemade cabbage pockets were incredible and she was famous for her Italian sausage bread ring! Chuck, in particular, was crazy for her homemade cherry crisp. Dorothy found satisfaction in doing a variety of crafts. She always went all-out on craft projects for the annual Altar and Rosary Society Silent Auction. She was a whiz at crossword puzzles. She was a “walking dictionary” who could pull the spelling of seemingly any word out of her head without missing a beat. Dorothy liked bean dip, jigsaw puzzles, honeybuns, solitaire and endless cups of coffee. She was a connoisseur of cinnamon rolls at restaurants. Two of her longstanding mantras were: “If it was a snake, it would’ve bit ya!” and (in reference to kids) “No housecats!” (It was her way of getting kids “out of her hair," while also getting kids out of her way and inadvertently promoting getting fresh air, sunshine and exercise). She frequently told Joni, “You need glasses to find your glasses.” Dorothy enjoyed decorating her home with antiques and she loved going “antiquing.” One of her favorite hobbies was golfing. She played in a ladies' league, as well as in a couples' league with Jim. In 1988, she and Jim moved to the northeast outskirts of Yuma, just down the hill from one of the finest nine-hole golf courses in the state of Colorado. Dorothy happily dubbed their new home 'Brophy's 19th Hole.' She took pride in their new neighborhood and was quick to pick up trash along its roadsides and in its ditches.

Dorothy started every day washed-up, with her make-up on, her hair done and in presentable clothes. The family always had hot meals, fresh laundry, a tidy home, a clean car, and a groomed yard... and she made it all look easy! Dorothy was so proud of raising seven kids! She loved being a farm wife, a mom, a grandma and a great grandma. Dorothy tirelessly gave of herself and cared for others her whole life, until Alzheimer’s disease forced her to allow others to care for her in her final years of life. For the last eight years and five days of her life, she lived first in Hillcrest Care Center in Wray and then in Yuma Life Care Center.

The morning of Monday, January 25 (which was the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul) in the 2016 Jubilee Year of Mercy, Dorothy was told how much Jim loves her, how much her kids and her family love her and she was included in praying the sorrowful mysteries of the rosary. At 12:31 p.m., as two granddaughters kept vigil by her side, Dorothy quietly and peacefully died.

Dorothy was preceded in death by her parents Pete and Pearl Armagost; her siblings Jack (and wife Dwana (Nation), Rex, Ralph, Bonnie (and husband ‘Ott’ Newton), Mervin (and wife Roberta (Gilbert), Jenon (and husband Dale Harouff), brother-in-law Howard Morgan; father and mother-in-law Jim and Nora (Sullivan) Brophy; in-laws Mary Brophy Church (and husband Frank), Tom Brophy, Agnes Brophy Lauridson (and husband Carl), Judy Brophy (and husbands Hubert Casey and Sid Veto), Paul Brophy, John Brophy (and wife Betty Jo (Spaulding), Jack Eastin, Mary Lou Pickering Reynolds Brophy, Rob Brophy, Charles Brophy, Lorretta Brophy Ralph; and children Rick, Chuck, Kay (Oestman) and grandson James Patrick Brophy VII Colwell.

Dorothy is survived by her husband of (just five days shy of) 68 years, Jim, of the couple’s home and their children (all of Yuma County, unless noted): Theresa (Brophy) and sons Patrick Lanser (of Phoenix, AZ and sons Paddy and Donovan), Nicholas Lanser (of Seattle, WA) and Eric Lanser (of Denver), daughter-in-law Peggy Riley Brophy Neb and children Shannon (and Ryan Joseph of Sheridan, WY), Charles Jr., Sheila (and fiance Bryan Rogers), and Sherelle, son-in-law Terry Oestman and children Molly (Brunk) (and children Braden, Dallas and Maizy Kay), Mark (and wife Dessany (Wiley) and children Ellie, Isabel Kay ‘Izzy’ and Gabriel), Luke (and wife Angela (Muetzel) of Tulsa, Oklahoma and children Gemma, Clara, Charlie, Benjamin, Regina and Damien), Marty and children Jessica Mae and Michael James (of Denver), Maureen and husband Joe Turney of Eureka, Missouri and children Keriann (Siefert) (and husband Cameron Josh and son Ryker), Erin Elizabeth (Siefert) (and husband Bret Lewellen and sons Ryan and Jack of Camp Point, Illinois), Dan Siefert (and wife Teresa (Houser) and children Adrianna and James Patrick of Eureka, Missouri), Mary Dorothy and Bridget Theresa, and Joni and husband Tom Colwell Jr. of Atchison, KS and children Kate (and husband Doug Petroskey of Overland Park, KS), Tom III (and wife Mallory (Tillet) of Wamego, KS), Mary, Nora Maureen and Margaret Mae; sister “Rosie” Morgan; in-laws Pat (Kelly) Brophy, Betty Brophy Eastin Shapard, Des Brophy, Bill Ralph; a host of favorite nieces and nephews and numerous friends. Dorothy will be fondly remembered and greatly missed by all who knew and loved her.

The worst blizzard in Yuma County (so far) of the 2015-16 season hit the day of Dorothy’s vigil, Monday, February 1, the Feast of St. Bridget of Ireland. Her Mass of Christian Burial was Tuesday, February 2, the Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord. Both were held at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Yuma. Grandchildren Mark and Luke Oestman and Molly (Oestman) Brunk led a scriptural rosary at the vigil. Fr. Jonathan Dellinger was the celebrant of Dorothy’s Mass of Christian Burial. Due to the blizzard, Dorothy’s burial was postponed until Wednesday, Feb. 3, the Feast of St. Blaise. Interment was at the Yuma Cemetery. Baucke Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements. Memorials are preferred.

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