Rallin "Bud" Gibson
Marriages
Marguerite Long
Doris Reigles - 1956
Obituaries
Daily Sentinel page 5C - December 5, 2021
Born December
19, 1931, in Collbran,
Colorado, Rallin “Bud”
Gibson, along with his
two brothers, Hugh and
Robert, were children
of the Great Depression,
hard-working and devoted
to family. Nestled in
the quiet mountains,
Bud attended Collbran
Union High School and
graduated with the class of
1950. After high school, he
served three years in the
U.S. Navy, aboard the USS
Hoquiam and USS Hamul,
during the Korean conflict.
Following his Naval service, Bud married Doris
Reigles in 1956, in Belen, New Mexico. He later returned
to Collbran, with Doris, where they would raise three
children, Dea, Donna, and Rob, and Bud would be a
vital member of the Collbran community. From owning
the town’s Mobil station and the Rainbow Motel and
Trailer Court to serving on Plateau Valley School
Board, Bud was also a member of both the Collbran
Lions Club and the American Legion. He served as
Collbran Postmaster from 1966 until his retirement in
1992.
Bud and Doris later divorced and in 1978, Bud
remarried, bridging his family with Marguerite
“Maggie” Long and her three children. In retirement,
Bud and Maggie spent two nomadic decades traveling
from Arizona to Alaska by way of Texas and home to
Colorado to celebrate holidays and major milestones
in the lives of friends and family. Together with and
apart from time spent with Maggie, Bud enjoyed being
outdoors, with fishing, hunting, snowmobiling, and
gardening topping the list.
When it was time to settle down, Bud and Maggie
bought a home in the same Grand Junction, Colorado,
neighborhood where his brother had lived for several
decades and spent their remaining time hosting family
holidays, attending Plateau Valley sports games and
Broncos parties with friends, and getting to know grand
and great-grandchildren.
Bud passed away November 30, 2021, peacefully at
home, his best Shih-Tzu buddy, Paddy, by his side. He
is preceded in death by his parents, Veryl and Helen
Gibson; brother, H. Hugh; wife, Maggie, and step-daughter, Debbie Bubela, and is survived by brother,
Robert; children, Dea (Hap) Fairchild; Donna Jensen,
and Rob (Stephanie) Gibson; step-children, David
(Chris) Long and D’Ann (Aaron) Monger, along with 14
grandchildren, 21 great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren.
A celebration of life will be Saturday, December 11,
2021, at 1:00 p.m., in the dining room at the Collbran
Congregational Church.
In lieu of flowers, the family is asking donations be
made to the Collbran American Legion Post 86, c/o
Chuck Schowalter, 58838 ME Rd., Collbran, Colorado,
81624, or to the BrightFocus Foundation for Macular
Degeneration Research, 22512 Gateway Center Drive,
Clarksburg, MD, 20871.
