John Jurgen Ambos
Marriages
Maude Hudson Ambos - 1968
Obituaries
Eagle Valley Enterprise - July 13, 1989
Memorial services for John Jurgen Ambos, former pioneer rancher on Congor Mesa near McCoy, will be held at 2 p.m. today at the Church of Christ at 9th and Bennett in Glenwood Springs.
Mr. Ambos died Saturday, July 8, in Glenwood Springs, at the age of 95.
He was born Oct. 28, 1893, in Council Bluffs, Iowa, the youngest son of John and Wilhelmina Ambos. The family moved by train to Butte, Mont., in 1897, and then relocated three years later to Golden, Colo.
The family then took a homestead in 1904 on Congor Mesa in South Routt County. Since there was no school available, Mr. Ambos' formal education ended with the sixth grade.
As a young man he hired out to help clear the right of way for the Moffat Railroad, constructed in 1905 and 1906, when he carried drinking water to the workers. He later worked at various construction sites and did ranch work before acquiring his own homestead.
After his father died in 1920, his mother lived with him until he sold his ranch in 1940. He then moved to Steamboat Springs, where he went to work for the U.S. Forest Service in Routt County.
Mr. Ambos retired from the Forest Service in 1960 and moved to Glenwood Springs. In 1968, he and Maude Hudson were married, and the couple spent the next 21 years traveling.
Mr. Ambos authored a book "McCoy Memoirs," and enjoyed fishing, hiking, handcrafting cedar lamps, and performing many volunteer services.
He is survived by his wife, Maude Ambos of Glenwood Springs; and two nephews, John Ambos of New Jersey and Robert Ambos of Massachusetts. He was preceded in death by two brothers, Leonard Ambos and Ferdinand Ambos.
Steamboat Pilot page 8D - July 20, 1989
