Ivan "Val" Carmack
Burial Details
Obituaries
Grand Junction Daily Sentinel page 5A - March 6, 2012
Ivan “Val” Carmack, 91,
Fruita, died March 3, 2012, at
Family Health West.
He worked at Gambles.
Services will be at 8:30 a.m.
Friday at Martin Mortuary.
Burial will be at 10 a.m. Friday at
Veterans Memorial Cemetery of
Western Colorado.
Survivors include his wife,
Donna Shaw; two sons, Kerry
and Bryan, both of Grand Junction;
three brothers, Murrell,
J.A., and Bob; four grandchildren;
and three great-grandchildren.
Grand Junction Daily Sentinel page 5A - March 8, 2012
"Val" Carmack , age 91, of
Fruita, Colorado, died March 3,
2012, of natural causes.
Val was born to Johnnie Austin
and Oleta Carmack on January
14, 1921, in Quail, Texas. His
father was a farmer who made a
living share cropping. Seeking a
better living in 1940, the family
packed all their possessions, six
kids and three dogs in a Model A
Ford which pulled a converted 4
wheel farm trailer to Canon City,
Colorado.
Val was drafted into the Army
Air Corp on June 26, 1942, serving
on an airplane salvage crew in
Europe. He was discharged in
November of 1945, returning
home on the Queen Mary (during
the war it was used as a troop
ship).
Val moved to Grand Junction in 1946, working at the F W Woolworth
Store. In 1950 he hired on with Gambles as an outside salesman.
He had a long career working for Gambles, serving as a store
manager in Roswell, NM and Trinidad, Colorado. He owned and
operated the Fruita Gambles store from 1967 to 1978. Val worked
for the Fruita Co-Op from 1979 until his formal retirement in 1992.
He was an active member of the Masonic Lodge, Fruita VFW and
Faith Bible Church.
On February 1, 1948, he married Helen DeWeese of Grand Junction,
CO. Val and Helen had two sons, Kerry and Bryan Carmack.
Helen passed away in June of 1997. Val married Donna Shaw on
September 18, 1999.
Val had two hobbies, golf and playing guitar. He was a member of
the Men's Club at Lincoln Park Golf Course and played in several
Rocky Mountain Open Tournaments.
In 1966 he was given an electric guitar and taught himself how to
play lead guitar. Val, Helen and several neighbors formed a country
band playing at several locations in the valley. He loved to while
away the hours practicing his guitar.
Val was preceded in death by his wife, Helen; his sister, Chrystine
and brother, Gerald. He is survived by his brothers, Murrell, J A and
Bob; his wife, Donna Shaw of Fruita, Colorado; his son, Kerry
Carmack of Grand Junction (his children, Nikiea Kelly of Phoenix
AZ; Brooke Bray of Grand Junction, and John Carmack of Grand
Junction); his son, Bryan Carmack of Grand Junction (his wife,
Jeanette; stepchildren, Jason of Denver; Dustin and Sherry of Grand
Junction, and child, A J Carmack of Washington); as well as three
great-grandchildren. He is also survived by three step-children from
his second marriage to Donna Shaw, Gene Shaw of Wyoming; Bob
Shaw of Alaska, and Libby Beede of Grand Junction, Colorado. All
of his family loved him dearly.
Funeral services will be held at 8:30 a.m., Friday March 9, at Martin
Mortuary. Military services and Internment will take place 10:00
a.m. at Veterans Memorial Cemetery of Western Colorado.
Condolences and floral tributes may be left for the family at
www.martinmortuary.com.
