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Myrtle A. Thompson

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Birth Date: January 20, 1916
Death Date: November 17, 2008
Age at Death: 92

Marriages

William Albert Bills

Leslie Thompson

Burial Details

Cemetery Name: Golden Cemetery
Cemetery Location: Golden, Colorado

Obituaries

Steamboat Today - November 30, 2008

Former Steamboat Springs resident Myrtle A. Thompson, of Kersey, passed away Nov. 17, 2008. She was 92.
Myrtle was born Jan. 20, 1916, in Adams County, to Maude (Evans) Elgin and A. James Elgin. She was the eldest of four children. She spent a great deal of time with her father and learned much from him about animals when she was young. Myrtle had no formal education beyond the eighth grade, but she acquired a great deal of knowledge about livestock and how to care for them.
Myrtle's family moved from the Eastern Slope across the mountains to the Western Slope. As they traveled by teams and wagons, Myrtle herded the family's milk cows with her own saddle horse. The family lived on Rabbit Ears Pass for a couple of years, and Myrtle provided for the livestock because her father worked away from home most of the time. Myrtle began working with the livestock on their ranches and met her husband, William "Bill" Albert Bills. They moved to Dubois, Wyo., where they worked for Frank Mockler. During this time, they caught wild horses and would break them and sell them.
In the summer of 1938, they began a move to Steamboat Springs, which detoured them to South Pass City, where they continued to work with wild horses. They then moved on to Lay before arriving in Steamboat. They worked on several different ranches, and Myrtle also worked as a waitress at the Glen Cafe. Myrtle and Bill later divorced, and she continued to ranch and wait tables.
She then married Leslie Thompson in Steamboat Springs. They lived in Strawberry Park for a number of years before moving to Hudson in 1957. She worked at restaurants in Fort Lupton and Greeley. In 1952, they bought their property in Kersey. From 1972 to 1973, she leased a ranch and cafe in Walden. She lived on the ranch in Kersey and continued to care for her "four-footed family," as she called her livestock, until early 2003 when her health started failing and she no longer was able to do so.
Myrtle is survived by her daughters, Merna Mae Reed and Yonnie Nichols; stepsons, Wayne and Robert Thompson; sisters, Vellie Elgin and Grace Kelso; and numerous nieces and nephews. She had nine grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren and four great-great grandchildren. Myrtle was preceded in death by her parents, husband, ex-husband, brother Henry A. Elgin Sr. and one great-grandson.
A service was held Nov. 21 at Allnutt Funeral Service's Macy Chapel in Greeley. A reception followed at the Allnutt Reception Center. Myrtle was buried at Golden Cemetery.
Memorial donations may be made to the Audobon Society in care of Allnutt; 702 S. 13th St., Greeley, CO, 80631. Friends may view the online obituary, sign the guest book and send condolences at www.allnutt.com.

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