Dorris Carnahan
Marriages
Vince Carnahan - December 10, 1954
Burial Details
Obituaries
Steamboat Today - November 1, 2007
Longtime South Routt resident Dorris (Kuchera) Carnahan died Oct. 2, 2007. She was 72.
Dorris was born to Charles and Myrtle Kuchera on July 23, 1935, in Russell Springs, Kan. She was the fifth of seven children. On account of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression, her dad was forced to find a job on the Moffat Tunnel in Granby. Dorris and her family were loaded up, leaving their ranch behind to join her dad. When her dad was hurt working in the tunnel, they moved to the Fulcher Ranch for work. Dorris and her family lived around Granby for about nine years. Dorris' dad once again was forced to leave this area because there was no high school and education was very important to him.
They moved to Kremmling where they worked for the Deberard Cattle Company. This was home for many years. Dorris' dad thought he had a better opportunity offered working for the Shindorf family. Once again, they moved as the others were making their own lives. Dorris attended the Yampa School where she graduated in 1953.
She started Blair Business College in Denver. She didn't finish her education as she found her "prince charming," Vince Carnahan, in the hayfield where they were both working that summer.
They were married Dec. 10, 1954. They set up home at the ranch in Toponas. On Aug. 2, 1955, they had a son born, Kirk. Shortly after, they bought a house and later built another house in Yampa. They lived there for many years where two more children joined the family - Terry in 1957 and Pollard in 1962.
Vince worked away a lot, and Dorris was the caretaker. They purchased the Toponas ranch from Vince's dad about 1965. They worked and leased ranches around the area. In 1975, they bought the ranch in Maybell. They worked both ranches until they sold the ranch in Maybell in 1988 because Dorris wanted to move home. They moved back to the ranch in Toponas, where they both worked until their death.
Dorris was a great mom, cook, housewife and all-around hand. Her heart was outside working on the ranch. She loved to ride and enjoy the cattle. She helped with the 4-H groups. She helped around the communities that she lived in. She was custodian for the Maybell schools for many years. Most of all, she was a mom.
Dorris was preceded in death by her dad and mom, Charles and Myrtle Kuchera; one brother, Charles Kuchera; two sisters, Charlotte Akin and Betty Edmondson; and her beloved husband, Vince Carnahan.
She is survived by two brothers, Kenneth and his wife, Eileen Kuchera, and Robert Kuchera; one sister, Mildred Keim; three children, Kirk and his wife, Kathy Carnahan, Pollard Carnahan, and Terry and her husband, Ernie Arnold; five grandchildren, Pete and Chris Seewald, James and his wife, Katie Carnahan, Glen Carnahan and Melissa and her husband, Josh Wolf; and four great grandchildren, Austin Seewald, Armina and James Zachary Carnahan, and Wyatt Wolf.
Steamboat Today - October 2, 2007
A funeral for longtime South Routt resident Dorris Carnahan is at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Yampa Bible Church in Yampa. Interment will follow in the Yampa Cemetery. Memorial donations may be made to the Northwest Colorado Visiting Nurse Association and Hospice in care of Grant Mortuary, 621 Yampa Ave., Craig, CO 81625.
