James R. Wyatt…April 10, 1919 – November 18, 2015

Graveside Inurnment for James Wyatt will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, June 3, 2016 in the Veteran’s Section at Fairmount Cemetery in Lamar, Colorado.

James Robert Wyatt was born in Fayetteville, Tenn. to William and Anna Wyatt on April 10, 1919. He passed away in Colorado Springs on November 18, 2015.   At an early age his family moved to Waco, Texas.    There he was active in sports and worked part time for Borden’s Milk.   Like most of his generation, World War II interrupted his life.   Jim (Bob to his family) enlisted in the Navy and became a pilot.   In 1950 he married Marjorie Herron, a registered nurse, who was also in the Navy.   Marjorie resigned her commission and became a full time homemaker.    To this union was born six children, Barbara, William, Louise, Benjamin, Richard, and Sally.

Jim had a very successful career in the Navy, retiring as a Commander.   He worked with several other military pilots whose names later became household names such as John Glenn and John McCain.    On one base he was base commander at the same time John McCain was wing commander.     The Glenns and the Wyatts attended the same church and Annie Glenn and Marjorie played the organ for the church.     The Navy transferred the Wyatts regularly and often.   They moved from the Bahamas to Newfoundland and Washington, DC to Colorado.     As a pilot, Jim flew all over the world and brought back keepsakes from all over.   Later he wanted to take Marjorie to all of the places he had been.    While they did visit such places as Alaska, Brazil, England, Spain, Australia, Ecuador, and Antarctica among others, they did not come close to seeing all of the places he had seen.

Each place the Wyatts lived, and there were many of them, Jim would try to buy a fixer upper house.   He and the kids would then work on it until the next transfer.   Every time he could, he would keep the house as a rental and when he retired he owned five rentals.   The sale of a couple of rentals allowed him to buy a ranch near Ellicott.    At this ranch he started raising some little black cattle called Aberdeen Angus.   No one wanted them but he was convinced that they were superior to the Herefords that everyone else was raising.    Fifty years later, Herefords are rare and Angus have become the breed of choice.

Jim never did anything in moderation.   He was known for his energy.   Twenty hour days were common and if he slept in until 5am or so he was known to remark about how late he had slept.    After ranching, Jim took up wood working.   He went to schools all over the country and some out of the country learning to be the best he could be.   He was in his seventies when he was named in a national magazine as one of top young wood workers in America.   The magazine ran pictures of some of his work.    His specialty was wooden hats.   These hats were custom made for your head and weighted about the same as a felt hat.   When Governor Mike Huckabee saw one he ordered a derby hat for his wife.

Jim and Marjorie found time to have one or two nephews or nieces out each summer.   There Jim taught them how to drive and how to live.   His example of how to live was probably better than his teaching ability as his mind worked so fast he was usually on step twelve while his student was pondering step two.   However each and every one of them remembers fondly, summers with the Wyatts.

Jim was preceded in death by his parents; brother, William; sister, Mary; Marjorie, his wife of 64 years; and two of his children, Benjamin and Sally.

He is survived by his sister, Sally Attebury; and his children, Barbara Taylor, Bill Wyatt, Louise Vasquez and Richard Wyatt.   He is also survived by one granddaughter, three grandsons and one great grandson.

Memorial contributions may be made to the First Presbyterian Church in Lamar, Colorado either directly or in care of Valley Memorial Funeral Chapel, P.O. Box 950, Lamar, CO 81052.

For more information or to leave online condolences, please visit www.valleymemorialfc.com.