Four local U.S. Forest Service employees were remembered during a dedication ceremony at the U.S. Forest Service Memorial Grove near Monument, Colo., on Saturday, May 2.
Each year, Forest Service employees who have died in the past year are honored at the Memorial Grove. This year, a large number from the former Mancos Ranger District of the San Juan National Forest were recognized for their service.
They are: Jack Ott, forester; Betty Alexander, district clerk; Lloyd McNeil, forestry technician; and Bud Roach, engineer.
"Each were good stewards of the resources of the Mancos District and served the greater Mancos Community for well over 50 years," said Mary Ann Ott.
The Memorial Grove was established in 1920 to honor Rocky Mountain Region soldiers killed in WWI. The next year, a memorial ceremony was held on May 29, 1921, at the Grove, and 30 trees were planted to recognize the four soldiers and Forest Service employees who had died officially with the service. The original Grove had a memorial tree named, mapped and planted for each of the employees who had lost their lives.
The Grove is on the grounds of the old Monument Tree Nursery, now the Monument Fire Center on the Pike's Peak District of the Pike and San Isabel National Forests. The Memorial Grove was established using transplanted Englemann spruce, blue spruce and Douglas firs from the Fremont Experimental Forest near Pikes Peak.
Today, the Memorial Grove continues to recognize and celebrate the careers, dedication and contributions of all those Rocky Mountain Region employees who have died and left their legacies for future generations to help manage the national forests and grasslands of the Rocky Mountain region. The Memorial Grove ceremony also offers a special time and place to honor family members and friends of Forest Service employees for their critical support and personal sacrifices that contributed to the success of their loved and honored ones and the mission of the Forest Service.
On Saturday, 33 Forest Service employees were remembered.
Jack Ott was a forester for 20 years. McNeil was a technician, and he whistled with the Mancos Valley Chorus. Alexander was a clerk for the Forest Service for 25 years, and Roach was a engineer.
Mary Ann Ott married Jack Ott in 1959 after her first husband was killed in an accident while working for the Forest Service.
"I was expecting my fifth child when he married me," she said. "We had a wonderful marriage."
The couple had two more children.
"He was so committed to the local lands," Mary Ann Ott said.
Jack Ott passed away in November 2014 at age 85.
"He was devoted to the community," Mary Ann Ott said.
After the Berry fire in 1989, which burned a part of the Grove, it was decided a fitting monument with individual name plaques, attached annually, would be an appropriate replacement to honor past employees. One young tree continues to be added each year to the Grove to commemorate all honorees of the year, and to maintain a living memorial to those who personally served the Rocky Mountain Region and their country.
Since 1995, a memorial ceremony has been conducted on the first Saturday in May to highlight and reflect on those employees who helped make the Rocky Mountain region a special place to live, work and raise families.
The Memorial Grove is maintained by the Rocy Mountaineers. Visit www.rockymountaineers.us, for more information.