Graveside services for former area resident Eddie "Buck" Magness will be held at the Summit Ridge cemetery Saturday, May 24, at 10 a.m.

Military rites will be conducted by the Ute Mountain American Legion Post 75.

Buck was born Aug. 28, 1941, in Clovis, N.M., to Morgan "Maggo" and Lois Magness, the youngest of five children.

He went home to his Lord on March 23, 2014, at his home with his wife, Mardi, at his side.

The family moved from New Mexico to Summit Ridge in 1947, and Buck attended school in Dolores, graduating in 1959. After one year at Fort Lewis College, he was drafted into the Army, serving our country in the Military Police for two years.

Upon returning to civilian life and working in the Flagstaff, Ariz., area, he met and married Carolyn DeSilva. To this union, sons Shawn and Keith were born.

Buck received a bachelor's degree in agronomy science at Cal Poly Tech school in San Luis Obispo, Calif.

After moving back to Colorado, this marriage ended, and he moved to Greeley, where he was working. Our mother joined him after she retired.

Buck was an old cowboy at heart all his life, beginning when his older brothers started taking him to the Saturday afternoon Western matinee. He rode horses with them and played cowboys and Indians with anyone he could corral.

He finally found his calling and became a farrier, an occupation of hard but enjoyable work.

When Buck wasn't working or doing his yardwork, he enjoyed reading and studying his Bible. Later in life, he started researching and found information there that he shared with all who loved him. He was a good, kind-hearted, loving man.

While in Albuquerque to watch horse races, he found a real western girl. They were married in her home in California, and he moved her to Greeley. They were married 25 years. They and Mother moved to the Los Lunas, N.M., area. Buck found more horses that needed new shoes, while Mardi worked in the Sandia Base commissary.

In a few years, he joined her working in the produce area - back to the roots of growing up on a farm.

When he retired, Buck went to see Oklahoma, and found a little town, Shattuck, in the rolling hills of western Oklahoma.

Mardi joined him when she retired about a year later.

Buck spent some time driving an escort truck for oversize loads on interstate and state roads. He was a quiet man and liked to be alone to think.

He is survived by his wife, Mardi; sons Shawn and Keith Magness of Seattle, Wash.; stepdaughters Buffy and Becky; a grandson; and three granddaughters of New Mexico; his sister Virginia Culver of Dolores; sister in-law Jean Magness of Cahone; and nephews and nieces.

Buck is preceded in death by his parents, brothers Jerry and Wayne Magness and sister Marcella Loyd.