Merle Dene Moyer passed away in Meeker, Colorado at the Walbridge Wing on Feb. 14, 2020, at 90 years of age.
She was born in Meeker, Colorado on Dec. 10, 1929. She lived up the White River in her childhood. In 1939 her mother Blanche Hilkey married John T. Crook in Meeker, and from that marriage she was blessed with five brothers and one sister.
She started first grade at the Marvine Creek School, and many times she told of being chased by a pet elk on her walk or ski to school. Later she attended the Buford School. She graduated from Meeker High School in 1948.
After graduating from high school, she worked in the Rio Blanco County Superintendent of School office in Meeker.
She met Richard L. (Dick) Moyer at a dance, and after a courtship, they were married in Meeker, Colorado on St. Patrick’s Day in 1951. They left Meeker within a few months and lived in seventeen different places in five different states as she followed Dick’s career as a sawyer, pulp wooder and logger.
In the spring of 1960 she and Dick moved back to their roots in Meeker, Colorado to raise their family, with the oldest of four children ready to enter first grade. They started up their own business with a sawmill in the woods on the Grand Hogback near Rio Blanco, Colorado, and they sold rough lumber in retail customers in Northwestern Colorado. Merle Dene was an important part of the business selling lumber and running the checkbook. They operated the logging, sawmilling and retail sales of mostly rough lumber, timbers and house logs west of Meeker for nearly 30 years.
Merle Dene cherished being needed and was at the heart of every family gathering. Whether she was at home or helping with the family business, she always worked hard. A true milestone in her life was moving into the new log house on the sawmill property west of Meeker where she lived for nearly 50 years.
She is remembered as a wonderful homemaker and great scratch cook. Whether it was cooking lunch for the sawmill crew or pulling something together for family or friends at the last minute she turned out delicious meals. Any time she was involved with a family event, there was no worry about finding something fine to eat. Her canning recipes will live on for generations. Merle Dene enjoyed spending time with her family and friends, especially with a game of Pinochle, Sorry or Yahtzee. In the summer, she could be found spending time at their cabin on Dry Creek, often gathering wildflowers to press and share.
She was preceded in death by her husband of 64 years Dick Moyer and her mother and step-father Blanche and John Crook along with one brother Chuck Crook.
She is survived by her four children. Larry (Diane) Moyer, Don (Sue) Moyer, Beverly (Jim) Brennan, and Gary (Betty Lou) Moyer. She is also survived by her brothers Walt Crook, Bob Crook, Bill Crook, Les Crook and by her sister Betty Garver, along with numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews.
Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m., Thursday, Feb. 20, 2020, at the United Methodist Church in Meeker. Interment will follow at Highland Cemetery.
