Feb. 16, 1938 ~ April 25, 2023
Cheryl Ann Chytry was born Feb. 16, 1938, to Eugene Henry and Dorothy Jean Oldland Chytry in St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Junction, Colorado. Dr. E.O. Munroe, who was a friend of the family, delivered Cheryl. Jean was working at St. Mary’s Hospital at the time as a lab technician and Eugene worked for C.D. Smith, a medical supply firm in Grand Junction, Colorado. Eugene and Jean met at the Minnesota Institute of Technology as Gene was studying pharmacy and Jean lab technology. Eugene was from Detroit, Michigan, where his mother Helen Cwik was a doctor and his sister, Blanche Smith, an interior decorator.
After Cheryl was born the Chytry family operated a drug store which was owned by Dr. Ziegel in Collbran, Colorado. The drugstore building had two apartments, one of which the Ziegels occupied and the other the Chytrys. The building remains in Collbran on the East side of the main street just before crossing Plateau Creek.
The drugstore was not a successful business and Eugene wanted to move to Detroit. Eugene and Dorothy Jean were divorced when Cheryl was two. Jean and Cheryl moved to the Oldland Brother’s VT ranch on Piceance Creek. They lived with Jean’s parents, Eva and Gerald Oldland. Walter (Gerald’s brother) and Josephine Oldland also lived on the ranch which had been homesteaded by their father, Rube Oldland Sr., and where Dorothy Jean and her brother, Reuben had been raised.
Dorothy Jean obtained a job as a teacher at the one-room Stewart School which was two miles down the road from the ranch. Cheryl’s grandparents, Eva and Gerald, known as MaMa Vee and Daddy Bruce to Cheryl, became second parents to her.The Oldland Brothers ranch had hired a good-looking cowboy by the name of Jim Findlay to be the cattle foreman. Jean and Jim started dating and were married in Rifle. Jim was a gentle, kind man and Cheryl became his sidekick. Jim, Jean and Cheryl would move to the summer cow camp to oversee the cattle. Many miles were covered on horseback and Jim taught Cheryl the names of plants, animals and all things created by Mother Nature as he had been a cowboy working in remote areas of the Western Slope of Colorado all of his life. Jim had two sisters and three brothers so Cheryl inherited many cousins in the Meeker area, but going to Meeker was a 35-mile trip so did not see them often. One of Jim’s sisters, Mary Eliason, and her husband had 15 children. Jim, Jean and Cheryl lived with MaMa Vee and Daddy Bruce in the winter as the available houses on the ranch were occupied by families hired by the ranch. Cheryl started school at the Stewart school with Jean as her teacher. There were only about 6-9 students in the school and one other boy in Cheryl’s grade. They were a close-knit bunch of kids and Cheryl enjoyed the chance to actually get to play with other children but was terribly bashful. Jean and Cheryl rode their horses to school most of the time as the road was not good and gas expensive during World War II.
Both Cheryl’s grandmother and mother had attended Cottey College, a PEO-sponsored girls school, in Nevada, Missouri, so were able to teach Cheryl some of the finer things in life. MaMa Vee majored in music at Cottey College and was a talented musician. She sang and played the piano. I have a DVD of her singing and playing the piano which is a treasure.
The Oldland Brothers ranch, also known as the VT ranch, was always short of hay so a hay ranch six miles west of Meeker on the White River was purchased and Jim was asked to manage the ranch. The hay was put up in the summer, the yearling cattle were driven from Piceance in the fall to be fed, then driven back to Piceance in the spring. This was prior to being able to truck them. This drive took two days. We all missed going to the cow camp very much, but this arrangement was more economically feasible for the family plus Cheryl was about to enter Junior High School. There was no school bus at that time from Piceance Creek so Cheryl would have had to board with someone or an apartment would have to be rented by Jean or MaMa Vee during the school year. Another factor that entered into the decision to move to Meeker was that Jean’s brother, Reuben, had just come back to the ranch from serving in World War II so he assumed the cattle supervisor’s job for the ranch.
Cheryl attended school at the Powell Park country school west of Meeker until high school when she started attending Rio Blanco County High School in Meeker. Cheryl was an active member of the RBCHS Pep Club, band and chorus. Upon graduation in 1955 she obtained a scholarship to attend Colorado State University (CSU) in Fort Collins, Colorado. She began her freshman year at CSU majoring in occupational therapy. One of the girls’ dorms was Green Hall where Cheryl met many new friends. Two of her best friends from Denver owned and showed horses so encouraged Cheryl to pursue showing horses. Cheryl showed horses in Little National Western Stockshow held on campus and became a member of the all-girls mounted quadrille team who performed at National Western Stockshow in Denver, CSU’s Livestock and Rodeo Club. Cheryl competed in goat tying and traveled to many other college rodeos and placed third in the Western Region her senior year. Cheryl joined Delta Zeta Sorority as a freshman. The sorority provided opportunities to serve on CSU’s Legislator, Home Ec Council and leadership conferences. While attending CSU, Cheryl met her future husband, Larry C. Whiteman. They only dated one time during college, but were both active in many of the same organizations plus Larry managed the college rodeo, and Little National Western Stockshow.
The occupational therapy (OT) program required nine months of internship prior to taking the National Board Test to become an Occupational Therapist, Registered (OTR). Cheryl and another OT student completed their first 3-month internship between their junior and senior years in Boise, Idaho. Cheryl graduated from CSU in 1959 with a Bachelor of Science degree in occupational therapy and biological science. In the fall of 1959 and spring of 1960, Cheryl completed her remaining internships at American Medical Center, National Jewish Hospital (both in Denver) and Emory John Brady Hospital in Colorado Springs. Cheryl passed the National Board Test for OT in the spring of 1960 and became an OTR.
Larry Whiteman and Cheryl started dating seriously while Cheryl was interning. Larry had graduated one year prior to Cheryl, had completed his Army ROTC commitment and had joined his parents on the Whiteman Hereford Ranch between Hayden and Craig, Colorado. Larry and Cheryl were married Sept. 4, 1960, in St. James Episcopal Church in Meeker. Larry and Cheryl lived on the Whiteman Hereford ranch located between Craig and Hayden along the Yampa River. Larry taught Cheryl how to groom and show registered Hereford cattle. They showed their cattle during Routt County Fair, stockshow in Denver and State Fair in Pueblo.
The Whiteman ranch was sold in 1981. Larry, Cheryl and family moved to County Road 11 north of Craig and then purchased 300 acres located on Freeman Reservoir Road further north of Craig and built a new passive solar home where they had hay meadows and pastures and raised cattle, sheep and horses plus a llama given to Brenda by a neighbor. Llamas help guard livestock. Larry started Professional Agri Service in 1988 doing farm and ranch appraisals plus was a real estate broker. Cheryl drove the seven miles to Craig and worked for the Moffat County Extension Service plus managed a plant nursery which included a large greenhouse and outside plantings. Instead of wages she selected trees, bushes and flowers to landscape the new home.
Larry and Cheryl were blessed with two adopted children, Shawn and Brenda. Upon graduation from high school, Shawn located in Phoenix, Arizona. He married Maggie Jorquez and they had a son, Sean Clayton. They later divorced and Shawn married Piper and they have made their home near Wickenburg, Arizona. Brenda graduated from CSU in Fort Collins, Colorado, married Todd Bergstom and they have made their home in Golden, Colorado. They have two children, Erika and Jake.
Larry and Cheryl sold their property north of Craig and moved to Grand Junction, Colorado, in 1990. Larry continued his Pro Ag business. The office was in Craig so Larry rented an apartment in Craig and commuted from Fruita to Craig. Larry continued doing farm and ranch appraisals and ranch brokering until his death from cancer in 2006. Cheryl worked part-time as an occupational therapist plus part-time as ag research assistant for CSU’s Western Slope Ag Research Farm located in Fruita, Colorado.
Larry and Cheryl sold their original two acres in Grand Junction in 2006 and moved to Village at Country Creek located in Fruita. VCC is a 55-plus community where they owned their own patio homes. The HOA dues pay for lawn watering, mowing, snow removal plus some outside maintenance of homes so it was a lock-and-leave type home. Larry passed away shortly after moving to this location. VCC included a clubhouse where residents gathered once a week for coffee plus many nice social events such as potluck dinners, birthday parties etc.
In 2022 Cheryl was working four mornings a week at CSU Fruita Research Center (WCRC) which was only a mile from home so very convenient. She was in charge of the landscaping around the office which included mowing a large lawn, planting and maintaining several flower beds plus helping the crew out in the test plots as needed. She worked in both indoor and outdoor labs, analyzing and recording data from crops grown in test plots. In May 2022, after working for CSU for 35 years, she retired from working at WCRC. When possible, she traveled to Piceance Creek where her cousins, Jerry and Stephanie Oldland and Chris and Tim Uphoff, live on the family ranch. Jerry and Steph live on the original Gerald Oldland ranch and Tim and Chris live on the original Walter Oldland ranch. Gerald and Walter were brothers, and that’s why the ranch is referred to as the Oldland Brothers Ranch. Both of the horses Larry and Cheryl had were there and had a wonderful home, plus Cheryl could ride them to help with cattle.
Cheryl enjoyed several international and local trips offered by the Museum of Western Colorado in Grand Junction. They do all of the arrangements and she made some interesting new friends who all live in Western Colorado, which was nice compared to trips planned by a travel agency. She either drove or flew to Arizona and Golden to see her children and grandchildren. Erika has graduated from CSU and is working as a physician’s assistant for doctors around Knoxville Tennessee; Jake has graduated from high school and is working for his dad; Sean Clayton has graduated from Chapman University in California, and is now writing scripts for movies plus does some location settings for movies and commercials.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in honor of Cheryl to the CSU Fruita Research Center.
A Celebration of Life has been postponed to a later date.
