William Ela

William "Bill" McHarg Ela
May 11, 1923 - September 1, 2016
"This is a good season", Bill said as he savored fresh peaches and tomatoes, beets, basil and corn shortly before September 1, 2016, when the deeply rooted and devoted son of Western Colorado came peacefully to the end of the trail at home at age 93.
William "Bill" McHarg Ela was the fourth of five sons of Wendell Dennett and Lucy Ferril Ela, part of the Ela family that started ranching on Glade Park in the 1880s. He grew up signaling by semaphore from the Three Sisters, tying a log behind his bike to slow the ride down Serpent's Trail, and skiing on the early rope tows at Mesa Lakes, Mesa Creek and the jump on Lands End.
These unique Grand Junction experiences, along with his mother's vast knowledge of birds and botany, gave him a life-long love of the outdoors which he, in turn, passed to his five children, Beth, Wendell, Tom, Dan and Steve.
Bill graduated from Grand Junction High School in 1941 and enrolled at Mesa Junior College. While there, he joined the Navy officer training corps and was sent on to Colorado University, University of New Mexico and ultimately Cornell before he finished his naval career during World War II as a navigator on a destroyer in the Pacific.
After his discharge, the newly-enacted GI Bill and the typing skills of his new bride, Shirley Phillips Ela, put him through Harvard Law School. They returned to their roots in Grand Junction and he took up practice at the law firm of Adams, Heckman & Traylor, ultimately becoming a partner. In addition to many uranium miners, he represented Mesa College, from which he later received its Distinguished Alumni Award and an honorary doctorate.
Destiny called in the form of Governor Love, who chose him to fill a vacancy as Judge of the District Court in the first appointment under the new, non-partisan, judicial appointment process. He served as Judge, and then Senior Judge, for 35 years. Along the way he was President of both the State District Judges Association and the Juvenile Judges Association, a teacher in the National College of Trial Judges, and President of the local Bar Association. He led and participated in student and adult Great Books groups - dedicated to learning critical thinking from the classics, was active in the Jaycees - receiving the Outstanding State President Award, served for decades as a trustee and Chairman of the Goodwin charitable foundation, and for 40 years was a member and Chairman of the Clifton Water Board.
At a judges conference in Reno he was one of the few to bravely accept an opportunity to spend an eyeopening night in the state prison. With no added security, he was mixed in with the general population to better understand the people he had to sit in judgement upon. He believed in trying to solve problems, and one of his proudest accomplishments was working with Senator Chet Enstrom, Representative Tillie Bishop, and Sheriff Dick Williams to establish the first work-release community corrections program in Colorado. But he still kept his boyish sense of humor, making his theatrical debut as a prisoner, costumed in stripes with ankle ball and chain, in the annual Lion's Club parade.
After Bill's retirement from the bench he moved to Rogers Mesa on the North Fork, partnered in Ela Family Farms, and spent most of the rest of his life as a mediator, successfully resolving many thorny cases.
Throughout his busy career, his love of the Colorado outdoors was paramount. He was a founder and original Co-Chair of the Riverfront Commission and was active with the Grand Mesa Nordic Council, racing on his cross-country skis well into his 80s. His unbridled exuberance for outdoor adventure led him to Ride the Rockies three times, to win his age category in his third Bolder Boulder race at age 89, to complete the Imogene Pass Run and to miraculously avoid certain doom on many a toboggan ride down "Suicide Hill" on Grand Mesa, egging on more sensible family members to follow. He prided himself in crawling hands and knees through the brush to help children and grandchildren catch their first fish on Coon Creek, somehow surviving a rolling rockslide into Pierre Lakes, and somersaulting down uneven slopes while trying to reach the perfect trout pool on Kannah Creek. He climbed a number of 14ers, rafted many of the wild rivers of the West, and loved his many backpack trips into the Elk Mountains, the Weminuche, and the Flat Tops.
With a day off at a Reno conference he decided to go backpacking even though he had no gear. Stuffing a hotel blanket and some snacks into his brief case, he headed off into the Yosemite backcountry, only to turn a corner and come face to face with a naked backpacker. We wondered often who might have been more surprised: Bill coming upon the naked man or him encountering Bill in the wilderness in a suit coat, dress shoes, and carrying only a brief case.
Probably inspired by cross country road trips in his youth with his Aunt Hazel, Bill had the travel bug and with Shirley was able to visit many parts of the U.S. as well as Costa Rica, Panama, Alaska, Australia, New Zealand, Turkey and the Galapagos Islands. In later years he loved nothing more than a trip to the mountains to sit by a creek in the woods and absorb nature. He became an avid star-gazer while honing his navigation skills in the Navy and took great pleasure in pointing out constellations. The ancient philosopher's epitaph is fitting - "for I have loved the stars too much to ever fear the night."
He was predeceased by three of his brothers, Deke, Tom and Wendell.
He is survived by his wife of nearly 70 years, Shirley; his brother, Skip; his children, Beth (Jeff) Wilkens, Wendell (Karen), Tom, Dan (Lynea) Schultz-Ela, and Steve; seven grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.
There will be no public memorial service, but the family would appreciate receiving letters with memories of Bill from friends and felons alike. Letters can be addressed to Ela Family Farms at 30753 L Rd., Hotchkiss, CO, 81419.
In lieu of flowers, please consider contributing to the Goodwin Foundation, P.O. Box 2106, Grand Junction, 81502 or another appropriate charity.