Erma Moorland

Erma Floy Westcott Moorland
January 22, 1928 - March 30, 2016
Erma was born in Cedar, Colorado, to Augustus "Gus" Westcott and Katherine Burwell Westcott. Both sides of her family had homesteaded there in the Disappointment Valley in the shadow of the Lone Cone Mountain. She and her siblings, Gussie, Gennie and Jack, along with numerous Burwell cousins, rode to one room schools on horseback. With her father's failing health, the family moved to Grand Junction. When Erma was 12 years old her father died. With four children to support in hard times, her mother, Katherine, felt fortunate to find a job teaching the one room Coates Creek School on Glade Park, Colorado, and all her children found spouses in that community.
Erma married Ralph "Bill" Moorland on May 28, 1944, and became a Glade Park ranch wife. Her wedding gift from Bill was a wild horse named Sharkie that he had caught and trained himself. They cut logs together on Pinon Mesa and built a log house at the ranch on Glade Park. Summers were spent at cow camp on Pinon Mesa. Before the common range was fenced in, the Pinon Mesa cowboys all rode together. At noon they gathered at the Moorland cabin to eat home made bread, biscuits, pies, fried venison, and potatoes Erma cooked for them. She and her sister, Gennie, played the piano for country dances, while Bill played the fiddle. Erma was also an artist who painted with oils and watercolors. She was a member of the Glade Park Friendship Club. When children Ron, Debbie and Roxie came along they attended Coates Creek School through the sixth grade, and later stayed with "Grannie" Katherine in Grand Junction to attend junior high and high school. For a while Erma worked in the school lunch program at Tope School.
The ranch was sold in 1971, and the family moved to Fruita. Erma was a checker at City Market for many years. Her first grandchild, Maggie, called her "Bammy" because she could not say Grammy, and that became her forever grandma name. "Bammy" was devoted to her grandchildren and loved to take them to Pinon Mesa in her camper. As Justin remembers "she would warm up a wash rag and hold our heads and just wipe the black dirt off our faces so hard we'd be pink." She loved helping out with her first great-grandchild, Brandon, so Maggie could work and go to college.
As all the years of hard work took their toll, Erma faced numerous health issues but was always determined to get to family weddings and get-togethers and was able to delight in the birth of her two great-granddaughters, Finley and Rose. After further health complications, she went into HopeWest hospice care at FHW Fruita Courtyard Care Center, and passed away March 30th, 2016. As her granddaughter, Rosalyn, put it, "You will be free of age and pain and living in the beauty, peace and glory you have always deserved."
Erma is survived by her sister, Gussie Loveridge; son, Ronald H. Moorland (Sharon Anable); daughter, Debra Kae Moorland, and daughter, Roxanne McConnell; grandchildren, Margaret "Maggie" Moorland Loggains (Josh); Justin Moorland; Matthew Moorland (Laurie); Ryan McConnell (Melinda), and Rosalyn McConnell Blake (John), and great-grandchildren, Brandon Bishop; Finley Mae McConnell, and Rosemary Anita Moorland. She is preceded in death by her husband, Ralph "Bill" Moorland; sister, Gennie Kruckenberg; brother, John W. "Jack" Westcott, and daughter-in-law, Anita Lathan Moorland.
A memorial service will be held at 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, April 6, at Martin Mortuary. A lunch-time celebration of Erma's life will be held at Martin Mortuary immediately following the ceremony. For those who wish to bring food for the family, please bring it to the mortuary immediately before the ceremony so it can be shared with family and friends.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to HopeWest Hospice or Coates Creek School preservation fund, PO Box 716, Fruita, CO 81521.