Del Norte- John L. Graeser was born June 11, 1921 in Flushing, NY to John Funk and Lena Frank. John passed away July 28, 2015 at the Rio Grande Hospital which he dearly loved. His father was a prison guard at Sing Sing Prison and was killed during a riot. His mother immigrated to the USA from Germany through Ellis Island. John came to the San Luis Valley when he was one year old, his mother marrying Charlie Graeser in 1922 and lived in the Rock Creek area until he was 19 and went out on his own.
He married Mary Lou Johnson June 21, 1946; in the fall of 1947 they moved to Arizona where John picked oranges and drove a tractor cultivating cotton. In 1948 they returned to Colorado. Mary preceded him in death in 1992. John worked as a logger and hauled logs for the construction of the community building in 1953 and hauled the first load of lumber to the Beaver Creek Youth Camp in 1948. John drove a logging truck for a year before starting his own logging business, bringing the first one-man chain saw into these woods. John worked in the woods for 23 years, using horses and then tractors and dozers to bring out the logs. John started his backhoe and excavation business in 1970 when his knees bothered him too much and he needed a job “where he could sit down”. John operated this business until his passing.
John will be remembered as a faithful friend of all and a generous benefactor for many causes around the SLV, donating land for “in kind” contributions of over $645,000 for the Rio Grande Hospital. John was a Charter Member of the South Fork Kiwanis Club and served as its President. He also helped organize the South Fork Sanitation District and served on its board, was President of the board of the South Fork Chamber of Commerce, Was an EMT for the South Fork Ambulance Service, served on the Rio Grande Hospital & Clinic board and was a volunteer fireman for the South Fork Fire Department for 22 years. John and his friend Boyd Brown were the first firemen to arrive for the “big fire of 1967” which destroyed the lumber mill, 22 Mbf of stacked 2X4’s, 15 Mbf of logs, equipment and buildings. Shortly after the fire John opened up a trailer park and the mill workers that were at the mill moved into his trailer park. John continued operating the trailer park until 2008.
John’s Celebration of Life will be held Tuesday, August 4th at 10:00 A.M. at The Chapel of South Fork in South Fork Colorado with interment to follow at the Del Norte Cemetery. Any donations in his honor may be made to the Rio Grande hospital.

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