Lake City residents were saddened early this week following announcement of the deaths of two well-known local residents, one of whom, 67-year-old Debra Ramundo, was a multi-year cancer survivor who was transferred from her Gunnison Avenue residence to Gunnison Valley Hospital, Gunnison, where she died at 3:08 p.m. Saturday, December 7.
Also, a shock to Lake City friends and community at large was the unexpected death of Hinsdale County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Mark Zeckser, 66, who was found dead at his South Bluff Street residence early Sunday afternoon, December 8.
Zeckser, who owned Lake City Brewery, spent the Thanksgiving holiday with family in Oklahoma City and on his return last week told friends he felt unwell.
He had not been seen since Wednesday, December 4, and last Sunday, December 8, Hinsdale County Sheriff Ron Bruce, Undersheriff Denham Starnes, and Deputy Sarah Poet conducted a welfare check at which time he was discovered deceased in his home.
The three officers met outside Zeckser’s Bluff Street home at 12:30 p.m. Sunday, and, following no response, proceeded to enter the residence after Undersheriff Starnes used a sledge hammer to break through an interior deadbolt on the front door.
The body, apparently lifeless for some time, was discovered after entering the home.
Zeckser was certified deceased by Hinsdale County Coroner Lori Lawrence, accompanied by her deputies, Mandy Caldon and Rick Hernandez, at 1:17 p.m. Sunday.
On Monday his body was transferred to Grand Junction where Forensic Pathologist Dr. Havlik conducted an autopsy Monday afternoon at Community Hospital; results now await toxicology and microscopic analysis.
Debra Ramundo was one of a large family — three brothers and one of four daughters — who were natives of Albany, New York. One of Debra’s sisters was Lake City resident Linny Ramundo, now deceased, and during a Lake City residence stretching back nearly a decade, Deb occasionally performed with Linny and other Lake City cloggers on the Lake City dance stage.
She was a heroic, multi-year cancer survivor who was tenderly cared for by her partner, Denis Cox.
Further obituary details will be published at a later date.
Another well-known Lake Citian who has died in recent days is Mark Beatty Zeckser who transitioned from a seasonal, part-time deputy with Hinsdale County Sheriff’s Office — including enjoyable work as the department’s Back Country Ranger navigating the Silver Thread Scenic Byway and other back country routes — starting in 2021. He gradually increased his work hours with the local sheriff’s dept., spending nine months as deputy in 2023 and transitioning to full-time in 2024.
He graduated from law enforcement classes at Delta-Montrose VocTech Academy in 2019 and, at age 62, had the distinction of being the academy’s eldest enrollee in over three decades.
Prior to Lake City, Zeckser attained the rank of Major after working 33 years as a professional fire fighter with a metro Oklahoma City fire fighting division based out of Midwest City, Oklahoma.
Zeckser, who remained a Hinsdale County Sheriff’s Office Deputy with limited duties at the time of his death, had considerable property interests within Lake City, in September this year acquiring Lake City Brewing Co. on portions of the southeast corner lots at 2nd and Bluff Streets from the Hill family.
By federal law, operation of the brewery business conflicted with his work as sheriff’s deputy, and he had plans to resign as sheriff’s deputy, although, as stated, he was still employed as deputy at the time of his unexpected death.
In a conversation with SILVER WORLD in October, Zeckser reiterated his love for law enforcement work, stating “I don’t want to leave at all.”
Zeckser owned two residences in Lake City, one at 508 Gunnison Avenue which he acquired from Tim and Ann Mallory in December 2019, and the other the frame home immediately adjoining the Brewery to the south on Bluff Street which he also bought from the Hill Family, doing business as Elephant Corral Properties, effective October 9 this year.
He had just finished moving from the Gunnison Avenue home to the new Bluff Street house which he was in process of remodeling. He had arranged to rent the Gunnison Avenue home to Mike and Tracy (Nichols) Coffin whose across-the-street house is in process of major renovation by Ken Bodine and workforce.
At Lake City Brewing Co., Zeckser had plans for significant changes, not the least of which was display of portions of his extensive collection of historic automobile-related paraphernalia, including vintage gas pumps, as well as doubling seating capacity by enclosing the side outdoor deck patio area. His eventual goal, he told newspaper, was to transform the brewery into an events center hosting weddings, receptions, and other community events.
In addition to his law enforcement and plans for the brewery, Zeckser assisted Jesse Kendall as a guide on Hinsdale Museum’s summer walking ghost tours, and he was a summer regular at Lake City Old West Shooters where he provided gun safety training for children.
Further obituary details on Mark Zeckser will be printed later.
Carol Colopy
… past Lake City resort and ranch manager, 80, worked side-by-side with husband, Charlie Colopy. Old-time Lake City residents will be grieved with news of the death of former longtime resident Carol Delashmutt Colopy who has died at her rural Montrose, Colorado, home — age 80 — after several years’ ill health.
She and her husband, multi-generation Lake City native Charles N. Colopy, will be recalled as managers at a succession of Lake City properties starting with G & M Cabins in downtown Lake City in the 1970s and continuing through 2012 at first Valley View Ranch and later for over 20 years at Lake Fork Hunting & Fishing Club.
Near blind and in weakened physical condition after a succession of illnesses extending over a decade, and tenderly cared for by her husband, Carol died at 5:30 a.m. Tuesday, December 10, 2024, at the couple’s home, 901 6530 Road in Montrose.
No funeral services are planned and her ashes will be scattered at a later date at a favorite location in Hinsdale County.
The daughter of Robert H. and Vera Delashmutt, Carol S. Delashmutt was born February 18, 1944, near Burlington, Des Moines County, Iowa, where her father was self-employed in the finance business. In addition to Carol, others in the family are a younger sister, the artist Julie Reel, a former Lake City resident, and her husband, Lonnie, who now live in Iowa, and a brother, Jerry Delashmutt, and his wife, Vicky, who reside in Lubbock Texas.
Carol also has a half-brother, a minister in Indiana, and was predeceased by a sister, Lorie, and brother, Orves.
Carol had a daughter, Terri, with her first husband, Bob Cayton. Terri was subsequently adopted by Carol’s second husband, Lake City native Charles Colopy.
Prior to her second marriage, Carol was working in Denver and chanced to meet Charlie when she and a girlfriend drove to Idaho Springs. A fifth generation Lake Citian through the pioneer Hunt family, Charlie was working at the time as a heavy equipment operator on Interstate 70.
Their first date was dinner at Blackhawk, Colorado, and 10 days later they concluded to marry. They were married at the Episcopal Church in Gunnison on June 28, 1964, with the groom’s parents, Lawrence and Ruby (McCloughan) Colopy, as witnesses.
Following marriage, Carol worked as a waitress in Frisco, Colorado, when Charlie was employed at the Climax Molybdenum Mine.
They returned to Lake City for a majority of their married life, the couple leasing G & M Cabins on Gunnison Avenue during the time Charlie served as Hinsdale County Sheriff 1972-1976.
In later years the couple served as managers for five years renting cabins, working as guides and outfitters, and raising cattle at Valley View Ranch, and for 27 years, up until retirement and moving to Montrose, at Lake Fork Hunting & Fishing Club where hard-working Carol cleaned, maintained the grounds, and was in charge of bookkeeping.
In between Valley View Ranch, which was later managed by Charlie’s sister and her husband, Billie Jean and Dan Colopy, and Lake Fork Ranch, Charlie and Carol lived at Olathe, Colorado, for three years while managing a ranch owned by John Parker.
Throughout their married lives, Charlie and Carol worked side by side, Charlie recalling that in instances where he was on horseback and roped a calf, Carol would immediately jump in, wrestling the calf to the ground. “We worked together our whole lives,” he says.
Survived by her husband of 60 years and her siblings, Carol was predeceased by her daughter, Terri Colopy Wait, who died in 2021.
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