Richard Wilson Scar (2024)

LORIMOR, SCAR

Posted By: Pat Hochstetler
Date: 10/15/2024 at 17:42:48

Lewis & Glenn Funeral Home
Salida, Colorado

October 21, 1942 ~ September 17, 2024

We are heartbroken to announce that Richard Scar – beloved husband, father, grandfather, and community member – passed away on Sept. 17, 2024.

Dick was born on October 21, 1942, in Dexter, Iowa. He grew up a farm boy with his three brothers, Dave, Dennis and Bob. He went to a one-room schoolhouse grades one – three and graduated from Earlham High School in 1960.

He attended Iowa State University and earned an aeronautical engineering degree before marrying his childhood sweetheart, Janice Lorimor, on January 23, 1965, a union that would last 59 years and then some. His first job as an engineer was at Pratt and Whitney in Hartford, Connecticut, where he worked on the fuel cells for NASA’s Apollo command modules, among other things. A few years later he accepted a job at the United Airlines Maintenance Base in San Francisco.

Dick and Jan’s two children, Ken and Kathy, were born in San Francisco in 1969 and 1971. A rafting trip through the Grand Canyon in 1970 completely changed their lives, and the young couple decided they could not raise their kids in a city.

They answered a newspaper ad asking for someone to partner in an outdoor business in a small Rocky Mountain mining town, packed the whole family into their light blue Volkswagen Beetle and moved to Buena Vista, sight unseen, in February 1972.

That business became The Trailhead, which they owned and operated for more than 30 years. It’s safe to say Buena Vista would not be the outdoors-oriented mecca it is today without it. They were the first to raft the Arkansas through Browns Canyon commercially in the early 70’s, the first in the valley to promote and sell mountain biking in the early 80’s, and the first to sell the gear and promote rock climbing in the area, among many other things.

As a conservative Republican and staunch environmentalist, Dick was flown to Washington D.C. to lobby Congress for the creation of the Collegiate Peaks and Buffalo Peaks Wilderness Areas. Two of his proudest moments were when each of those bills passed in 1980 and 1993, respectively. Dick was also very active in the local community, serving on the town council, the Chaffee County Planning Commission, Friends of Browns Canyon, as a long-time member of the Optimist Club, and on the Chaffee County Search and Rescue Team for more than 30 years.

Dick loved to listen to good music and watch good comedy. His goofy laugh would ring through the house many nights as he watched his favorite TV shows. Of course, the wilderness is what he loved most: Naps in alpine meadows, moonlight ski tours, drinks from cool mountain streams, lying on top of his sleeping bag on warm nights looking at the constellations and sitting on the Red Wall of the Grand Canyon watching the ravens play in the updrafts.

“Look at them,” he’d say. “They’re just playing and having the time of their lives. I want to come back as one of them in my next life.”

While we will miss him dearly, we take heart knowing one more raven is playing in the wind along the Red Wall today, flying free and having a blast.

A celebration of life will be announced at a later date.

Memorials may be sent to the Chaffee County Search and Rescue North chaffeecountysarnorth.org or the Greater Arkansas River Nature Association (GARNA) garna.org.

Madison Obituaries maintained by Linda Griffith Smith.
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