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Family to hold service for son

Volunteers still searching for Cody Pierce in Upper Animas
Pierce

Almost two weeks after their son drowned in the Upper Animas River, Cody Shane Pierce’s family is planning to say goodbye.

Friends held a vigil Monday, and his family will hold a memorial service July 17.

Pierce, 19, was born Aug. 16, 1995. A 2013 graduate of Cibola High School in Albuquerque, he was a soccer keeper for both the high school and his soccer club and ran the 400-meter in track.

He had an interest in forensics, his mother, Laura Pierce, said, and was studying criminology at the University of New Mexico. At UNM, Pierce was on the racquetball team and, during the school year, worked at the Campus Police Department. He had recently received certification in hot-shot wildfire fighting and CPR, as well as earning his personal harness to become a sky ranger at the Tall Timber Resort zipline attraction.

“We are deeply saddened by the loss of our beautiful young man,” his mother said.

Pierce, who was working at Tall Timber for the summer, died after jumping into the Upper Animas, where officials said he was quickly in trouble in the high, fast and extremely cold water. Raft, kayak and K-9 teams from La Plata County Search & Rescue, as well as helicopters from the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad and Flight for Life, have been involved in the search for Pierce’s body.

The family has set up a memorial fund at BBVA Compass Bank in Albuquerque to help feed the volunteers.

“We appreciate all their efforts, and wish them a safe journey in the search and recovery of Cody Shane Pierce,” Laura Pierce said.

Butch Knowlton, director of the La Plata County Office of Emergency Management, who has been organizing the search, said it will continue.

“We’re at the mercy of nature,” he said. “We’re starting to see the heavy snowmelt end, which is giving us a little more clarity to see into the deeper holes. But it’s still too high to do watercraft searches in certain areas of the (Rockwood) Gorge.”

Occasional heavy rain in the high country will bring the water up and increase the siltiness for periods, he said, but conditions should continue to improve. La Plata County Search & Rescue is planning another round of searching this weekend.

“We’re planning the search now, so we can maximize our efforts when we get into those areas,” Knowlton said Tuesday afternoon.

The search has been emotionally – as well as physically – taxing for search-and-rescue volunteers, he said.

“Usually when we’re called out, it’s for someone who’s lost, or has a broken leg or is injured in some way,” he said. “We’re very results-oriented, and typically when we go out, we’re successful. We live for that. We want to bring Cody back to his family, and it’s frustrating we haven’t been able to do it.”

abutler@durangoherald.com

Memorial service

A memorial service for Cody Shane Pierce will be held at 4 p.m. July 17 at Faith Lutheran Church, 10000 Spain Road N.E. in Albuquerque. A reception will be held afterward.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Cody Shane Pierce Memorial Fund at BBVA Compass Bank. Locations are available at www.bbvacompass.com.

Funds will be used to feed volunteers from La Plata County Search & Rescue who are searching for Pierce’s body.

Pierce is survived by his mother and father, Laura Jean and John Pierce, of Albuquerque; a brother and sister; and numerous extended family members.

Jul 24, 2015
Body found in Animas identified


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