This year proved to be a rough one for many people as the COVID-19 pandemic upended nearly every facet of daily life. But 2020 also saw the passing of some of La Plata County’s most beloved community members, from country music star Charlie Daniels to the tragic death of professional cyclist Ben Sonntag.
Here is a look at some of those who passed away in 2020:
Country music star Charlie Daniels was a part-time resident of La Plata County, owning a home in La Plata Canyon. But it wasn’t unusual to spot Daniels while he was visiting, shopping downtown or playing the occasional gig in Durango.
Daniels had a storied career in country music, writing the hit “Devil Went Down to Georgia” and working with countless musicians. In 2016, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Daniels suffered a stroke July 6 and died at the age of 83 at a hospital in Tennessee.
Jim Harrington was the Bayfield town marshal from the mid-1990s to the end of 2009, and then went on to work as a federal investigator for the Southern Ute Indian Tribe Division of Gaming. Harrington was well-known and loved in the local law enforcement world, with friends and colleagues saying his death left a huge hole in the community.
Harrington was at a social gathering near Bayfield on June 6 where he was going to officiate a vow renewal ceremony when a branch fell off a tree and hit him. He died at the age of 72.
Just 20 days before her 100th birthday, Anne Isgar died on Feb. 20.
Durango’s own “Rosie the Riveter,” having helped build military planes during World War II, Isgar was a longtime community influencer. She was involved with a number of organizations, such as the Durango Chamber of Commerce and the Breen 4-H Club. In the 1940s, she and her husband, Arthur, even helped save the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad after the couple got married on the train, gaining statewide attention.
Known to many in Durango as Kay, Linda Kay James, the matriarch of James Ranch, which pioneered sustainable agricultural practices in Southwest Colorado, died July 15 at the age of 80.
James arrived in Southwest Colorado in 1961 with her husband, David, and decided to move to the Animas Valley to start a ranch and raise children.
All these years later, James Ranch remains a thriving operation, with many of the James’ children moving back to start their own endeavors on the land.
Cy C. Scarborough was a lot of things – businessman, comedian and entertainer who performed for millions of guests at iconic Bar D Chuckwagon, an institution he helped found in 1969. Friends and family remembered Scarborough as a Durango icon with a big heart, big smile and enduring sense of humor.
Scarborough died May 18 at the age of 93.
The cycling community was left in shock after professional cyclist Ben Sonntag was struck and killed by a vehicle while he was biking on a county road near Marvel on March 4.
Sonntag, 39, was a 2010 graduate of Fort Lewis College who went on to become a prominent figure in the cycling community. In 2010, he won the La Ruta de los Conquistadores in Costa Rica.
The man driving the vehicle, Cordell Schneider, who was 19 at the time, is set to go to trial March 22.
As of Tuesday, 29 La Plata County residents were listed as having had COVID-19 at the time of their deaths, though it is unclear whether those people died as a direct result of the virus.
San Juan Basin Public Health reports only whether people had COVID-19 at the time of their death, leaving it to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to determine whether the death was a direct result of the virus. The CDC is reporting 14 deaths because of COVID-19, but a SJBPH spokeswoman said there’s no way to tell if the CDC has reviewed all 29 deaths in the county.
SJBPH reports that 21 of those deaths were residents at Four Corners Health Care Center, where an outbreak has ravaged the nursing home since late November.
jromeo@durangoherald.com
