George Chesney

George Lewis Chesney was born to Frank and Amanda (Bell) Chesney on September 5th, 1928 in Alamosa, CO. He passed away on July 9th, 2022 in Fruita, CO - he was 93 years old.

George was preceded in death by his parents, by his wife, Jeanne Madaline (Dobbins) Chesney in 2001 and by his son Terry Lee Chesney in 2022.  He was also preceded in death by 7 of his siblings William Chesney, Floyd Chesney, Rosa (Chesney) Rose, Ada (Chesney) Lamb, Mitchell Chesney, Carl Chesney and Dorothy (Chesney) Bittle.

George is survived by his sons George Raymond “Ray” Chesney (71) of Fruita, CO  and Frank Kevin Chesney (67) of Cedaredge, CO.  He is also survived by his sister Joann (Chesney) Long (Ron) of Nucla, CO, his Grandchildren Michael Shane Chesney of Fruita, CO, George Kevin Ray Chesney of Grand Junction, CO, Candace Lee (Chesney) Demerly (Craig) of Loma, CO, Brian Thomas Chesney (Kaila) of Grand Junction, CO and Christopher Allan Chesney of Grand Junction, CO.  He also leaves behind 9 Great Grandchildren: Nevaeh, Kyle, Jagger, Lucas, Joshua, Caleb, Isaac, Scott & Kent along with a plethora of extended family.

George was the 6th of 9 children born to Frank and Amanda and he was the first one to be born in Colorado. George was given the middle name of Lewis due to being born in the San Luis Valley.  While George did not officially graduate from high school he did obtain his GED. George was too busy working as a farm hand on the family farm until World War II to attend school.  Due to WWII the family moved to Oregon where George worked as a welder in a shipyard until 1948 when he returned to Colorado, living on the Western Slope.

While we don’t  know exactly when George first saw Jeanne Dobbins, we know they met in Fruita when Joe Garcia introduced them to one another sometime in 1948 or 49.  It wasn’t long after they met they eloped to Nogales, Arizona to marry on February 8th, 1950.  George didn’t have enough money to drive himself and Jeanne to Nogales, so he talked Joe and Jewel Dalley into driving them. The day of their wedding their honeymoon started off with George putting Jeanne on a bus to Ballinger Texas while he spent the next 3-4 days hitchhiking.  You see, George only had enough money to buy 1 bus ticket and off Jeanne went to spend the first night as a married woman by herself, on a bus. Once George finally arrived in Ballinger Texas he worked alongside his brother Mitchell on a seismograph drilling rig.  George and Jeanne were married for one day shy of 51 years when Jeanne passed away.  During those 51 years George and Jeanne raised three sons, Ray, Terry and Kevin.  The family moved frequently, (1-2x per year) living in 8 different states due to George’s employment working on the rigs. George owned and operated his own drilling company, “Chesney Drilling” for 10 years before retiring to Fruita, CO in 1990.  Throughout his life, George held tightly to his “Golden Dreams” and was able to spend time mining and panning for Gold.  George spent his retirement years watching his family grow through grandchildren and great grandchildren, spending the last 10 years of his life living with and being cared for by his son Ray.

Please visit Brown’s Cremation & Funeral Service website to leave a written note, tribute or memory about George Lewis Chesney at: https://www.brownscremationservice.com/

Once on the website click on “Search All Obituaries” and type in “Chesney”. Click on the “View” button to view George Chesney’s page.

A Celebration of Life will be held at the Fruita Recreation Center in the “Cherry Room” located at 324 N. Coulson Ave, in Fruita, CO. on Saturday, August 13th between at 3pm - 530pm.