Rallin Gibson

Born December 19, 1931, in Collbran, Colorado, Rallin “Bud” Gibson, along with his two brothers, Hugh and Robert, were children of the Great Depression, hard-working and devoted to family. Nestled in the quiet mountains, Bud attended Collbran Union High School and graduated with the class of 1950. After high school, Bud served three years in the U.S. Navy, aboard the USS Hoquiam and USS Hamul, during the Korean conflict.

Following his Naval service, Bud married Doris Reigles in 1956 in Belen, New Mexico. He later returned to Collbran, with Doris, where they would raise three children, Dea, Donna, and Rob, and Bud would be a vital member of the Collbran community. From owning the town’s Mobil station and the Rainbow Motel and Trailer Court to serving on Plateau Valley School Board, Bud was also a member of both the Collbran Lions Club and the American Legion. He served as Collbran Postmaster from 1966 until his retirement in 1992.

Bud and Doris later divorced and in 1978, Bud remarried, bridging his family with Marguerite “Maggie” Long and her three children. In retirement, Bud and Maggie spent two nomadic decades traveling from Arizona to Alaska by way of Texas and home to Colorado to celebrate holidays and major milestones in the lives of friends and family. Together with and apart from time spent with Maggie, Bud enjoyed being outdoors, with fishing, hunting, snowmobiling, and gardening topping the list.

When it was time to settle down, Bud and Maggie bought a home in the same Grand Junction, Colorado, neighborhood where his brother had lived for several decades and spent their remaining time hosting family holidays, attending Plateau Valley sports games and Broncos parties with friends, and getting to know grand and great-grandchildren.

Bud passed away November 30, 2021, peacefully at home, his best Shih-Tzu buddy Paddy by his side. He is preceded in death by his parents, Veryl and Helen Gibson, his brother H. Hugh, wife Maggie, and stepdaughter, Debbie Bubela, and is survived by brother Robert, children Dea (Hap) Fairchild, Donna Jensen, and Rob (Stephanie) Gibson, stepchildren David (Chris) Long and D’Ann (Aaron) Monger, along with fourteen grandchildren, twenty-one great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren.

A celebration of life will be held Saturday, December 11, 2021, at 1:00pm, in the dining at the Collbran Congregational Church. In lieu of flowers, the family is asking donations be made to the Collbran American Legion Post 86, c/o Chuck Schowalter, 58838 ME Rd, Collbran, Colorado, 81624, or to the BrightFocus Foundation for Macular Degeneration Research, 22512 Gateway Center Drive, Clarksburg, MD, 20871.