Edval F. Dahl (Ed) was born in Sopris, Colo., Jan. 21, 1917. He died July 9, 2010. Ed was preceded in death by his father, John Albert Dahl, his mother, Addie Koelling and his daughter, Treva Mary Adlof.

He is survived by his wife Mary Dahl, his daughters Geri Gooden and Karen Johnson, and his sons-in-law John Gooden and Luther Johnson. He had nine grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Ed (Papa, Great Papa, Gran-Gran) lived life on his own terms. He was jack-of-all-trades and a roustabout in his younger years. He graduated from Dawson High School and traveled to California to work in the orange groves and help build a dam in California. He eventually made his way back to Dawson where he worked in the Dawson Coal Mine. He was drafted into the Army during World War II and served in the Pacific in New Guinea and the Philippines as a Sea-Bee, building and repairing landing strips. When his stint in the Army was over he returned to Dawson and coal mining, and he met the woman who would be his wife of 64 years, Mary Yob Skender.

Mary and Ed lived in Dawson until the Phelps Dodge Corporation closed the mining town and they moved to Raton. Raton was to be his home for most of his life. He loved the outdoors and shared his love of fishing with his children and grandchildren and anyone who would grab a pole and go with him. It would not be unusual to see him on a Saturday or Sunday fishing Cimmaron River with his fly rod and waders or at Lake Maloya, grandchildren and great grandchildren in tow putting worms on their hooks and teaching them how to cast.

Papa was a gardener. He was well known around Raton for his zucchini, corn, green beans, peaches and apricots that he generously passed around. Even the bears enjoyed his garden...he and the bears had an ongoing feud. Pops was a treasure hunter...he spent countless hours walking around the mountains and hills searching for gold. He had all of the equipment that he would need with him...he found some gold, however secretly, I think he loved the wide open spaces and the solitary pursuit and just getting away from the "rush" of the big city of Raton. He loved people but he liked his time alone.

Ed was a woodcarver -- his passion was working with wood -- he would collect wood of all kinds. His favorite thing to do was to sit in the basement and carve. Many of us have pieces that he has carved and many more of us have things that he built or repaired for us. All the grandchildren and great grandchildren loved to go into the basement...that wonderful basement full of all kinds of treasures...no one needed TV or video games...the basement held such fascination for children of all ages.

The new directory of the cemetery.