Nathaniel "Bunce" Paige Brown
Nathaniel Paige "Bunce" Brown
Nathaniel Paige "Bunce" Brown died on July 15 at Community Hospital in Torrington. He was born in Chicago in 1906. His family moved to the Florence/Canon City, Colorado area in 1910, where his father fostered water development projects in the Arkansas River valley. The seven Brown children spent summers at Estabrook, their mother's family ranch in the mountains west of Denver. The family traveled to Coconut Grove, Florida each winter for recreation and education. After graduating from Yale University in the later 1920's, Bunce returned west, where he worked as a petroleum geologist in the oil and gas industry for the next 50 years. He participated in locating many wildcat developments, including the famous Velma field in Oklahoma, others in Denver Basin, and around Sacramento, California.
In 1926 Bunce married Idereen Mahoney in Denver. They had two children, David Michael and Constance. During the Depression in the 30's and the Second World War in the 40's, the family lived in various Oil patch states, including Texas and Oklahoma, then settled in Boulder, Colorado in 1953. In addition to employment in the oil industry, the Browns owned and operated a cattle ranch in Oklahoma and a silver mining company at WestCliff, Colorado. Also a writer, Bunce wrote three books in his life, one was a novel entitled Say That Again, set in the Canon City area. He was an active outdoorsman and naturalist and enjoyed wildlife watching, fly-fishing, bird hunting, and golf.
In retirement, Bunce and Idereen lived in Maples, Florida and in the Texas Hill Country outside San Antonio. Bunce moved to Lusk in 1996 to be near his daughter, Connie, and her husband, Bob Brown, who ranch northwest of town. In addition to Connie and Bob, Bunce is survived by one brother in Costa Rica and another in Dallas, Texas; two sisters-in-law; and many younger relatives. Funeral services were held in Denver on July 18. Memorials in Bunce's name may be made to the Lusk Senior Center, Lusk, WY 82225. Cicmanec-Pier Funeral Home of Lusk is in charge of the arrangements.