In MEMORIAM
Expanded Eulogies
“In Memoriam” listings are expanded paid obituaries, phrased as the family requests, and may include information or photographs that might not fit within free death notices.
James Slater
James Edward Slater, 68, passed away Feb. 15, 2016. Born Feb. 22, 1947, in Louisville, Kentucky to Ralph V. and Doris L. (Hagan) Slater, he was the oldest of five children and lived most of his childhood in Montague, Michigan. He graduated in 1964 from Montague High School and attended the University of Michigan, studying electrical engineering.
He married Jean M. Morse in 1968 in Marion, Kansas, and they lived in Ann Arbor, Michigan, until 1970 when they moved to Colorado and built their own A-frame house in Green Mountain Falls. He worked as a free-lance photographer and took some of the first photographs promoting the Pueblo West development.
Their first child, Heidi, was born in 1971 and Molly followed in 1974. The young family moved to Marion and opened a photography studio, but the lure of the mountains drew the family back to Colorado in 1976, where Jim designed and they built a solar house in Guffey, Colorado and later welcomed their third child, Jacob.
Jim began teaching himself computer programming which developed into a successful software business, Slater Software, Inc. His programs helped young learners and those with developmental disabilities learn to read and write throughout the country and internationally.
Jim and Jean retired from Slater Software in 2012 and moved to Cañon City, Colorado, but they also enjoyed their beach house in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
In addition to his devotion to literacy, Jim was a charter member of The Planetary Society, a supporter of environmental preservation, a believer in technological advances, a life-long learner, a hiker, a cross-country skier, and a swimmer, engineering and building a solar heated swimming pool at 9,000 ft. elevation.
He was preceded in death by his father, Ralph; parents-in-law, Roger and Marie Morse; and beloved brother-in-law, Richard Morse.
Jim is survived by his best friend, partner and wife, Jean; children, Heidi, of Norfolk, Virginia; Molly Schuyler and husband Jason of Colorado Springs, Colorado; Jacob Slater and Michelle McDaniel of Austin, Texas; and four grandchildren, Jackson, Carson and Harrison Schuyler and Abigail Slater.
He leaves his mother, of Louisville, Kentucky; two sisters, Jeanne Zuelch and husband Kirk of Key West, Florida, and Terri Hill and husband Milt of Fayetteville, New York; two brothers, Michael Slater of Thornton, Colorado, and Steven Slater of Louisville, Kentucky; sister-in-law, Nathela Chatara; and numerous nieces and nephews. He was loved by many friends, especially his Guffey family.
A celebration of life was to be held 11 a.m. Sunday, February 21, 2016, at the home in Guffey, Colorado.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to www.water.org or Fremont Regional Hospice.