July 20, 1935 — March 22, 2023
A celebration of life for former Lamar, Colorado resident currently of Grand Junction, Colorado, Cecil Dean Piper will be held at 10:00AM on Wednesday, March 29, 2023 at the Peacock Family Chapel. Interment with full Military honors will follow at the Fairmount Cemetery in the Veteran’s Section under the auspices of the local V.F.W. and American Legion Posts.
Cecil Dean Piper, age 87, of Grand Junction, Colorado passed away on Wednesday, March 22, 2023, following a sudden illness.
Cecil was born July 20, 1935, in Lamar, Colorado and was the son of the late Floyd Elbert Piper and Fern Elizabeth Willard Thompson. However, he was lovingly raised by his grandmother, Daisy Dean Piper, along with his sister, Barbara Piper Grace and his brother, Thomas Piper.
Cecil graduated from Lamar High School in Lamar, Colorado in 1953. After high school, Cecil served in the Army National Guard where he served as an ammunition agent until he was honorably discharged in August of 1956. Cecil also attended Findlay College in Findlay, Ohio, during this time, where he studied Business Administration.
In 1960, Cecil entered Colorado State Patrol School where he later graduated and served for two years in the Southeastern area of Otero County. Serving in the State Patrol was one of his proudest achievements, as many who knew him well knew when they saw him wearing his State Patrol hat down at the coffee shop each morning.
Cecil spent most of his career working first as an insurance adjuster, then advancing to a commercial insurance agent for Farm Bureau Insurance, where he eventually became an area manager in the Colorado Springs area. He eventually worked for Tolley/Weidman as an insurance manager, and in the early 1980’s, opened his own insurance agency, Piper-Johnson Insurance. In 1988, Cecil moved to Lamar, where he worked for Guaranty Abstract Insurance. Cecil worked for many insurance agencies throughout Kansas during the 1990’s, but moved to Grand Junction and worked for Moody Valley Insurance until he retired. Cecil married his loving wife, Ruth, January 24, 1992.
Cecil was a member of the Palisade Church of the Nazarene, where he and his wife, Ruth, led the music and served any way possible in the church and the community. Cecil began writing sermons and devotionals for his family in 2013 as a way to encourage and remind our family of the values and importance of scriptural values and the importance of our daily walk with God. His passion for sharing his love for our Lord grew, as he continually kept writing, and by his 80th birthday in 2015, he had completed 80 sermons. By this March, he had completed more than 433 sermons. Not only is this a tremendous accomplishment, but a ministry that grew into a service to everyone he knew. Most people who knew Cecil have received at least one of these treasures, along with a personal note of encouragement.
Cecil was preceded in death by Ruth Ester Piper, his son Thomas Heath Piper and daughter Kerry Lynn Piper Zagata.
He is survived by his son, James Dean Piper and wife Jeanne, daughter Deborah Annette Piper Copher and her husband, Todd, step-children Rhonda (Glen) Birt, Robert (Shawn) Clark, Becky (Edwin) Samples, Rachael (Conrad) Tomblinson, sister Barbara Grace, brother Tom Piper (Marge), 21 grandchildren and 23 great-grandchildren.
