Clair H. "Ivy" Iverson

 Clair Holland Iverson "Ivy"

Clair Holland Iverson (aka "Ivy" to most) was born to Norwegian parents in Longmont, Colorado on May 26, 1923. He attended schools in Brush and Ovid, Colorado, and graduated from the University of Colorado in 1947 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. His military experience began at the University of Chicago, where he trained as an Army Air Corps Meteorologist. He completed his military obligations during WW II at Wendover Field, Utah and in the North Atlantic Theater. For his efforts he received the Air Medal of Honor.

Ivy was employed in January 1948 as a Design Engineer at the Great Western Sugar Company. He spent 25 years at GW Sugar, finishing his career there as Chief Engineer. He retired from GW in 1973. The balance of his professional career was spent with Dravo Corp, URS Corp, and Silver Engineering Company. He was involved in consulting, mostly in the beet sugar industry. He finally fully retired in 1989.

In 1966, Ivy was appointed by Governor John Love to a newly created Colorado Air Pollution Variance Board. He served on this board for ten years, and was Chairman of the board for nine of those years.

Clair met Naomi Schowalter while they were both students at the University of Colorado, Boulder. They married in 1947 and had four fine children: Kristi Lynn, Ronald Dean, Robert Bruce, and Ruth Ann, all of whom they were justly very proud. They later had four grandchildren - Daniel Andrew (Kristi), Shannon, Matthew and Jonathan (Robert) - and two step grand children - Jennifer and Patric (Ronald). They also had three "grand dogs" - Tycho, Taarna, and Kepler (Ruth).

Naomi & Ivy joined Wellshire Presbyterian Church in 1953, and Ivy immediately became active in the Chancel Choir for 25 years and served as an Elder for five years. In 1979 they transferred to Calvary Presbyterian, then to Englewood Presbyterian, and back to Wellshire in 1995, where most of their friends were still members.

Ivy was a devoted father and husband. He also had interests  in addition to his career and family, including choral music, "do-it-yourself", and downhill skiing (which was a family affair). In 1995 Ivy lost his left leg to cancer surgery, and experience which also cost him much of his vision due to a post-operative infection. Nevertheless, he did recover and led an active life as a member of the Englewood Meridian community for an additional 16 years before he passed away on February 10, 2011.

Memorial Service will be held at 2:00 pm MST on Saturday, March 5, 2011 at:

First Universalist Church of Denver
4101 E. Hampden Ave.
Denver, CO  80222

Memorial reception will be held following the service from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. at the following location:

Englewood Meridian Retirement Community

8^th Floor Sky Room

3455 South Corona Street

Englewood, CO 80113

Phone: 303-761-0300

Donations in Ivy's memory may be made to the Colorado Talking Book Library:

Friends of Colorado Talking Book Library
180 Sheridan Blvd.
Denver, CO  80226

Information on this organization may be found at http://www.friendsofctbl.org