Timothy "Tim" Vernon Ernest

Timothy Vernon Ernest was born on February 12, 1952 to Vernon Otto Ernest and Betty Jane Erne Ernest in Yuma, Colorado.  He was the 5th of 6 children and only son born to this union.  His father was very happy to finally get a son.  Tim had 4 older sisters who spoiled him rotten.  His sisters were Virginia, Barbara, Sandi, Linda, and little sister Deb. Tim was baptized and later confirmed at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Yuma.  Tim was a bit accident prone in his lifetime, with the first time happening when he was very small and was backing up and landed in a bucket of scalding water when his mother was scalding chickens to pluck the feathers.  He was badly burned, but survived this with only faint scars, and was pushed around in a buggy by his family to keep him from crying from the pain.  He also was riding his bike out in the country when quite young and was hit by a car at a high rate of speed and suffered a broken arm , which when it healed, he was never ever able to completely straighten it out.  In his older years, when doing construction he accidentally shot his knee with a nail gun and had to be transported to hospital in back of a pickup where this was removed.  Many other stories could be told of his experiences, but he definitely was being watched over from above. 

He attended Red Willow Grade school through 6th grade, and then when family moved into town, he attended Yuma schools through high school when he graduated in 1970.  In high school, he played the sports of football, track, and wrestling. 

In the summer of 1970 when he was working in the family restaurant, called the Smorgasbord, he met a girl from Idaho, who was visiting her   grandparents W.A and Minnie Noble.  He took her order of a pop, and didn’t charge her for it, and asked her out on a date.  She accepted. After going back home Tim and Loretta kept in touch.  Eventually they were engaged in November of 1972. Timothy and Loretta Morgner were married at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Boise Idaho on June 2nd, 1973. They moved to Yuma, Colorado in July of that same year.  Timothy worked for Dale Van Horn for several years and later went on his own, starting his own small construction business.  He learned a lot from Dale Van Horn, and others, but he was mostly self-taught after he started out on his own.  During his construction years, he and usually one other employee built around 25 homes, all of different styles over the years.  He also did many remodeling jobs, framed and completed inside of  Yuma Community Center  by Lake Yuma,  remodeled several of Yuma’s banks, and built the Doughnut shop, and many other projects too numerous to mention.  Tim was a hard worker and expected his employees to be to work on time, work as hard and quickly as he did, and understand exactly what he wanted them to do when he wanted them to do this.  He was not the easiest man to work for, but he expected the work to be done and to be done correctly.  He seldom took coffee breaks and when this did happen, it was 15 minutes or less.  Lunch was exactly 30 minutes and this was whether he drove home for lunch or ate at the work site.  He made sure the people he was working for got their money’s worth and were happy with the work that was done. 

In 1975, Tim and Loretta decided they wanted to build their own home, so at the young age of 23, Tim, with the help of many of his friends, built the A-frame home they lived in the rest of their married life.  He had never even been in an A-frame and drew his plans on a piece of notebook paper which he took to the bank and was able to get a construction loan on, something that would never happen today.  He added a garage and several other buildings throughout the next 40 years.

Tim and Loretta had 3 wonderful children, starting with Rocky Ray on October 27,1978, followed by Skip Alan on June 28, 1981 and last, but not least daughter, Clover Kay, on January 3, 1986.   Over the years, Tim taught his boys about construction and during their years at home, they worked in construction in the summers for him.  They also spent many summer weekends at Lake McConaughy in Nebraska, boating and camping out and spending time at Marv and Betty Van Horn’s home at the lake. 

Tim worked hard, played hard, and did everything in a hurry.  He always did things his way.  He loved gardening and growing vegetables for family, friends and especially pumpkins for his grandkids.  His latest vegetable he was experimenting on was growing different kinds of popcorn.  He also loved to barbeque all kinds of meats, and he had a tendency of collecting different kinds of barbeques.  

Tim was diagnosed with lung cancer on March 9th and died in the home he had built so many years before in the presence of his wife Loretta, who was his own private nurse and his beloved dog and companion, Munchkin on April 24th. 

Preceding him in death were his father Vernon Ernest, mother Betty Van Horn, step-father Marvin Van Horn, Sister Virginia Meade, brother-in-law Lynn Robertson, nephews Brad Spanjer, Chad Spanjer & Deon “Tad” Spanjer, and father and mother-in-law Frank and Marleen Noble Morgner and many uncles, aunts, and grandparents.

Survivors who will miss him greatly are his wife Loretta Ernest, children: Rocky Ernest and Sabrina Lessman of Fort Collins, Skip and Kirsten Ernest and children Blake and Connor of Colorado Springs, and Shaun and Clover Kostelecky of Billings, Montana.  Sisters and brother-in-laws are Barbara and Larry Flight, Sandi and Larry Agneburg, Linda and Steve Lindgren, and Deb and Jim Spiers and Sister-in-laws Luann Kuntz and Mary DeChambeau and brother-in-law Monty Morgner  Also surviving are many beloved nieces and nephews, and long time friends.

Memorial service was held on April 29,2017 at 2PM  at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Yuma, Colorado with Pastor Dennis FitzPatrick officiating. Private inurnment followed the service at the Yuma Cemetery.