John Bond Obituary

A Celebration of Life for longtime resident John Waymund Bond was held on Saturday, September 9 at Rock Springs Community Church. He went home to be with his Lord on Tuesday, September 5, 2017 at Mercy Regional Medical Center in Durango at the age of 74.

He was born in Carnegie, Oklahoma to parents Waymund and Minnie Bond on April 26, 1943.

With John's father working for Superior Oil Company the family had an adventurous life and lived in Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Utah and eventually found their way to Colorado. He attended Montezuma County High School and graduated in 1961. During his high school years he played basketball, football and ran track where he received many post season honors including All Conference teams in basketball and football. This love of basketball earned him a scholarship to Fort Lewis College where he played "his sport" four years. He graduated from Fort Lewis College in 1966 with a degree in Business Administration.

John and Deanna Underwood were married on May 11, 1963. Three sons were born to this union, Daven, Douglas and Dwayne. The couple celebrated 54 years of marriage this year.

He worked for Trans World Airlines, Albuquerque, NM for 14 years before relocating to Cortez in 1979. The travel business became his passion and he was given the opportunity to work in an industry he loved with the purchase of Cortez Travel. His greatest joy professionally was the excitement of sitting down with individuals face to face, planning their trips, and hearing about their adventure upon their return. He was known for his empathy and compassion for those individuals going through difficult times and went out of his way to make life a little easier for them along the way. Cortez Travel was more than a business - he felt it was his calling. He retired in 2013.

Since that time he enjoyed his daily trips to the Cortez Recreation Center, baseball and softball games, fishing, traveling and spending time with his children and grandchildren. For the past several years he had a quest of reaching 3500 miles on the track at the rec center. At the time of his passing he was shy of this goal by 41 miles. On the evening before he was laid to rest 25 family members and friends met at the rec center and walked those remaining 41 miles in his honor. A lasting tribute to a great man.

Surviving John are his loving wife of 54 years, Deanna Bond of Cortez; his sons, Daven Bond (Tawna) of Lakewood, CO., Doug Bond (Kristen) of Longmont, CO., and Dwayne Bond (Erin) of Colorado Springs, CO.; his grandchildren, Kelly Bond and Mitchell Bond of Longmont, CO., Megan (Bond) Sharkey (Matthew) of Lakewood, CO., and Anden Bond and Logan Bond of Colorado Springs, CO.; and by his siblings, Aretta Gooch of Oklahoma City, OK., Reta McNeill (Don Fox) Of Cortez, Howard Bond (Kaye) of Perry, OK., and Gail Bond (Gary Gellatley) of Cortez. John was preceded in death by his parents; and by his sister, Joann Miller.

He was a man of God, loved his family, loved his church, and loved people. In his own words this is how he wanted to be remembered ..."He lived life to the fullest and thanked God for giving him a beautiful wife and three wonderful sons, three marvelous daughters-in-love, five super grandchildren, a loving mother father, brother, four sisters and unlimited friends. He was blessed and anxious for heaven. He died a happy man."