Obituary

Neil Gilbert Jaquet, 75, of Palisade, Colorado unexpectedly passed from this life on Tuesday morning, June 7, 2022. 

     He completed a normal 20-mile bicycle ride, loaded his bike onto his car bike rack, then suffered a massive heart attack, collapsed, and was rushed by Mesa County EMS to St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Junction, where he died twenty minutes later.

​

​

    Neil was born to Gilbert and Marion Jaquet on April 10, 1947 in Dixon, Illinois. He and his older brothers Wayne and Loren spent their youth in the outdoors on the family dairy farm, where Neil began herding cows at age four and raised lambs for 4-H and Future Farmers of America projects. Neil attended a one-room schoolhouse for eight years, then graduated from Dixon High School in 1965.  He went on to earn a B.S. in Geology in 1969 at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. There he met his wife Dee (Demetra) Velon (Velisarios). Dee was writing an article for the school newspaper about the college flying club; Neil was the pilot. They married in 1973.

​

​

    Neil was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1969 and served for two years in Germany. After his European Honorable Discharge he toured Western Europe on a motorcycle, then volunteered for six months as a laborer, harvesting citrus fruit on a kibbutz in Israel.  Back in the U.S. he traded his motorcycle for a Volkswagen van and started graduate school, earning an M.S. in Hydrogeology in 1974 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Neil and Dee then moved to Golden, Colorado where Neil accepted a position with Coors Brewing Company, where he spent 35 years as a Hydrogeologist and Land and Water Resources Manager. During that time he earned two more Master’s degrees at the University of Denver, in Business Administration and in Corporate Real Estate, graduating in 1999. Dee and Neil have two children, Anastasia and Christopher.

​

​

    Neil retired in 2009 and moved to Palisade to start Ambelos Vineyard, growing a variety of grapes and peaches. He was deeply involved in the Grand Junction community, serving with enthusiasm as a Board Member on the Ute Water Conservancy District and the Orchard Mesa Irrigation District. He was a Past President of the Colorado Association for Viticulture and Enology, and Past President of the Colorado Water Congress. He served briefly as the Grand Junction area consultant for Wright Water Engineers, Denver, and frequently donated water consultation, farming and business assistance to many of his neighboring farmers. 

​

​

    Neil enjoyed the dramatic performances and local musicians featured at the KAFM Radio Room, Grand Junction, and with his wife frequented the many outdoor music concerts at various local wineries and at Colorado Mesa University.  He was an avid bicycle rider, donating his time to build bike trails and clean up trash.  He was a skier, snowboarder, hiker and general outdoor enthusiast, and could be found almost daily out on the biking and hiking paths in Western Colorado and Utah. He had just begun planning his 50th wedding anniversary celebration in Hawaii for next Spring.  Neil loved his family, his neighbors, the land and its water.

​

​

    Neil is survived by his wife Dee, son Christopher Jaquet and wife Stephanie (Telluride, CO), daughter Anastasia McCune and husband Todd (Thornton, CO), five grandchildren, his brother and sister-in-law Wayne and Nancy Jaquet (Oregon, IL), and a large extended family of cousins, nieces and nephews.

Services will be held at St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Grand Junction on Monday June 13th at 2 pm with light refreshments in the Church Hall afterward.  In lieu of flowers, the family encourages donations be made to your choice among several organizations about which Neil felt strongly, or plant a tree in his honor. Further information can be found at https://www.neilgilbertjaquet.com/

​

The Funeral will be available online on the church's streaming site