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Former Blairite Is Buried In Colorado

Funeral services were Friday, February 13, at the Idaho Springs Elementary School for Sheriff Gene Kiefer, 57, of Clear Creek County, Colorado, who died Tuesday, February 10, 1981, of a massive heart attack suffered while leading a search for a missing man in Alvarado Cemetery, Georgetown, Colorado.

Gene Kiefer was born Eugene Edward Kiefer on March 24, 1923, in Blair and was reared and educated in Blair. He married Delores Marquardt in Blair on September 11, 1945. He moved his family to the Evergreen area in 1951 and to Clear Creek County about a year later.

He was elected to the post of Sheriff in 1974. He was a member of the Colorado Sheriffs Association. He belonged to the Masonic order in Georgetown and the Lions Club and Elks Club, both in Idaho Springs.

Kiefer was reportedly stricken at 9:07 a.m. and members of the Alpine Rescue Team began life support measures immediately. He was taken by ambulance to Lutheran Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 11:03 a.m. He had suffered an earlier heart attack at the county jail in March of 1978 and was taken to a doctor by a trusty at the jail at that time.

He is survived by his wife, Delores; one son, Randy Kiefer, Idaho Springs, Colorado; and two daughters, Mrs. Sue Wallace, Idaho Springs, and Mrs. Jane Lindstrom of Denver. Two brothers, henry Kiefer, Omaha, Nebraska, and Frank Kiefer, Tuscon, Arizona; three sisters, Mrs. Francis Hineline, Blair; Mrs. Fae Seatvet, Tuscon, Arizona; and Mrs. Dolly Gilbert, Lamar, Missouri; and six grandchildren also survive him.

~~~ Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair Public Library at Blair, Nebraska.~~~