{"id":1314618,"date":"2019-09-14T16:00:34","date_gmt":"2019-09-14T22:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=987652"},"modified":"2019-09-14T16:00:34","modified_gmt":"2019-09-14T22:00:34","slug":"former-carbondale-mayor-head-of-cmc-vet-tech-program-randy-vanderhurst-remembered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/former-carbondale-mayor-head-of-cmc-vet-tech-program-randy-vanderhurst-remembered\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Carbondale mayor, head of CMC vet-tech program Randy Vanderhurst remembered"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Randy Vanderhurst during a visit to Australia earlier this year with his wife, Charlotte.<\/strong>
Provided<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Randy Vanderhurst, who helped create the Veterinary Technology Program at Colorado Mountain College and saw Carbondale through a period of growth as a two-term mayor in the late 1990s and early 2000s, has died.<\/p>\n

Vanderhurst died Sept. 7 at St. Anthony\u2019s Hospital in Denver shortly after being diagnosed with pneumonia and a malignancy, according to his wife, Charlotte Vanderhurst. He was 79.<\/p>\n

A full obituary appears in the Sunday Post Independent on page 8, and online.<\/p>\n

Vanderhurst moved to Carbondale in 1973 to join the CMC-Spring Valley Vet-Tech program in its infancy, building it into one of the most respected programs in the region before retiring in 1995.<\/p>\n

Already two years into a stint as a Carbondale town trustee at that time, he was appointed to fill the vacant mayor\u2019s seat after town voters upheld a decision to allow a controversial golf course development \u2014 today\u2019s River Valley Ranch \u2014 to proceed.<\/p>\n

It was a contentious time in Carbondale growth politics. The town saw a change in town manager, the buildout of RVR, including Garfield County\u2019s first affordable housing units, and a vigorous debate over the future development of a large piece of commercial property at the town\u2019s main entrance.<\/p>\n

Vanderhurst went on to serve until 2002, when he lost the mayor\u2019s seat to Michael Hassig amid the heated debate over a big-box development that had been proposed for the Crystal River Marketplace property along Highway 133.<\/p>\n

A new City Market store and a mix of commercial and residential is just now being built on that site, after two previous development proposals were shot down by voters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a pretty contentious time,\u201d recalled longtime former town planner Mark Chain.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut Randy was always a stabilizing influence at town hall,\u201d Chain said. \u201cHe showed leadership and kept a level head.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vanderhurst\u2019s scientific knowledge even came in handy when the town dealt with a case of cryptosporidium, a parasite that can cause gastrointestinal distress, in the municipal water supply.<\/p>\n

As a teacher of animal science, Vanderhurst became a sort of internal expert on the matter, Chain said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd, he always had a pretty good sense of humor about things,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

His wife of 55 years, Charlotte, observed that, despite disagreements among townsfolk, there was \u201cgood energy\u201d in Carbondale during that era.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we\u2019d be out in town, people would thank him for being the mayor and appreciated what he did,\u201d she said. \u201cHe was really more of a full-time mayor, because he was retired and had the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t have an agenda, he wasn\u2019t a developer and he didn\u2019t own a business that wanted to make some connection.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s kind of a purity in that,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was just a chance to give back, and that\u2019s really what drove him.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Vanderhursts became immersed in the community immediately upon arriving in Carbondale in 1973. Randy was part of a group of business leaders that served as a predecessor for today\u2019s Carbondale Chamber of Commerce. He was also involved with the Carbondale Community United Methodist Church, and later helped to start the Senior Matters organization.<\/p>\n

Vanderhurst earned his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from the University of California Davis in the early 1960s.<\/p>\n

He was later drafted into the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. Stationed at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington D.C., he developed the Army\u2019s formal veterinary technician program. <\/p>\n

\u201cRandy was one of the originals in the country in that field, and brought a lot of suggestions to CMC,\u201d Charlotte said. \u201cHe knew his stuff, and really made it soar.\u201d<\/p>\n

Randy was also an accomplished musician, and enjoyed playing the guitar and harmonica, she said.<\/p>\n

In recent years, she said much of their time was spent traveling around the world, including a special trip to Australia earlier this year.<\/p>\n

There will be a celebration of life for Randy Vanderhurst at 1 p.m. Sept. 21 at The Orchard in Carbondale.<\/p>\n

jstroud@postindependent.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Randy Vanderhurst during a visit to Australia earlier this year with his wife, Charlotte.Provided Randy Vanderhurst, who helped create the Veterinary Technology Program at Colorado Mountain College and saw Carbondale through a period of growth as a two-term mayor in the late 1990s and early 2000s, has died. Vanderhurst died Sept. 7 at St. Anthony\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1314618","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-27 11:53:48","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1314618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1314618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1314618\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1314618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1314618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1314618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}