User:NicSanburg/sandbox

Delmer Edgar Sanburg He was born in Montrose, CO on August 5, 1919, to Harry Albert Sanburg and Bessie Irene Jones<1>, and raised with his sister Hazel, older brother Harold, and younger brother Lynn on the family ranch on the south side of the Grand Mesa, near Cedaredge, CO. Remote for the time, this rural ranch didn't have indoor plumbing, electricity, or telephones at first. They did have cattle and sheep, orchards and alfalfa, and horses for transportation to the one-room schoolhouse, or into town on Saturdays once the chores were done. Delmer and Harold raised and exhibited sheep, including a Blue Ribbon winner at the Colorado State Fair in Pueblo. The ranch remains today in family hands, owned by Lynn's widow Alice, and her sons Rolf and Hugh.

After graduating from Cedaredge High School (1936), he attended Mesa College in Grand Junction, CO where he was awarded an AA, took courses at Denver University before transferring to the University of Colorado, earning a BA in Economics in 1940. In the spirit of the time, and war looming, Delmer and his brother Harold enlisted in the Army Air Corps. Legend has it that Delmer had to lie about his weight, as at 6'1" tall, he was rail thin and 130 pounds. He was accepted, and Army chow took care of the rest.  Basic training, Officer Candidate School (OCS), pilot training, and additional occupational specialty schools took him from Oregon to South Carolina, and even classes at Harvard University. When posted in Mississippi he met his bride to be, Garland Lanier Stevenson, and they married on July 1, 1943, at Meridian, MS.  Finally finished with his training, he was posted with the Headquarters staff of the 404th Fighter Group<2>, shipping out to Britain in March 1944, and eventually arriving in France on July 6th, one month after D-Day.  He told few stories about his time in the service, but made notes of events in a small memo book he kept.  He experienced shelling that left shrapnel in the room he was working in, and frequent air raids. That December during the German "Battle of the Bulge" offensive, enemy troops got within 4 kilometers of their air field. When the bad weather finally broke, the 404th claimed to be the "first in the air" in support of the Allied counter-attack. The war drew to a close, and after VE Day, owing to his fluency in German, he remained in Germany to assist the setting up of local governments in southern Germany.

Meanwhile, stateside, his wife gave birth to the first of his five sons Delmer Jr. in August 1944, who was already one year old when his father returned from the war. They settled in Denver, CO, and planned for a daughter next. Four more sons later they gave up on that plan when Sven was born in 1955. Following World War II, Delmer began a career as a Land-and-Lease man in the petroleum industry, traveling throughout the West and Midwest for prospects in oil and gas exploration. An expert in the field of petroleum lands acquisition laws, he was called to Washington D.C. to advise the Department of the Interior. Always an outdoorsman at heart, his favorite hobby was fly fishing in mountain streams. In 1966 he took a job as the Manager of Mineral Lands for the Union Pacific Railroad, and relocated to Los Angeles, finishing at La Puente, CA, where he lived until his passing. Delmer Edgar Sanburg passed away on February 24, 1984, at West Covina, CA. He was survived by his wife of 42 years, Garland Lanier Stevenson; and their sons Delmer Edgar Jr., Erik Steven, Nels Arne, Nicolas Lanier, and Sven Christopher Sanburg.