OUR CLASSMATE Ron Petty’s wife DARLA passed away in Colorado Springs on Thursday, June 7, 2018. The memorial service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday,June 16, at Pikes Peak Christian Church located at 4955 Bradley Road (about four blocks East of Main Street and Bradley Road) in Security. Founded in 1956, the church met in a small house on Morningside Drive and later built its first facility on land purchased on Aspen Drive. In 2001 the church moved to the Bradley Road location,where it has been located to this day.
Born November 24, 1951, in Corpus Christi, Texas, Darla Kay Salmon was raised in Security in the 1950s and the 1960s until she graduated from Widefield High School (WHS) in 1969. Once married, Ron and Darla Petty lived in Texas for many years. They and their three children moved back to Security in 1988. In 1999, Darla and her two sisters (Sheryl and Merrie Ellen) organized a reunion for people who graduated from WHS over a 40-year period from 1959 through 1999. Called a “sock hop” and held in the WHS gym, the event was successful with 175 people in attendance.
Attached in JPEG format is a photo of Darla and Ron at their wedding in the early 1970s.
“I knew this news was imminent but it is, nonetheless, so very difficult to read and to accept,” wrote our classmate Vickie Hawes Lessa. She went on to add: “Ron and Darla have been so heavy on my mind. My thoughts of them and the accompanying sorrow have been unending. Please help take care of Ron. He will be in such a fragile state and will need a lot support from his friends and loved ones. It is very, very lonely when you lose the love of your life. Sending more prayers their way.”
“Vickie's words say it all and I couldn't say it better,” wrote our classmate Gillie Walker.“Please keep us updated. For some of us, Bruce and Donnie are our only source.”
“Always thanks of appreciation to Bruce and Don for keeping us updated on things,” wrote our classmate Rhonda Richards Shamburger. “Have been praying for Darla and Ron and family for some time now. Have had Darla in my thoughts all day today. God bless her for putting up such a fight.”
In addition to being survived by her husband Ron Petty, Darla is survived by their children Matthew Petty (age 42), Philip Petty (age 37), Emily Petty Campbell (age 34),Darla’s two sisters (Sheryl Salmon Pyle and Merrie Ellen Salmon O’Donnell), and Darla’s father Tom Salmon (owner of the trash-collection business, which he started in Security in the 1950s and which still exists albeit operated nowadays by his daughter Sheryl and her husband Joe Pyle). Darla was preceded in death by her mother Darleen Salmon, who passed away in 2003.
Please join me in extending condolences to the Petty and Salmon families. To respect their privacy, their street addresses will not be stated in this update nor will their addresses be posted on our website that is accessible to anyone in the public. For people who are unable to attend the funeral, condolences can be extended via email to our class website OR this email box and we will provide hard copies to the family.Because Darla always was the only one who handled the email address for her and Ron, it won’t do any good to contact him directly via email as he never has done online communications. If you want to send an actual card via postal mail, address it to:
Petty + Salmon
c/o McAlexander
801 Hallam Ave.
Colorado Springs CO 80911
Another online option is to express your condolence or share a memory via the funeral home. To sign in through Facebook OR your email address, click here!
Please be sure to check our class website periodically for updates about the funeral. To access our class website, go to:
Respectfully submitted,
Donnie Martinez
Known at WHS by stepfather’s surname Collier
Martinez is my birth certificate and legal surname
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