Sheep Industry News August 2022

Obituaries Continued from Page 40

husband Nate added to the family with their children Jace, Kaden, and Emeylnn. At the age of 65 Cleon was diagnosed with prostate cancer. In stead of giving up he decided to be even stronger and did a bicycle trip from Oceanside California to Bar Harbor Maine. Later aft er his retirement he cycled the perimeter of the United States. He always said it is important to keep making goals. At age 81, he began working with Optimal Livestock Services, a Fort Collins-based company that specializes in sheep health, repro duction and management. He was also an active member through out all of his time in Colorado with First Presbyterian Church and increased his involvement post retirement. He helped with the McBackpack program which helps deliver food to children in need. At the age of 85, Cleon volunteered with the Christian Veterinary Mission in Mongolia and helped invent a solar powered microscope that is still used in the fi ld today. CRAIG PITT, 1953-2022 Craig Pitt, cherished husband, father, grandfather and brother passed away suddenly on June 5, 2022, due to a heart attack. Craig was born Sept. 7, 1953, to Donald B. and Ruth Shields Pitt Craig married Doelene Parkinson on Sept. 10, 1976, in the Salt Lake Temple. Th y spent the early years of their marriage traveling with Craig’s brothers as they played competitive so ft ball. Craig sup ported his family working in the meat industry. He was a butcher for Tooele Valley Meat and later for the federal government at Dugway Proving Grounds and Hill Air Force Base commissaries. In addition to his full time work, Craig cut and wrapped meat for fam ily and friends. Craig retired in 2016 aft er 34 years of service. Doelene and Craig established their home in Grantsville, Utah, where they raised their fi ve children and started Pitt Family Colum bias. In 2019, Craig and Doelene received the prestigious “Silver Bell” award for their lifelong dedication to the Columbia Sheep Breeders Association. Craig is survived by his wife of 45 years, Doelene; his fi ve children, Heidi Warr, Robert (Brookes) Pitt, Elizabeth Pitt (Jereme Rice), Emily (Michael) Cantone, Holly (Christopher) Courtney and granddaughter Shawndee (Dalton) Stice. He leaves behind 16 grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren, with 1 on the way. Craig is also survived by his brothers Barry (Michelle) and Alan Pitt, and sister Peggy Pitt, his mother-in-law, Maralee Parkinson, sisters in-law, Patricia Parkinson, Jody (Tom) Yager, and Krista (Bryan) Sparks and numerous nieces and nephews. in Tooele, Utah. He spent his entire childhood in Pine Canyon. Craig was involved in base ball and swimming throughout his youth. He graduated from Tooele High School in 1971, and then attended Weber State University on a swim scholarship. From 1973-1975, Craig served the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the Tallahassee, Fla., mission.

DR. CLEON KIMBERLING, 1930-2022 Cleon Kimberling, DVM, passed away on June 21, 2022. He was born on July 17, 1930, to Cora and Leon Kimberling with the aid of a neighbor lady. His father was in the middle of harvest in the hot wheat fi lds of western Nebraska. His education to animal behavior and health started in those early years being surrounded with the typi cal array of horses, cattle, swine, chickens, turkeys, geese, the barn cats and dogs. All of these animals contributed to the livelihood of the farm family. Early in this educational pro cess he experienced fi rsthand an outbreak of equine encephalomyelitis. Th is technical term was implanted into his vocabulary at about the third-grade level when attending the one room country school along with his sisters Garneta and Oneta. At about the same level, another traumatic educational event happened when the entire Poland China swine operation experi enced an outbreak of Hog Cholera, now an exotic disease. As this educational process continued he lost his favorite saddle horse to an impaction, which was beyond the ability of the local veterinar ian to correct. Later on, his favorite heifer was left with an obturator paralysis due to improper and excessive traction. Th is was probably the sequence of events that prompted the pursuit of an education in veterinary medicine. While growing up in Nebraska, Cleon met Betty Leech. He was a country boy, and she was a town girl, but they fell in love and got married in 1953. Th y then started their life together on a small patch of land in Nebraska. Cleon served in the U.S. Army and aided in the Korean war. When he had breaks from service, he was able to travel Europe and see many countries. Cleon went to Colorado State University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in animal science from CSU in 1951, and a degree in veterinary medicine in 1959. While in Colorado, he purchased a plot of land in Weld County which was later jokingly referred to as the Kimberling Family Compound. Education and work were not the only thing keeping Cleon busy while in Colorado. With the purchase of land and a new home, he and Betty started their own family. Th eir oldest child, Kirk, was born 1960 and then Beth was born in 1964. Cleon continued to work at CSU. For 40 years (1965 to 2005), he was a faculty member in CSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, and during this time also worked as a CSU Extension veterinarian. Later on, Cleon was blessed with welcoming William Francis and Karen Kimberling into the family as the spouses of Beth and Kirk, respectively. He was then gi ft ed with three grandchildren, John and William from Beth, and Kayla from Kirk. Kayla and her

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