Michele Gosdin, 58 of Bayfield, Colorado ascended into heaven on February 4, 2019 after a two month battle with brain cancer. On July 28, 1960 in Berwyn, Illinois Michele was born to Walt and Doris Novak. In the summer of 1974 her family moved to San Antonio, Texas where she attended and graduated from Winston Churchill High School. At Southwest Texas State University where she studied Management Information Systems she met a Computer Science Major who worked in the computer center. Michele was headed to class; tall and slender with long hair, Scott was immediately smitten. He was in his senior year and would be graduating in the summer. Along with the computer center, Scott also drove a shuttle bus route (no where near where Michele lived). Scott helped Michele with her software programming and Michele would find a way to ride Scott’s bus route. The dorm Michele lived in was built on the grounds of Scott’s grandmother’s home. Their first kiss was on the steps of her dorm where the steps to Scott’s grandmother’s house used to be. Their first trip to Scott’s parents’ house near Marble Falls, Texas, Scott told Michele he went snow skiing twice a year and was going to retire in Colorado. If she wasn’t good with that, they may as well stop dating. She said that sounded GREAT! It was meant to be!
Michele and Scott were married on January 22, 1983 and lived in Fort Worth where Scott was working for General Dynamics Co. Michele ultimately got a job also at ‘GD’. Their first daughter Brittney was born on June 3, 1987 and second daughter Chelsea born on October 25, 1989. In between, they lived in St. Louis for a year on a special assignment for GD. During that year, Scott joined the National Ski Patrol with Michele’s blessing and thus began her 30 years of being ‘a patroller’s widow’. In August of 1994, the family transferred to Denver, Colorado where they both worked for Raytheon Co.
Michele spent 20 years in Denver watching the girls grow up, carting them across the Front Range to separate volleyball tournaments and going skiing with Scott and the girls. Scott’s parents lived in Durango West II where Michele and the family would come visit. Michele was helping organize Brittney’s wedding in Durango and called Scott with her request that they retire in Durango. Several years later, Raytheon had an opening in their factory in Farmington and the deal was done.
Both Brittney and Chelsea live in the Bayfield area with their families and Michele’s three grandsons (Brittney: Stetson (2) & Bodey (6 mo), Chelsea: Corbin (1)). In January of 2018, Michele and Scott moved her father to Bayfield.
Her brother Wally and mother Doris precede Michele. She is survived by the love of her life for 37 years, husband Scott; Brittney, husband Luke and 2 grandsons; Chelsea, husband Kevin and 1 grandson; Father, Walt; and Scott’s family including Brother, Jim (Called Michele ‘Sis’) with wife ‘T’; Brother Mick with wife Jane and 2 nieces.
A celebration for Scott’s ‘angel’ will be at 10:00am Saturday February 2, 2019 at First United Methodist Church of Durango. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Olivia Caldwell foundation.