The Reverend Dr. Robert G. Pope, 89, of Bayfield, Colorado, died March 25, 2026. He is survived by his wife, Alice Robinson, three adult children, Cindy, Chris (Tamaya), Beth (Jim), and grandchildren, Nick and Kate. He is also survived by his sister, Barbara Peckham, brother, the Reverend Daniel Pope, and nieces and nephew. A memorial service will be held at St. Mark's Episcopal Church on May 16th at 1:30 pm. The service will be available on St. Mark's website. Suggested places for donations are the World Central Kitchen, Doctors Without Borders, Best Friends, Habitat for Humanity, or a Veterans group or dementia foundation in his name.

"If this is in the paper, then I must have come to the end of a long and fortunate life. Much of that is due to the two women who have loved me and stood by me even when that was more than I deserved. My first wife, Dorothy, endured me for twenty-five years when she should have settled for far fewer. In 1986, my wife Alice and I were married, and through the normal difficulties we have endured and loved each other, despite my bouts of depression. My gratitude to each of them, too infrequently expressed, is real and heartfelt.

To my three children, Cynthia, Christopher, and Elizabeth, I am indebted for making me happy and pleased by their lives, by their tolerance, and by their generosity to me and to others. We have shared time and laughter with few recriminations. Even their spouses and partners have taken me in. My grandchildren, Nick and Kate, have been a gift.

Things worked out for me far better than anyone could have reasonably expected-including parents, teachers, and me. I quit high school to join the Marines just after the Korean Conflict ended, and the GI Bill (that federal blessing to GIs) carried me through college and onto graduate school, where I eventually earned a Ph.D. in American history. Thirty years of university teaching at several schools provided a good living and enough resources to retire in the mountains. Ordained as a priest in the Episcopal Church in 1977, I served parishes in western New York and western Colorado right up to the point where this got sent to the printer.

Life is a gift-it is meant to be full of laughter with family and friends and strangers; it is meant to produce regrets for some of the things we wish we hadn't done; it will have tears and sickness and loss. But if we have not made lives far beyond our immediate circle better for our stop here, then we have not been all we were called to become."