Dr. Relton Weir Spotts
Throughout his long life and career, Relton W. Spotts was dedicated to leadership, service, and dentistry. He was smart, kind, loving and patient, the sort of man who would quietly donate funds for a church to buy an organ or drive a thousand miles to help his children and grandchildren.
He was a great lover of the outdoors who enjoyed skiing in the bright Colorado sunshine and reaching the summit of many a mountain. He always made the most of life, one time driving his ’59 Chevy Impala down the rugged, 4-wheel-drive Switzerland Trail west of Boulder.
A life-long Methodist, he served his community in countless ways. And in more than four decades of dental practice, Relton took an active interest not just in his patients’ teeth, but also their lives.
Relton Weir Spotts passed away Aug. 6, 2018 in Boulder with family by his side. Private family memorial services will be held.
Relton was born Jan. 21, 1933 in Granite City, Ill. to William Lawrence Spotts and Lillye Weir Spotts. He loved building model airplanes and was an active Boy Scout. He bought his first bicycle, a red Schwinn, with money earned from a paper route, and sold magazine during World War II to support the war effort. He loved spending summers in Arkansas, where he spent his time swimming, boating, eating watermelon, catching frogs and attending revival meetings.
At Granite City Community High School, he played on the varsity tennis and junior-varsity basketball teams. He was president of the Methodist Youth Fellowship and a member of Masque and Gavel, an honorary speech organization. He graduated in 1951.
Relton headed off to Central College (now Central Methodist University) in Fayette, Mo., where he served as president of Alpha Phi Gamma fraternity, played varsity tennis and designed a winning homecoming float.
During college, he worked as the head dormitory cafeteria waiter and at the Granite City Steel Mills. But it was the three summers he spent working at Yellowstone National Park and climbing in the Tetons that would inspire his life-long love of mountains.
Relton wanted to be a dentist since he was a boy, and in 1953, he was accepted to the Washington University (St. Louis) School of Dentistry on a Van Blanch Scholarship. While there, he received the Delta Sigma Delta award recognizing the outstanding clinical student and the Anna Bredall Award for his technical skill and workmanship. He worked as a laboratory and x-ray technician at The Jewish Hospital of St. Louis from 1955-57 and graduated with a Doctorate of Dental Surgery in 1957.
He entered the U.S. Navy Dental Corps in 1957, serving as a lieutenant at Naval Station Great Lakes and later, aboard the USS Rockbridge, an attack transport that landed 1,500 U.S. Marines on a beach in Lebanon as part of Operation Blue Bat in 1958.
Relton was still in the Navy when he married Margaret Lois Chapuis at the First Baptist Church in Louisiana, Mo. on Jan. 3, 1959. While stationed in Norfolk, Va. for six months, they loved exploring the northeast United States together. Following his Navy service, the couple moved to Streator, Ill., where Relton became an associate in a dental practice.
He opened his own private practice in Rockford, Ill. in 1960. In 1963, the family moved to Boulder, where Relton opened a practice that would continue for the next 37 years.
From the beginning, he was an active member of the Boulder community, becoming a long-time member of First United Methodist Church, the American Dental Association, the Colorado Dental Society (Delegate 1984), the Boulder County Dental Society, the Boulder Luncheon Optimist Club and the Elks Lodge; he served on the board of Jarrow Montessori School for six years.
In Boulder, Relton officiated at swim meets for his four children for more than a decade. He continued his life-long love of scouting, serving as a committee member for the Boy Scouts of America from 1967-81 and as Cubmaster for Cub Scout Pack 172 (13 years) and Assistant Scoutmaster for Boy Scout Troop 171 (two years). He and his children were fortunate to spend time at the famous Philmont Scout Ranch near Cimarron, New Mexico.
Relton was an avid mountaineer who learned his technical skills from mountaineering pioneer Paul Petzoldt in the Tetons and would later climb Longs Peak and Boulder’s Third Flatiron, among other summits. He loved skiing and used to hit the slopes of Steamboat with the late Olympian Buddy Werner. At home, he enjoyed woodworking and jewelry-making and rooting for his favorite football teams, the Colorado Buffaloes and Denver Broncos.
Following their retirement in 1999, Relton and Margaret moved to Henderson, Nev., to enjoy the abundant desert sunshine and warmer climate. They returned to Boulder in 2017.
He is survived by his wife Margaret, of Boulder; son Brian L. Spotts, his wife Sara and their son Tyler, of Portland, Ore.; daughter Kelli Renee Spotts and her daughter Kristen, of Boulder; son Barry R. Spotts, his wife Jan and their sons Justin, Jeremy and Jared, of Austin, Tex.; and daughter Kara Diane Palmer, her husband Jon and their sons Drew and Tommy, of Seattle, WA.
Memorial contributions may be made to the charity of the donor’s choice.
Throughout his long life and career, Relton W. Spotts was dedicated to leadership, service, and dentistry. He was smart, kind, loving and patient, the sort of man who would quietly donate funds for a church to buy an organ or drive a thousand miles to help his children and grandchildren.
He was a great lover of the outdoors who enjoyed skiing in the bright Colorado sunshine and reaching the summit of many a mountain. He always made the most of life, one time driving his ’59 Chevy Impala down the rugged, 4-wheel-drive Switzerland Trail west of Boulder.
A life-long Methodist, he served his community in countless ways. And in more than four decades of dental practice, Relton took an active interest not just in his patients’ teeth, but also their lives.
Relton Weir Spotts passed away Aug. 6, 2018 in Boulder with family by his side. Private family memorial services will be held.
Relton was born Jan. 21, 1933 in Granite City, Ill. to William Lawrence Spotts and Lillye Weir Spotts. He loved building model airplanes and was an active Boy Scout. He bought his first bicycle, a red Schwinn, with money earned from a paper route, and sold magazine during World War II to support the war effort. He loved spending summers in Arkansas, where he spent his time swimming, boating, eating watermelon, catching frogs and attending revival meetings.
At Granite City Community High School, he played on the varsity tennis and junior-varsity basketball teams. He was president of the Methodist Youth Fellowship and a member of Masque and Gavel, an honorary speech organization. He graduated in 1951.
Relton headed off to Central College (now Central Methodist University) in Fayette, Mo., where he served as president of Alpha Phi Gamma fraternity, played varsity tennis and designed a winning homecoming float.
During college, he worked as the head dormitory cafeteria waiter and at the Granite City Steel Mills. But it was the three summers he spent working at Yellowstone National Park and climbing in the Tetons that would inspire his life-long love of mountains.
Relton wanted to be a dentist since he was a boy, and in 1953, he was accepted to the Washington University (St. Louis) School of Dentistry on a Van Blanch Scholarship. While there, he received the Delta Sigma Delta award recognizing the outstanding clinical student and the Anna Bredall Award for his technical skill and workmanship. He worked as a laboratory and x-ray technician at The Jewish Hospital of St. Louis from 1955-57 and graduated with a Doctorate of Dental Surgery in 1957.
He entered the U.S. Navy Dental Corps in 1957, serving as a lieutenant at Naval Station Great Lakes and later, aboard the USS Rockbridge, an attack transport that landed 1,500 U.S. Marines on a beach in Lebanon as part of Operation Blue Bat in 1958.
Relton was still in the Navy when he married Margaret Lois Chapuis at the First Baptist Church in Louisiana, Mo. on Jan. 3, 1959. While stationed in Norfolk, Va. for six months, they loved exploring the northeast United States together. Following his Navy service, the couple moved to Streator, Ill., where Relton became an associate in a dental practice.
He opened his own private practice in Rockford, Ill. in 1960. In 1963, the family moved to Boulder, where Relton opened a practice that would continue for the next 37 years.
From the beginning, he was an active member of the Boulder community, becoming a long-time member of First United Methodist Church, the American Dental Association, the Colorado Dental Society (Delegate 1984), the Boulder County Dental Society, the Boulder Luncheon Optimist Club and the Elks Lodge; he served on the board of Jarrow Montessori School for six years.
In Boulder, Relton officiated at swim meets for his four children for more than a decade. He continued his life-long love of scouting, serving as a committee member for the Boy Scouts of America from 1967-81 and as Cubmaster for Cub Scout Pack 172 (13 years) and Assistant Scoutmaster for Boy Scout Troop 171 (two years). He and his children were fortunate to spend time at the famous Philmont Scout Ranch near Cimarron, New Mexico.
Relton was an avid mountaineer who learned his technical skills from mountaineering pioneer Paul Petzoldt in the Tetons and would later climb Longs Peak and Boulder’s Third Flatiron, among other summits. He loved skiing and used to hit the slopes of Steamboat with the late Olympian Buddy Werner. At home, he enjoyed woodworking and jewelry-making and rooting for his favorite football teams, the Colorado Buffaloes and Denver Broncos.
Following their retirement in 1999, Relton and Margaret moved to Henderson, Nev., to enjoy the abundant desert sunshine and warmer climate. They returned to Boulder in 2017.
He is survived by his wife Margaret, of Boulder; son Brian L. Spotts, his wife Sara and their son Tyler, of Portland, Ore.; daughter Kelli Renee Spotts and her daughter Kristen, of Boulder; son Barry R. Spotts, his wife Jan and their sons Justin, Jeremy and Jared, of Austin, Tex.; and daughter Kara Diane Palmer, her husband Jon and their sons Drew and Tommy, of Seattle, WA.
Memorial contributions may be made to the charity of the donor’s choice.
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