Grads 2023, who belong to Lyons Pioneer Families of 50+ years
Annual Good Old Days Program (called “History Day” in 2023), honoring graduating students who come from LYONS PIONEER FAMILIES, who have been in the area for 50+ years.
The ceremony was attended by Sally Austin and Diane Roberts (in jean jacket). We hope to print memoirs of the ladies, of life in Lyons many decades ago, in a future edition.
Cambria Burton is the granddaughter of Loyal and Sally Austin. Her mother and father are Amber (Austin) and Mark Burton. 
Anna Felt is the granddaughter of Loyal and Sally Austin. Her parents are Audra (Austin) and Paul Felt
Loyal Austin and his brother Lloyd came to Lyons in 1964 from Michigan and started a log cabin company, Rustic Bilt, at the original Lyons Train Depot, later moving to Hwy 66/36. Loyal married Sarah in 1962. They had eight children: Michael, Martin, Amber, Amanda, Carla, Audra, Jesse, and Linna.
We would like to present Cambria and Anna with the Pioneer Family Award for being in this area for 50 plus years. Congratulations!
Pierce Eddy is the great-great-grandson of Dennis and Joy Boone, Alvin and Ardis VanTine, and Bill and Alpha DeVeny. His parents are Adam Eddy and Ashley DeVeny.
Brooklyn Enny is the great-great-granddaughter of Dennis and Joy Boone and Alvin and Ardis VanTine. Her parents are Dustin and Katie Enny.
Pierce Eddy & Brooklyn Enny are descendants of the early day Frontiersmen Daniel Boone and his wife Rebecca, who in the 1700s explored and blazed new trails for west-ward moving families thru North Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia: established Fort Boonesboro in Kentucky. Their great-great-grandparents Dennis and Joy Boone moved from Woodbine, Iowa to Lyons in the 1940s where they operated the Texaco Service Station and started a Youth Center in Town. Their children were Robert, William (Bill), and Al. Their great-great grandparents Alvin and Ardis VanTine moved to Lyons in the 1950s. Al VanTine was police chief at one time.
Grand-parents graduated from Lyons, Bill Boone in 1952 and Lola (VanTine) in 1956. They married and had four children: Robert, Beth, Amy, and Janice. Bill Boone owned and worked part of what used to be the Brodie Quarry. Their children all graduated from Lyons High School. Rob Boone married Kathy.
Alpha and Bill DeVeny, great-great grandparents to Pierce, also moved to Lyons in the 1950s and operated the Lyon’s Liquor Store in the 1970s. Great-grandparents Ron and Shirley DeVeny operated the Blue Mountain Inn and an upholstery shop. They are the 4th generation of Lyons High School Graduates.
We would like to present Pierce and Brooklyn with the Pioneer Family Award for being in this area for 50 plus years. Congratulations!
Kylee Roberts
and Ragan Roberts
are the granddaughters of Cliff and Dianne Roberts. Their parents are Gerald and Joby Roberts.
Leslie Clifford Roberts (Cliff)(b 1939, Oklahoma City, OK.) and his wife Dianne Roberts (b 1940, Abilene TX.) moved to Lyons Colorado in 1976, the Centennial year for Colorado’s founding as a state. Cliff was an agriculture consultant. He was appointed on the Lyons Board of Trustees to replace Sherman Bohn who had passed away. In 1980, he was elected mayor and worked in real estate with Lyons Realty.
Their family consisted of Bryan L. Roberts (b 1969, Brawley CA.), Gerald C. Roberts (b 1972, Greeley CO.) and Jennifer L. Roberts (b 1975, Loveland CO.). After moving to Lyons, Paul T. Roberts (b 1980, Longmont, CO.) was added to the family. The family moved into a then newer development on Longs Peak Drive in N. E. Lyons.
In 1978 Cliff bought his first parcel of vacant land N. of Dowe flats (and the present day Cemex quarry), from Dr. Cline. Over the next few years Cliff would go on to acquire several more parcels to form the Medicine Lodge Ranch totaling more than 200 acres in the Little Thompson River valley. In 1983 Cliff and Dianne divorced, and Dianne continued to live on Longs Peak Drive, while Cliff lived part time on the ranch and in Denver. At the time no home was on the ranch, so there were several years of roughing it in an old relay station and campers. Eventually an equipment barn was converted into a home that serves at the primary residence on the ranch to this day.
Cliff would later remarry to Kathy A. Santangelo and have two more children, Kathryn M. Roberts (b 1987) and Johnathan A. Roberts (b 1993). Bryan, Gerald, Jenny and Paul would all go on to attend twelve years in Lyons Elementary and Lyons Jr./ Sr. High School. Kathryn and Johnathan were homeschooled with the exception of Johnathan in the High School years where Johnathan graduated from Lyons as well.
In 2006 Gerald and Joby returned to the Lyons area and built a home adjacent to the Medicine Lodge ranch. Gerald and Joby’s children are Coleton D. Roberts (b 2000), Garret P. Roberts (b 2002), Ragan D. Roberts (b 2005), and Kylee L. Roberts (b 2005).
We would like to present Kylee and Ragan with the Pioneer Family Award for being in this area for almost 50 years. Congratulations!
In case you are wondering why each family this year has TWO graduating seniors:
Felt & Burton are cousins
Eddy & Enny are cousins
Robert’s are twins
Information provided by the family, as well as research by Terri Weir, curator, and Monique Sawyer-Lang, collections manager, at the Lyons Redstone Museum.
To see who spoke at or was honored in the “2023 History Day” program, click HERE.
