Lyle Richard (Dick) Bratton was born April 12, 1932, in Salida, Colorado to Lyle Wareham and Mary Alice (Body) Bratton, both children of gold miners. Dick’s maternal grandmother was born in Leadville, Colorado, his paternal grandfather came to Chaffee County from Oklahoma in 1880. His maternal grandparents moved from Nova Scotia, Canada to Cripple Creek shortly after the turn of the 19 century where Dick’s grandmother ran a boarding house for the miners. He lived his first seven years at the base of Monarch Pass in the town of Garfield, where his father was a miner at the CF&I quarry and, later, a brakeman for the Rio Grande Railroad’s 3rd Division which went over Monarch and Marshall passes. His mother was a teacher in the one-room schoolhouse in Garfield.
Dick went to kindergarten and first grade at the school in Garfield, after which he attended school in Salida where, in 1950, he graduated from Salida High School. Dick was involved in sports and extracurricular activities, including football, basketball, track, National Honor Society and student council, where he served as president. From an early age, Dick had a deep passion for the outdoors, enjoying fly fishing and hunting with his father and, later in life, as a father and grandfather sharing it with his children, grandchildren and their spouses. During the summers, he worked on ranches in Chaffee County where he learned about the importance of water, an important theme he carried throughout his life.
In the fall of 1950, Dick started school at Western State College (now Western Colorado University) with an academic scholarship. In keeping with his love of sports, Dick walked on to play football where he played defensive back all four years. A friend convinced him that to stay in shape for football and track he should go out for the wrestling team, even though he had never even seen a wrestling match. He was quite successful and won two conference championships. In the spring he ran track, competing in the 400-yard dash and both hurdle events.
Dick was also involved in student government, serving one term as student body treasurer, and one as student body president. In the winter of his freshman year, he met beautiful 16-year-old Donna Rae Howard at a dance in Gunnison. Donna’s mother absolutely forbade her daughters from dating “college boys,” but lucky for Dick, one of Donna’s sisters was in school with him and told her mother that he “was harmless.” They were married in the Community Church in Gunnison on Sept. 6, 1953 and were only three months shy of their 70th wedding anniversary when Donna passed in May 2023.
After his 1954 graduation from Western with a degree in accounting, Dick and Donna moved to Boulder where Dick started law school at the University of Colorado and Donna worked to support them.
After graduation he joined the U.S. Army for a six-month program at Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri, after which he was honorably discharged. He returned to Colorado and began practicing law in Denver until October 1958 when he was asked by prominent water attorney, Ed Dutcher, to return to Gunnison and join his practice. In 1961, Dutcher became a judge, and Dick took over the practice and remained in practice in Gunnison for the remainder of his life, focusing on water and other natural resources, and real estate law.
Dick was one of the nation’s most respected legal experts in water law. He represented the Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District for over 40 years handling legal, policy and political issues. He successfully argued cases before the Colorado Supreme Court involving water rights issues with the Taylor Park Reservoir and Taylor River and the Union Park Project. These decisions helped establish water rights for environmental and recreation use — increasing the brown trout population on the Taylor River by 90% and creating predictable flows for boaters, the basis for a thriving boating industry.
He was an active member of the Colorado Water Congress for more than 60 years, serving as its president in 1975 and receiving its Wayne N. Aspinall Leadership award in 2002. In 2002, Dick was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as chairman of the Upper Colorado Water Commission, which governs the four states of the Upper Colorado River Basin and coordinates with the three states of the Lower Colorado River Basin. He held this position from 2002-2010.
Water wasn’t Dick’s only passion; he was equally as passionate about education. In 1963 he was named to the Board of Trustees of the State Colleges of Colorado. From 1974-1975, Dick served as the board’s president. As a water attorney, Dick realized the importance of water and water rights in the West and, in 1975, along with Duane Vandenbusche, with great foresight created the Western State College Water Workshop to bring together speakers and audiences from across sectors to educate people about water issues facing Colorado and the West.
Dick also created the Western State College Foundation through the utilization of funds from the estate of Jessie Thornton (wife of former Colorado governor and Gunnison rancher Dan Thornton) and later the estate of Governor Thornton. Initially the Foundation provided funds specifically toward undergraduate biology students. Currently, the Foundation is the holding place for donations which fund scholarships for students and opportunities for faculty. He and Dan Tredway led efforts to purchase and raze Ruland Junior High School and have the city deed it to Western, providing the land where the Rady Building now stands.
Dick also spearheaded the creation of Western’s outdoor recreation program, kicking off the endeavor with a conference which featured a speaker who predicted that outdoor recreation would be a billion-dollar industry. At the time of his death, Dick was still speaking about his dream of an outdoor recreation program that brought Western students into direct contact with the leaders in the industry.
A lifelong Republican, Dick was active in local, state and national politics — and particularly if it involved water, he was involved. Although he was a Republican, he was willing to support Democrats if they supported water rights that positively impacted Gunnison. He was honored to represent Colorado at the Republican National Convention and the inauguration of President George W. Bush in 2001.
Dick had a natural passion for people and their stories, regardless of age or background. He never met a stranger and was laughingly referred to by strangers and family alike as “The Mayor.” A natural connector, Dick always found something in common with everyone he met. He knew their grandfather, father or someone who played football in their hometown. In fact, in looking at Western’s 2023 football roster he realized that he had a relative who played for Western. The week before he passed, they met for dinner!
Growing up an only child, friends were extremely important to him, and he nurtured and maintained friendships that spanned his entire life. The day before he died, Dick insisted on going to Salida to see a 94-year-old friend he’d known since grade school. Not a coffee drinker, Dick did like his mochas and was equanimous in “spreading the mocha love” around Gunnison’s various coffee shops where he took a keen interest in the staff and owners, all of whom he counted among his friends. The same is true for the many restaurants in Gunnison.
After Donna passed, Dick frequently dined out where he often would invite strangers to join him and, naturally, they also became his friends. An avid sports enthusiast, he would host impromptu get-togethers to watch football and basketball games. As his family will attest, Dick knew all the box scores from all the teams in all the sports, not just the Broncos, Nuggets, Rockies or Mountaineers. He took to technology like a young person and spent many of his dinners looking at his phone to get and share the latest scores. From the time he and Donna returned to Gunnison in 1958, Dick was a fixture at Gunnison High School and Western athletic events, theatre and music presentations.
Over the course of his life, Dick was the recipient of numerous awards. These include: 1963, Award of Merit, Colorado Bar Association Young Lawyers Section; 2002, Wayne N. Aspinall Leadership Award, Colorado Water Congress; 2003, Gunnison County Stockgrowers Distinguished Service Award; 2007, Karl Ranous Professionalism Award; 2009, President’s Award, Colorado Foundation for Water Education; 2010, Western Colorado University Athletic Hall of Fame; 2011, William Lee Knous Award, University of Colorado School of Law; 2011, John Vanderhoof Award, Club 20; 2011, Western Colorado University Mountaineer Sculpture dedicated to his honor. He was also the recipient of an honorary doctorate, Outstanding Alumni Award, and Lifetime Achievement Award all from Western Colorado University; as well as being inducted into the prestigious Order of the Water Buffalo of the Colorado Bar Association.
While friends were incredibly important to him, Dick’s greatest passion and pride was his family. Dick was a proud father and instilled in his daughters the importance of education, hard work and giving back to people and their community. His grandchildren were the lucky recipients of special Christmas gifts, one-on-one time with “Papa Dick,” where he would take them fishing, on a rafting trip, to dinner and a theatre show, a sporting event, or some other special occasion where he could spend dedicated time.
Dick was preceded in death by his parents (Lyle and Mary Bratton) and his beloved wife Donna (Howard). He is survived by his daughters Susan Bratton (Jonathan Gordon) and Sara Bratton Bradbury, granddaughters Anna Peterson (Erik), Abby Sugiyama (Yuri), and Katie Bradbury, and four grandchildren (Luke and Kai Suguyiama and Lily and Kira Peterson).
Memorial services will be held at Western Colorado University in the Paul Wright Gymnasium on March 2, 2025, at 1 p.m. and a truly Dick Bratton celebration of life at the I Bar Ranch on June 28, 2025 at 6 p.m. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to the Western Colorado University Foundation Dick and Donna Bratton Memorial Scholarship or to the Gunnison Community Foundation in their name.
