Families say goodbye to 2 men who died in dune buggy crash

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Mike Peters, (Bio) mpeters@greeleytribune.com
April 3, 2008

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As people do when there's a sudden tragedy, friends and family began calling and visiting early Wednesday at the homes of two men who were in a dune buggy crash the night before west of Ault. Both men died.

At the home of Lester Oliver Jr. near the Eaton Grove Nursery on Weld County Road 31, his family had photos of the 36-year-old spread across the dining room table and food from neighbors in the kitchen. The phone rang repeatedly with condolences.

"He was a good man ... a happy man," Rachel Oliver said of her husband. "He wanted to share life with others and especially with his kids."

Up north about four miles, at the home of Michael Brand, 45, friends gathered in the parking area of his home and work office, where they spoke quietly of his life and his sudden death. His parents were flying in from Minnesota on Wednesday morning.

The two men knew each other through their work. Oliver and his wife owned Cast In Place Concrete, while Brand worked for White Cap Construction Supply, where he sold supplies for the Fort Collins company.

"They'd just met, and Les was visiting Tuesday night when Mike asked him if he wanted to ride on the dune buggy." Rachel Oliver paused, tears came, and she said, "It was the first time he'd ridden on a dune buggy."

The couple, longtime sweethearts, married in Illinois, then they moved to Greeley to start the business and raise a family. They have four children: Lester Oliver III, 11; Sabrina, 9; Isabella, 5, and Everitt, 4.

"We called him our camp director," Rachel Oliver said, talking of her husband, again with tears welling. "He organized our outside trips -- boating, camping, cookouts. He loved to do things with the family."

The couple both grew up and graduated from high school in Rockford, Ill. After visiting friends in Colorado, they moved here after they were married, and they eventually talked most of their family into moving to this area, too.

"At least, with Les gone," said Rachel Oliver, "the kids and I won't be alone. We have plenty of family and friends who are helping."

The crash that took both men's lives occurred about 7:30 Tuesday night next to Brand's house in the Belmont Farms subdivision five miles west of Ault on Colo. 14. Lester Oliver died at the scene of the crash, and Brand, who was driving his dune buggy when it overturned, died later at North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley. Weld Sheriff spokeswoman Margie Martinez said there was no indication of alcohol being involved, and neither men wore seat belts.

Oliver's family will have a wake honoring him Friday night at the Cornerstone Baptist Church in Windsor, and his funeral will be Saturday.

Final plans for both men will be announced later in their obituaries.