John Wesley Schwartz struck up a friendship with Terry DeVore that led to his joining the Olney Springs Volunteer Fire Department.
Schwartz, 38, who was raising four young boys on his own, met DeVore at the Arkansas Valley Correctional Facility, where both worked as corrections officers.
“They were good friends; they just barbecued together a week or so ago,” said Schwartz’s mother, Toni Schwartz.
DeVore got Schwartz interested in volunteering, said John Schwartz, his father.
“He was excited about volunteering,” John Schwartz said. “He thought he would be able to help the community.”
Wes, as he was known to his parents, was a U.S. Air Force mechanic on B-1 bombers who served in Saudi Arabia during the Persian Gulf War. When he finished his hitch, he worked as a diesel mechanic and truck driver.
He went to work for the Department of Corrections last year, and he lived on a 43-acre patch of land where he raised livestock.
Schwartz was divorced, and his children range in age from 4 to 15 years old.
“He lived for his boys. He took them hunting, shooting and fishing,” Toni Schwartz said.
Schwartz grew up in Pueblo but wanted his sons to live a more rural lifestyle.
“He always liked it out here. . . . He wanted to raise his boys away from the bigger towns,” his mother said.
Tom McGhee: 303-954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com
