Carroll “Buzz” Vern Esterholt left us Monday,
April 8, at St. John’s Hospital in Jackson.
Buzz lived heroically with a debilitating
stroke for 17 years and also had heart and
other complications.
On Feb. 1, 1941, Carl Verner Esterholt
and Velma Ray “McLemore” Esterholt and
daughter, Marian, added little Buzzy to their
family, then later another son, Don Lee. Buzz
attended school in Byron and in his high
school years excelled in football, track, the
tenor saxophone and social events, which
sometimes included “stealing” the occasional
watermelon from a neighboring farm. He attended
Powell Community College where he
met and married Janet Sheets. They had two
sons, Christopher and Mark, who were the joy
of Buzz’s life. He went to work for Texaco
Company and was transferred to LaBarge,
where his marriage dissolved, but life went
on.
In 1974, Buzz and Jeanene Orgill, of
Pinedale, married in the Idaho Falls Temple. Buzz then finished school at Ricks College
in Rexburg, Idaho, with a business law degree and worked for banks as a loan officer. Buzz held
many interesting jobs throughout his life, starting out with haying and farm jobs, various positions
in the gas and oil field, construction, Powell Police Department, LaBarge law enforcement
and Ricks College campus security and owned and operated a carpet cleaning business. In 1985
the family came back to Pinedale where Buzz worked for the Sublette County Sheriff’s Office
and then the Sublette County Assessor’s office. Buzz became the Deputy County Assessor and
did the majority of the oil companies’ assessments. Buzz was proud to be from Wyoming and always
cheered for the Cowboys, unless they were playing BYU, then he was “true blue.” He loved
to fish, be out in the mountains, rock hunt, camp, go to Yellowstone and watch John Wayne. Buzz
always kept his sense of humor, his patience and his faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Buzz is survived by his wife, Jeanene, of 45 years; children and families, Mark, Shelly, Tanner,
Riley and Jake Esterholt of Santa Ana, Calif.; Aaron, Sophia, Jordan, Jalan, Raelyn and
Espen Esterholt of Arlington, Wash.; Brian, Charlotte, Wyatt and Rosalie Esterholt of Pinedale;
Ruth, Thayer and Hudson Chandless of Rockaway, N.J.; Curt Esterholt of Pinedale; and sister
Marian Esterholt and family of Casper.
He is preceded in death by his son Christopher, brother Don Lee and parents Vern and Velma
Esterholt.
A graveside service will be conducted Saturday, April 13, at 11 a.m. at the Pinedale Cemetery
with a luncheon and memorial following at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 143
N. Sublette St.
