Ian Michael Perry Vest-Gates

Ian Michael Perry Vest-Gates departed the earth on September 1, 2024. 

You were born February 8, 1993, in Pueblo, Colorado, andfound yourself living in Denver and Fort Collins for a while,then you moved to Greeley with Holly, who would eventually become your wife. You gained knowledge through books at the university and knowledge about life through new experiences before returning to Pueblo where you started your family. You were a proponent of the blue-collar working man, finally working at the steel mill, ever identifying yourself as the salt of the earth, never an individual but ever a part of the whole.

Your ideas about the meaning of life were built out of your vast library of existential poetry and novels. You dreamt of a world full of kindness and compassion and did your best to surround yourself with that. You had an insatiable appetite for words, whether written or in song, as only your music library surpassedyour collection of books. Philosophy was your greatest interest,and your writing reflected your deep understanding of life. You were one of the most interesting, funny, empathetic, smart, talented and handsome men to exist – everyone who met you knew that.

You were the loving father of Hollis Perry (Holly Perry), son of Dawn Yengich, brother of Scarlet Vest-Gates, and grandson of Mary and Donald Yengich, and great-grandson of Ann and John Yengich and Rosemary and Francis Skubal. Your numerous aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, and your last love, Alysa Quintana, will miss you forever and for always. 

At your request, you will become one again with the groundwhile we, your loved ones, celebrate your life in a private ceremony in one of your favorite places, the San Isabel mountains. 

Fly, Ian. You are free.

"Wrap me in the weathers of the earth, I will be hard and hard. My face will turn rain like the stones.”

                                                                                                                          -Cormac McCarthy

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