Guy Frank Tabor, Jr. was born on Feb 27th 1927 in Charleston, SC, the only child of Lillian Margret (Rebecca Deters) and Quarter Master Sergeant Guy Frank Tabor, USMC. Shortly thereafter, his father was assigned to Managua, Nicaragua, and he and his mother followed. They were forced to evacuate when Managua suffered an earthquake and volcanic eruption which destroyed the town. The were transported by ship through the Panama Canal and arrived at their next duty station of Quantico, Virginia, when Guy was about 5 years old. Around his 3rd grade year, they were assigned to the naval powder factory at Indian Head, MD. A year later, they made the move to Parris Island, where they settled in for the remainder of his father’s military duties.
Guy got involved in the Boy Scouts there on base, and had many adventures there. Once, a few of them found a bunker and were discovered handling loaded weapons! And at camp once, they were invaded by wild turkeys! Guy graduated from Beaufort High School in May 1943, and by June was attending college at
the Citadel. Then he enlisted in the Marine Corp in Feb 1945, at the age of 18. He reported for duty in March 1945 and was on board a ship headed for China by December, via the Panama Canal and Pearl Harbor. He served in Teinsin, China until Sept 1946, when he shipped back to Paris Island, via San Diego. When he arrived back at The Citadel, classes had already started, but with the help of a friend in the registrars office, was able to jump in where he left off in 1945. Guy excelled with the rifle, and was on the Citadel Rifle team, earning a letter sweater for his accomplishments.
Enter Emily Glen Rollins, a teacher and the love of his life. They met on a blind date in 1947, arranged by Glen’s cousin Dell. They drove to the beach on a double date with Dell and her friend. They continued dating throughout his remaining years at the Citadel.
Upon graduating in May of 1949, 2Lt Guy F Tabor, Jr, USAR was sent to Wisconsin for reserves summer camp. All the officers were sent on a “compass march”, where each man was given a compass, distances and coordinates, and sent out one by one to see if/when they would reach the appointed destination. Guy was one of the last to start, and while he was waiting, he had calculated the destination, and rather than follow
the directions, went straight to the finish line, beating all the other officers! He was awarded the “Chief Shortcutter” badge!
Once he got home, his father challenged him to get a job right away. While he had several options, he chose a job with the Army Corp of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation in Denver, Colorado. By December of 1949, he was quite lonely. He wrote a letter to Glen asking her if she would prefer to come out to Denver and get married, or wait until he had vacation in October and he could come back and get married. She said she’d come, /£ he had a ring waiting for her when she got off the train! He did, and they were married the day after she arrived in Denver, on Feb 11th, 1950! Their first child, Carl, came along on March 7th, 1951.
At the Bureau, Guy started on a rotation program, where he worked in soils, then dams and then in structural. He decided to stay in soils, and took a job with the firm HNTB, and transferred to Maine, where h e worked on the Maine turnpike. It was while they were in Maine that the twins were born. Rebecca Glen and Carey Guy arrived on July 7th, 1954. His work then took the family to New Jersey, where he worked on the New Jersey turnpike. They rented a home in Avenel, and then bought a home in Fords, NJ. In 1959, they made their final move, back to Denver, where Guy took a job with Woodward Clyde fit Assoc. His challenge was working with the swelling clay of Colorado. Many homes had cracks so wide he could put his arm through, and he was assigned the task of helping to resolve this issue.
Guy had many fascinating jobs which took him around the world. He worked on a submerged oil pipeline from the bay of Thailand’s Esso refinery to an offshore anchorage where tankers could load the oil. In Regina, Saskatchewan he helped build a storage facility for the potash they were mining with hot water, 100 feet below the surface. At Hoover Dam he aided in the construction of a transmission line. Closer to home, he worked on the tailings dams at the Climax molybdenum mine, and at the Urad mine just above Empire,
CO. He spent the last 10 years with the firm in Quality Assurance, and retired in 1997.
Meanwhile, Guy had been volunteering as a Chaplain at Swedish Medical Center. Over the years, he had many interesting encounters with people at different stages of health and faith, and it had an incredible impact on his life.
In 1984, he and Glen purchased a share of a home in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, and for over 20 years they travelled there, entertaining many family members and friends….so much so that it became to them like a second home. They finally sold their share in the home in 2007, when it was apparent they could no longer travel, due to the severity of Glen’s health issues. Caring for his lovely wife of over 50 years has been Guy’s most rewarding job of all.
Guy passed into eternity on June 5th, 2014 at home in Littleton Colorado with his family by his side. Guy was preceded in death by his youngest son, Carey in 2001 from acute leukemia and by his bride Glen on November 5th, 2008 from COPD.
He will be greatly missed!
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