Jonathon C. West

Jonathon C. West passed away on February 18, 2023, at the age of 56 after ten months of battling bladder cancer. He was surrounded by his wife, Kristen Anderson, and two sons, Ben & Jaymin West at his home in Fort Collins, CO. He had been admitted to in-home hospice care two days prior. Despite the pain and severity associated with his disease, Jon kept an upbeat attitude until the end, even announcing his victory after outliving the original prognosis.

Jon was born on September 21, 1966, in Minneapolis, Minnesota to parents David and Sharon West. He grew up in Edina, MN with two older siblings, David and Christine West. He spoke fondly of his vacations and fishing trips to Northern Minnesota and Canada joined by family and friends. It was during his childhood when Jon was introduced to playing music, a passion which he would carry with him for his entire life.

He spent his first year of college at Arizona State University but soon transferred to the University of Minnesota, where he completed a Bachelor's degree in Geography. For a five month period between schools, he and a friend moved to Boston where he worked as a bike courier and attempted to start a band. During his time at the University of Minnesota, he met his former spouse Nancy, while on spring break in Winter Park, CO.

After graduation, Jon and Nancy got married in 1991, honeymooning in Norway. The pair first moved to Durango, Colorado but slowly made their way north to the Fort Collins area, where Jon would spend the rest of his life. Together, Jon and Nancy purchased property near Red Feather Lakes, CO in the Glacier View Meadows subdivision. They spent nearly a year building a log home with the gracious help of family and friends. Without any prior experience, Jon spent his evenings after work carefully learning the complicated craft of home building, even going so far as to install the electrical systems himself. It is this committed problem solving along with his calm demeanor for which Jon will be remembered.

Along with Nancy, he raised his boys in the log home. Jon worked tirelessly to maintain a work-life balance. Attending church, hauling water, and chopping wood took up most of his Sundays. He spent his career working in sales/account management for many companies along the front range, primarily selling printing solutions. Travel was often required for work and at times he commuted all the way to Denver daily, a two hour drive each way. Although free-time was scarce, he spent most of it studying, playing, and teaching music. While any instrument was within reach of Jon, guitar and drums were his staples. Jon just loved all things music, and he would travel with friends Ram, Bill, and Bartz to Austin City Limits (ACL) annually, taking in as many of the acts as possible. Everything from Willy Nelson to Lizzo. He and Nancy divorced in 2017, at which point Jon moved down the mountain to the Loveland/Fort Collins area. He worked in a sales development role with Crawford Technologies until Fall of 2022 when he went on disability leave as a result of his cancer.

In 2020, as the pandemic started, Jon met Kristen Anderson (Kristie) through Match.com and the pair hit it off instantly. Around the same time Jon arranged for his mother, Sharon to move from Minnesota to Colorado so he could care for her. Later, he arranged for her to move to an assisted living/memory care facility, where she resides today. Jon and Kristie had been an item since they met. Together they spent the pandemic taking long walks, hiking, and camping at the Anderson's property in North Park. They would occasionally travel to Mexico where Jon fell in love with relaxing beach vacations. Everything they did together they loved, especially the simple things like a coffee toast every morning (cheers!). The couple had many plans for their future, all of which were interrupted by Jon's cancer diagnosis.

In April of 2022, Jon was given what he called "the short straw news". He was diagnosed with metastatic small-cell carcinoma of the bladder– a very rare form of cancer with an unfortunate prognosis. After receiving the news, he shared that he was incredibly grateful for the life he was able to live and that he felt like he had cheated death a couple other times before.

Nonetheless, he was ready to put up a fight, and that he did. Jon went through many ups and downs during his 10-month treatment. He endured radiation therapy, various procedures and surgeries, chemotherapy, and multiple hospitalizations. He handled all of this with amazing strength. During his fight, he spent his days doing what he loved, which was performing and recording music with three separate groups; Canyon Echoes, The Harvestmen, and the Lone Pine Band. By January, Jon's cancer had spread to his brain and neurosurgery was required to remove the most serious of the tumors. The operation was a success and Jon was back to joking with Kristie, Ben, Jaymin, and the medical team after only a few hours. He exceeded everyone's expectations by walking the next day. Despite a successful procedure, the cancer grew more aggressive. Jon was accepting of this and made the most of his last month. He married Kristie on January 23rd, received visits from three of his lifelong best friends, and even spent a weekend with his siblings. On top of it all, he wrote an entire album of songs. He was so grateful that he was able to spend so much time with his sons over the last few years. Throughout this long process, Jon kept his faith in God close to him. He was home with Kristie and his sons at the time of his passing.

Jonathon will be survived by his wife Kristen Anderson, sons Ben and Jaymin, siblings Christine and David, as well as his mother Sharon. His family has scheduled his service for March 25, 2023, at Block One Events in Fort Collins. Please visit goesfuneralcare.com to share condolences with his family.