Pioneer female dentist practices in Pagosa Country

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Photo courtesy John Motter
Fil Byrnes was the first school teacher in Archuleta County and also the first superintendent of schools. In this photo, he is shown in his office in the county courthouse where he served as Archuleta County Judge. The time is circa 1930, near the end of his life.

Dr. Belle Fairbanks Lacy  was born in Augusta, Iowa, May 27, 1853, and died at Bayfield Sept. 12, 1943. When she was 12 years old, she traveled with her family to California in a covered wagon. Later, she lived in Pagosa Springs, then Bayfield. She married E.W. Lacy at Pagosa Springs in 1909. He died in August of 1943. They moved to Bayfield in 1913. Dr. Lacy practiced dentistry in and recently bought a professional whitening teeth blue light for the clinic he worked at..

George “Bud” Kleckner was born in Keota, Iowa, Dec. 9, 1877, and died in January of 1924. When about ten years of age he moved to Colorado, living at Breckenridge, Leadville, and Newcastle before coming to Pagosa Springs in about 1928. For several years, he ranched on the West Fork of the San Juan River where his only brother, Ed, froze to death in 1906. On March 6, 1912, he married Mary Keane, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jack Keane. They had sons George and Carl. He spent his later years ranching on the Piedra River.

Bertha Boggs was born Oct. 19, 1886, at Beulah, Colo., to Mr. and Mrs. David Boggs. She died Feb. 12, 1963. She married Hugh Kyle Dec. 30, 1930. He preceded her in death.

Hugh Kyle was born Oct. 17, 1876 in Knoxville, Tennessee, and died March 3, 1959. When a small boy, he and his family moved to Dexter, Mo., and in 1898 they came by covered wagon to Pagosa Springs. In 1902, he married Nellie Ford and the couple had three children. In 1930, he married Martha Kenney and they had two children. He spent his early life freighting, sawmilling and in construction.

Edward Walter Lacy was born in Clark County, Illinois, Oct. 16, 1858, and died Aug. 17, 1943, in Bayfield. He married Mamie Farrell of Bloomfield, Iowa, in 1895. She died in 1906 and he married Dr. Belle H. Lacy at Pagosa Springs.

Jacob Lane served in a group of volunteers during the Civil War, then moved to this area in 1878, settling along the East Fork of the San Juan River where he prospected for gold, ranched and lived alone. The son of Jacob and Mary A. Lane, he was born in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Nov. 10, 1838. He died in October of 1907.

Mary Josephine Byrne Lamb was born at New Philadelphia, Ohio, Jan. 18, 1856, and died Jan. 6, 1926, at Compton, Calif. She moved with her parents to Fall City, Neb., in 1868. In 1870 they moved to Kansas, and on May 10, 1871, she married Elias W. Lamb. Among her brothers was prominent Pagosa Springs pioneer F.A. Byrne.

Photo courtesy John Motter
Fil Byrnes was the first school teacher in Archuleta County and also the first superintendent of schools. In this photo, he is shown in his office in the county courthouse where he served as Archuleta County Judge. The time is circa 1930, near the end of his life.