Bill Ziegler, Roaring Fork snowplow operator, dies at 66

Rifle —The snowplow didn’t just clear the road; it carved a path through the winter isolation of the Roaring Fork Valley, and Bill Ziegler knew every bump in that route. For 23 years, he was the heavy equipment operator who kept Woody Creek and Lenado accessible, often pulling double duty on Christmas mornings when most of the rest of the valley was still asleep under the covers. He didn’t just show up. He showed up.

Bill Ziegler, 66, passed away peacefully on July 29, 2026, at the Rifle VA Community Living Center, according to his obituary published by the Post Independent. His wife, Claudia, was by his side. It’s a quiet end for a man who spent decades making noise — firing M60 machine guns in Germany, running heavy machinery through Colorado’s rugged terrain, and managing the family’s W/J Ranch. But the noise of his life was always in service of something steadier: keeping things moving, keeping people fed, keeping the family together.

Born in Ocala, Florida, in 1959, Bill moved to Aspen in the mid-1970s. That’s where the roots took hold. He attended Aspen High School, where he excelled in football and wrestling, and met Tammy Tacker. They married in 1977, and soon after, Bill enlisted in the U.S. Army. He served five years with the 3rd Infantry Division’s engineer battalion in Germany. He wasn’t just standing guard on the East German border; he was an M60 machine gunner who genuinely enjoyed firing the “Pig,” a nickname for the heavy weapon that became an extension of his own strength.

That discipline followed him home. He and Tammy raised their three sons — Jimmy, Justin, and Johnny, in the Roaring Fork Valley, even after their marriage ended. Bill didn’t disappear into the background of a divorce. He stayed committed to co-raising the boys, a stability that allowed the family to thrive even as structures shifted. Later, he married Emily Gurlue, and together they managed the W/J Ranch, continuing a legacy started by his parents, Bob and Marilyn Ziegler. They moved to Carbondale, where Bill owned the Green Thumb flower shop, proving he could handle delicate blooms just as well as he could handle diesel and steel.

His career in public works was defined by a specific kind of reliability. As a heavy equipment operator for the Pitkin County Road and Bridge Department, he plowed snow on weekends and holidays. Feinsinger wrote in the Post Independent that he was known for his strong work ethic and dependability. He took pride in providing for his family, a trait that carried him through retirement and into a new chapter at Colorado Mountain College, where he earned an Instrumentation Technician certificate before moving into the gas and oil industry.

But the part everyone skips past is the quiet intimacy of his later years. He married Claudia on February 4, 2011, and they built a life of travel and adventure, including memorable trips to Brazil. They lived in Las Vegas before health issues brought them back to Rifle. Bill loved Westerns, classic war movies, and World War II history. He loved Chinese food. He was a proud National Rifle Association member who taught his children firearm safety not as a duty, but as a responsibility.

His family treasures the homemade sleds and the “rock runs” in the snowplow. They remember being picked up after snowstorms for early morning breakfasts at the Hickory House. They remember the special 7-Eleven dinners that felt like feasts. Those weren’t grand gestures. They were the everyday moments that made him who he was. Stand there long enough and you realize that Bill Ziegler wasn’t just a man who operated machines. He was the man who made sure the roads were clear so you could get to the breakfast you loved, with the people you loved, on a morning when the rest of the world was still dark.