Kimberli Engel-Pearson

Kim Kinkade Engel-Pearson unexpectedly went to be with her heavenly father the morning of November 10, 2022, at her home in Angel Fire, New Mexico.

Kim was born to Jim and Norma Engel on November 11, 1964 in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Although she and her family moved to South Dakota and then to Dolores, Colorado, it was not before Kim acquired her life-long passion for hot New Mexican food and the landscapes of the American Southwest.

Growing up along the Dolores River, Kim’s early life was filled with memories of family gatherings and day trips with her grandparents, learning to ski with her family at Stoner, cutting Christmas trees, camping and waterskiing on Navajo Reservoir, and spending countless hours exploring the archeological sites and Jeep trails above the Dolores River Valley.

A modest person, one of Kim’s proudest accomplishments was when, along with her four “Colorado girlfriends,” they convinced the Dolores School board to authorize the formation of a girls junior high school basketball team, long before it was required by Title IX. At Dolores High School Kim, lettered in basketball and track & field in addition to winning numerous academic honors.

Kim was relentless in her pursuit of knowledge, often peppering everybody in her immediate vicinity with questions. College proved to be an opportunity to further her natural curiosity which manifested itself in the completion of at least 160 credit hours and five majors before she finally found where she belonged academically and graduated with a BA in History in 1988.

Not satisfied with an undergraduate degree, Kim returned to NAU in 1990 to pursue her MA in history. Upon graduating she took a job with the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and started her family. Once again feeling the pull of academia, Kim earned her certificate in scholarly publishing in 2005 and later, her Ph.D. in history from Arizona State University in 2013 where she defended her doctoral dissertation with honors. After attaining her doctorate, Kim embarked upon a career as a free-lance editor and authored several articles as well as an award-winning book, Writing Arizona, A Cultural and Environmental Chronicle 1912-2012, published in 2017 by the University of Oklahoma Press.

As she was contemplating returning for her Ph.D. she emailed one of her former colleagues in the NAU MA program, Byron Pearson, who was a professor of history at West Texas A&M University, and invited him to lunch on a summer’s day in 2006. Lunch lasted nine hours, marked the start of a long-distance dating relationship and, eventually, fourteen years of the happiest marriage they could have ever imagined. Kim and Byron’s time together was filled with laughter, adventures, time with our kids, and riveting conversations about everything from the use of the Chicago Manual of Style to the latest trade rumors related to her two favorite sports teams, the Phoenix Suns and the Denver Broncos. Although we are heartbroken, we are also comforted in the knowledge that she is in her heavenly father’s arms now…and that she is probably asking Him questions.

Kim was preceded in death by her grandparents Jack and Emma Kinkade of Dolores, her beloved mother Norma Jean Engel of Cortez, and her in-laws Ben and Kathryn Pearson of Amarillo, TX.

Kim  is survived by her husband, Byron, daughter, Cameron Frautnick of Gilbert, AZ; son, Zach Frautnick of Angel Fire; stepsons, Nate and Josh Pearson of Amarillo; her father, Jim Engel of Cortez; her brother and sister-in law, Larry and Julie Engel of Cortez; her niece, Abby Engel of Portland, OR; her nephews, Aron Engel of Cortez and Jason Engel, of Grand Junction; and innumerable additional family members, friends, and acquaintances everywhere whose lives she touched.

Kim’s memorial service will be held on Saturday, December 10 at 11:00 at the Dolores Methodist Church located at 105 N 8th St. in Dolores followed by a reception in the fellowship hall. A private gathering for family and close friends will take place at Lizard Head Pass immediately after the reception, to scatter Kim’s ashes in accordance with her wishes, weather and road conditions permitting.

In lieu of flowers, our family asks that you consider making a donation to Hospice of Montezuma which has provided loving final care to numerous members of Kim’s family.

Arrangements by Rivera Family Funeral Home. To share a memory, please visit our website at www.riverafuneralhome.com