Honestly, finding Canon City CO obituaries used to be as simple as walking to the end of the driveway and picking up the morning paper. You’d flip to the back pages, scan the names, and know exactly who the community was mourning. But times have changed. Now, between paywalls, disappearing local archives, and the way digital records are scattered across five different websites, tracking down a recent passing or a piece of family history in Fremont County feels like a part-time job.
It’s frustrating. You’re often looking for these records during a time of grief or high stress. Maybe you need the details for a service at Lakeside Cemetery, or perhaps you're just trying to verify a date for a legal document. Whatever the reason, the "old way" of just checking one spot doesn't really work anymore.
The Reality of Searching for Canon City CO Obituaries Today
The first thing you have to realize is that there isn't one "master list." In a town like Canon City, the record of someone’s life is usually split between the local funeral homes and the newspaper archives.
If the person passed away recently—we’re talking within the last week or month—your best bet isn’t actually Google. It’s the funeral homes directly. Holt Family Funeral Home on Macon Avenue and Wilson Funeral Home on South 9th Street handle the vast majority of local arrangements. They maintain their own digital "tribute walls." These are usually more detailed than what you’ll find in the paper because they include photo galleries, video tributes, and direct links to send flowers.
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For example, a recent notice for Robert "Bob" Muth, a Marine Corps veteran who passed in January 2026, was fully documented on the Holt Family site before it hit the wider news aggregators. If you're looking for someone specific, start with these local business sites first. They are free to access, unlike many newspaper archives.
Why the Daily Record Archive is Tricky
The Canon City Daily Record has been the paper of record for a long time. However, their digital archives can be a bit of a maze.
- Paywalls: Often, you can see a headline but need a subscription to read the full life story.
- Indexing Gaps: Sometimes a name is misspelled in the digital scan, making it invisible to a standard search.
- Third-Party Hosting: Many of their older records (from 2009 onwards) are hosted through NewsBank or Legacy.com.
If you are looking for a death notice from the 1980s or 90s, you’re likely going to need to visit the Royal Gorge Regional Museum and History Center or the Canon City Public Library. They have the microfilm. Yes, it’s old school, but it’s the only way to find records that haven't been digitized yet.
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Beyond the Name: What Most People Get Wrong
Most people search for a first and last name and stop there. If that doesn't work, they assume the obituary doesn't exist. That's a mistake.
In Fremont County, many residents live in the "outlying" areas like Penrose, Florence, or even Guffey. An obituary for a Penrose resident might be listed under Canon City because that’s where the funeral home was located. I’ve seen cases where a family chose to publish in the Pueblo Chieftain instead because the deceased had deeper roots there. Always widen your geographic net by about 40 miles if the local search comes up empty.
Social Media and the "New" Obituary
Kinda weird to think about, but Facebook has become a massive repository for Canon City CO obituaries. Local community groups—those "What's Happening in Canon City" style pages—often share news of a passing hours or days before an official notice is written. While these aren't "official" records, they often contain the "why" and "how" that official obituaries leave out.
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Actionable Steps for Your Search
If you are currently trying to locate a record, follow this specific order to save yourself some time:
- Check the Big Two: Visit the websites for Holt Family Funeral Home and Wilson Funeral Home. These are updated in real-time.
- Search Legacy.com: This site aggregates from the Daily Record and other Colorado newspapers. It’s a good catch-all.
- The "Maiden Name" Trick: If you are searching for a woman and can't find her, search using her maiden name or even her husband's name (e.g., "Mrs. John Doe"). Older records in Fremont County archives frequently used this format.
- Contact the Museum: If you're doing genealogy, the Royal Gorge Regional Museum and History Center at 612 Royal Gorge Blvd is gold. They have local newspaper records dating back to the 1800s.
- Verify with the City: For burial locations specifically, the City of Canon City manages Lakeside Cemetery. You can contact the City Clerk’s office if you need to find a specific plot but can't find the written obituary.
The digital divide is real in small towns. Some families choose not to publish a formal obituary at all due to the rising costs of newspaper space. In those cases, the only permanent public record might be the death certificate held by the Fremont County Department of Public Health and Environment.
To get a certified copy of a death record for legal reasons, you'll need to prove you are a direct relative. But for the stories, the "who they were" part of the history, the local libraries and the memories shared on funeral home walls remain your best resources.