Derald Verne Mayfield

Derald Verne Mayfield, 87, passed away in Boulder, Colorado on October 19, 2021. Born in Loyalton, California and raised in Camas, Washington, Derald was the son of the late Voltaire (Bill) and Vera Mayfield. Upon graduating Washington State University with a Mechanical Engineering degree, he married his high school sweetheart, Nancy Jo Haglund, in June 1957. They started their 58 years of life together in southern California with Derald employed by Shell Chemical. A couple years later, they relocated to the Sacramento area. Here Derald spent a long career in the aerospace industry working for Aerojet. His legacy project was the rockets they build for the NASA Space Shuttle project. While in Sacramento, they raised their three children: Melinda, Teresa and Douglas. Derald and Nancy retired to Loveland, Colorado in 1997 after being in California for 40 years. Derald was an avid fan for his local sports teams: the Oakland A’s while in California and the Denver Broncos while in Colorado. He loved his house on the lake in Loveland and enjoyed making lots of improvements to it, including finishing-out the basement. Together they spent time in the Rocky Mountains, which were practically in their back yard. They loved taking road trips to visit National Parks, friends and family via their Big Blue car. However, his favorite car of all time was his 1983 cherry red T-top Camaro he got on his 50 birthday. He proudly drove that car around with his personalized DVM50 license plate. We still have his license plate today. Their trips on Princess Cruises through the Panama Canal, Alaska and Hawaii were a joy for them. They also cherished seeing their grandchildren grow up and attended as many of their activities as they could, especially sporting events. His blue eyes sparkled when he playfully teased his grandchildren and entertained neighbors and family members with his stories of the past and present. He truly enjoyed getting to know everyone. In addition to his parents, Derald is preceded in death by his wife Nancy, his daughter Teresa Mayfield and his brother Eugene Mayfield. Derald is survived by his daughter Melinda Ferris (Michael), his son Douglas Mayfield (Mandi), six grandchildren (Matthew, Megan, Dustin, Lauren, Rider and Ryan) and his brother Glenn (Speed) Mayfield (Barb). In lieu of flowers, charitable donations can be made in Derald’s honor to: American Heart Association http://www.heart.org