Papers of Ray Nixon

Raymond David Nixon (1906-2001) was a public water and utilities administrator in Kansas and Colorado who was instrumental in developing a transmountain diversion water supply for the City of Colorado Springs. Nixon earned a degree in electrical engineering from Finlay Engineering College in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1926. He worked for the Coos Bay Lumber Company in Marshfield, Oregon, for two years before moving back to Herington, Kansas, where he was employed by several local electric companies. Nixon began his municipal career with the City of Herington, Kansas, from 1939 until 1949 as manager of utilities, and then for Trinidad, Colorado, as city manager and utility manager from 1949 to 1954. He started working for the City of Colorado Springs on July 16, 1954. His first position for the Colorado Springs Department of Utilities was assistant utilities manager, and he was promoted to utilities manager and then director of public utilities by April 1956. Nixon retired from that position in 1974. After his retirement, he consulted on water and electric projects in Colorado and Kansas.

Nixon was a registered professional engineer in the State of Colorado. His professional memberships included the Colorado River Water Users Association, the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District (SECWCD), the Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA), the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project Commission (Fry-Ark), and the Colorado Association of Municipal Utilities, among others. He served on the boards of both PERA from 1957 through 1974 and SECWCD from 1973 through 1991, including terms as vice president (1977-1979) and president (1980-1991). He was given several awards throughout his career, including the 1965 "Silver Spur" from the Pikes Peak Range Riders, the 1966 "Top Ten Public Works Men of the Year" by the American Public Works Association and Kiwanis International, the 1973 "Executive of the Year" from the Pikes Peak Chapter of the National Secretaries Association, International, and the 1988 Aspinall Award from the Colorado Water Congress.

Nixon was born on October 26, 1906, in Belleville, Kansas, to George William Nixon and Mary Ann Dickerman. He married Josephine Schmitz (1914-1994) in 1939. They had two children, son David George Nixon (b. 1940) and daughter Mary Jo Nixon (1949-2012). His namesake, the Ray D. Nixon Power Plant located near Fountain, Colorado, began production for the City of Colorado Springs Utilities in 1980. Nixon passed away at the age of 95 on November 7, 2001, in Colorado Springs.