Industry leader Denis Arey passes

Denis Arey, long-time salesman for Justin Boot Company, passes.

August 30, 2018

2 Min Read
Beef logo in a gray background | Beef

August 12, 1960 – August 22, 2018

Denis Arey was born and raised in Colorado and graduated from Sheridan High School in 1978. In his younger days he was a member of Little Britches Rodeo, Tri-County High School Rodeo Assn. and the Arapaho County FFA where he was president from 1977- 1978. He graduated from Northeastern Junior College with a degree in Agri-Business in 1980.

He stumbled into his calling as a salesman working for Miller Stockman, which he successfully turned into a career. He married his wife Laurie in 1982 and they moved to Reno, Nev., where he opened the Reno Miller Stockman store. They then moved on to California where he was a group store manager. Moving on from his retail career, he started as a sales representative in 1992 working for Biltmore Hats and Crumrine buckles and jewelry through 1995. In 1992 he also became one of the first salesmen to pioneer a new line of boots for a company called Ariat. During his time with Ariat he received the top sales award five years in a row.

In 2000 he landed his dream job, working for the top boot company in the Western industry, Justin Boot Co., the Big Red J. During his tenure at Justin he had the honor of achieving salesman of the year in both 2006 and 2009. He loved being part of the team at Justin and lived his life exemplifying the meaning of “ride for the brand”. There wasn’t a vacation taken that didn’t involve rodeo, sales calls or other promotional opportunities for Justin. He was proud to call his many talented sales associates both within and outside of Justin, friend, brother, sister, family.

Arey has been member of the Western & English Sales Assn. (WESA) since 1992. He served on the WESA board of directors from 1997 – 2012 and was president from 1999- 2000 and chairman of the board from 2001 – 2002.

He enjoyed life to the fullest and truly lived his dreams. He enjoyed riding his Tennessee Walker “Chief”, being Trail Boss for our riding group and riding the many happy trails found out behind our house and other rides throughout Colorado and New Mexico. He also loved golf, rodeo, ranch rodeo and sports like NASCAR and of course football and the Dallas Cowboys.

A Celebration of Life will be held Saturday, September 15, 2018 at 10:30 am at the Penrose Equestrian Event Center and Stadium. In lieu of flowers donations can be made to: The Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund online @ justincowboycrisisfund.org.

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