Al McErquiaga, 10, (far right) on July 4, 1952 with his father, Bruno (center), Grandpa Groves, and his sister, Beverly.

Al, a very handsome young man, was despondent because his wife, married just three years before in 1968, Winnemucca, NV, divorced him on October 28, 1971 in Reno, Washoe, NV; so, on his 34th birthday, he parked his car in the middle of the main road to Winnemucca from Paradise Valley, Nevada, where he grew up and took his life with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Al (aka Marcuerquiaga), a native of Paradise Valley, NV, he was born April 19, 1942, in nearby Winnemucca. He attended Paradise Valley School with his sister, Beverly, and uncle/classmate/friend Dale Shadoan through 8th grade, then made the trip to Winnemucca to attend high school, and graduated from Humboldt County High School in 1960.

He was the first boy to win the All-Around Cowboy Award at the Nevada State High School Rodeo (NSHSRA), the state level of the National High School Rodeo Association (NHSRA) in 1960. He had been active in amateur rodeos in Nevada, Idaho and California.

At the time of his death, he was a construction laborer. Al was a member of St. Paul's Catholic Church and the Nevada Cowboys Association.

Al was the son of Bruno B. McErquiaga, Jr. (1911-2011) and Dale Shadoan's half-sister, Carol Conger McErquiaga (1924-2013), who also had three daughters -- two older than Al, and one younger.

Surviving was his daughter, Karla McErquiaga of Reno, NV; his ex-wife, Kathleen McErquiaga, his parents, his sisters: Beverly Pollock (Gary) of Fillmore, UT; Rita Horn (Billy) of Battle Mountain; and Cathi Tipton (Ken) of Winnemucca; his grandmother, Mrs. Pearl Hayes of Winnemucca; his aunts and uncles, his nieces and nephews: Kelly Pollock (Tammy), Larry Pollock, Karia Fiscus (Mike), Tennille Whitaker (Willy), Tara Tipton, and Halley Tipton, and his great-nephews & great-nieces: Mitch Pollock, Daniel Pollock, Anthony Hunter, Gracie Fiscus, Hank Whitaker, and Molly Whitaker, and numerous other nieces and nephews.

Al's paternal grandparents were:
Bruno B. McErquiaga (1874-1947) and Candida Irazusta McErquiaga (1882-1968).

AL McERQUIAGA, Rodeo Cowboy Champ - 13 Jun 1960 - Reno Gazette-Journal

6-8-1960 Reno News - AL McERQUIAGA, Winnemucca HS Rodeo Contestant (future All-Around Cowboy Champ of Rodeo!)

May 1960 - AL McERQUIAGA '60 of PV signed for Draft, probably serving in Vietnam.
He and Kathleen Fagg divorced on October 28, 1971, Washoe, NV. On 12-11-1971, she married John Malcolm Edmiston; 4-30-1983 Donald Gutman; 9-1999 Todd Alan Solomon