Delmar Hoyt Colby was born in the pantry of his grandmother Moser in Riverton, Nebraska. As soon as the family could travel, they returned to their homestead in Maysdorf, Wyoming, a tiny town with a Post Office about 40 miles south of Gillette. His uncle Bob Colby and his family lived nearby. When he was only three, his mother passed away and his father, Clarence moved the family back to Riverton. His family called him Hoyt, but he developed a reputation as an energetic and scrappy boy and he was called “Salty” by his friends and classmates. He trapped small animals and rattlesnakes for bounty and attended the local school in Riverton. During the Depression, Hoyt tried his luck at riding freight trains and worked for a wile in The Dalles, Oregon on the farm of his old neighbors, the Iversons. Later, he loaded his father Clarence and family friend Arch Rasser into the Model A Ford, tied a mattress on top and moved them all to California via the newly built “Lincoln Highway”. The men worked at harvesting potatoes for famer Alex Brown in the California Delta, and later picked seasonal fruit and worked on WPA road crews. Hoyt also did some amateur boxing under the name of “The Nebraska Wildcat”.
Hoyt met his future wife Virgene at the Hippodrome roller skating rink in her home town of Long Beach, shortly before joining the U. S. Coast Guard for service during the war. Hoyt and Virgene were married on May 29, 1943, in a civil ceremony at Los Angeles California. He wore his Coast Guard Uniform and she wore a Navy-Blue suit. The bride’s maternal grandmother was her witness. After the war, the couple built a house in the rapidly-growing suburb of Compton. After delivering mail for a time, Hoyt found a job as a mechanic for the U. S. Army at Fort McArthur in San Pedro. The Colbys welcomed a daughter in 1947 and a son in 1951. Hoyt ended his career by working for the Federal Government at DECASA, a contracting agency.
The Colbys moved to Shingletown, California in 1976 and when they felt they were getting tired of snow, the moved to Yuma, Arizona to enjoy the warm weather They had acquired many friends during years of Square and Round Dancing and added even more friends who were their new neighbors. They enjoyed traveling in their motorhome, visiting the local date farm for a milkshake, and camping with friends in "Senator Wash". After a long illness, Delmar Hoyt Colby passed away peacefully at home on January 5, 2009.