Remembering those we lost in 2024

Remembering those we lost in 2024

Sara Sandstrom

PEAK TO PEAK - Each year we take pause to remember those we love and have lost in the year that has passed. Not everyone places an obituary in The Mountain-Ear so this is not a complete list of community members who have walked on in 2024. 

Someone misses everyone listed here. Someone smiles at the memory of everyone listed here. May the wonderful memories continue to warm the hearts of loved ones and those who grieve. 

Shawn Clutter passed away unexpectedly on January 8, 2024. He was a loving father, grandfather, and dear friend. He moved to Gilpin County around 2009. He had recently retired to Arizona where he was happily raising goats and chickens. 

He will be greatly missed by family and friends who remember his generous heart, his infectious laugh, and his constant willingness to help family and friends.

Gregory “Toastie” Neil Post passed away on January 21, 2024. He grew up in Oregon and Iowa. His family vacationed in Colorado and that is when he fell in love with the state. When he moved to Nederland roofing became his trade. He lived in Nederland for over 30 years. 

During his life he also enjoyed bowling, playing the guitar, singing, and crafting stained glass. He especially loved fishing. 

Greg was affectionately known as “Toastie” to many of his friends. 

He is survived by two sons, three grandchildren, and two brothers. 

Ethel Annette Schneider passed away peacefully in her home on February 11, 2024. In her life she had owned a hotel and restaurant, raised five children, and been a medical laboratory technologist. 

They moved to Nederland in 1982. While living in Nederland, Annette was very active in the Nederland Lions Club. 

Annette had a smile for everyone she met and the most caring heart ever as a mother, grandmother and friend. Her children and grandchildren were especially important to her. She loved spending time with family and friends. She is missed by all those who knew and loved her. 

Tim Whited passed away peacefully in his cherished mountain home in Nederland, Colorado, after a valiant battle with cancer on February 17, 2024. 

Tim was born and raised in Illinois, but longed to live in the mountains. And so he went to the mountains. He started his own business and raised a family with his wife Pat. 

A passionate car collector and enthusiast, Tim and Pat found great joy in various car auctions and car shows across the country for over 20 years. 

Tim’s legacy will continue to resonate in the hearts and minds of those fortunate enough to have known him. He was an adventurer, achiever, mentor, husband, father and friend. 

Kyle James Stroud, passed away on February 2, 2024.

Kyle grew up in the mountains of Colorado where he shone bright as an extraordinary athlete. Throughout his life Kyle rode and raced competitively in Motocross, traveling with his family across the country and winning many accolades in the sport.

He had a deep love for the great outdoors. He enjoyed camping, fishing, and gardening. He also loved dogs. Kyle was a talented master carpenter who had successfully owned his own business for nearly a decade. 

Kyle had an unforgettable spirit, a strong personality, and a heart of gold. He will be dearly missed by all who were touched by his love.

Charles Thomas Morgan died on March 19, 2024, at the home he built on Uncle Charlie’s Ranch in Wideawake, Colorado. 

Char purchased his property in Wideawake, Colorado, in 1999 where his discovery of the water led to his “retirement” on his infamous Uncle Charlie’s Ranch. Charlie shared his love of his Ranch with so many; The Wolf Sanctuary, The Buffalo Sanctuary, as well as many outdoor events for all to gather and enjoy his beautiful land.

Charlie was passionate about car restoration, helping anyone that he could with his Wideawake water and was endlessly devoted to his wife Diane as well as his family, friends, animals and anyone who needed his help.

Robert Manes passed away on February 16, 2024. He loved Nederland. Robert was Choctaw and proud of his heritage. He enjoyed reading SciFi, and camping. Robert leaves behind a huge family. 

Robert will always be greatly missed by his family and friends. May the Great Spirit always walk with you, May Father Sky always look over you, and May Mother Earth always help you to stand strong upon Her.

Atashnaa “Medicine Shield” Werner, an adventurous, kind, and sensitive woman who found her spiritual home among the natural beauty and people of the mountain communities of Colorado, in Ward, Colorado, on Tuesday, April 9, 2024. 

Atashnaa was active in Nederland civic groups, including the Nederland Historical Society, Mountain Peak Life Seniors, PROSAB, and Nederland Food Pantry. She also had a passionate interest in promoting elder housing.

On Pine Ridge Oglala Indian Reservation, she directed the Buffalo Heart Project, providing winter heat assistance and clothing to needy families. She participated in the Tunshunka Witco Wiwangi Wacipi (Crazy Horse Sun Dance) outside of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, and moved into a role organizing the community kitchen to feed the people. She carried a canupa wakan (sacred pipe) and followed traditional Lakota values as best she could, aka Chanku Luta (the Red Road). Those who knew her well knew her character, spirit, and heart.

Jay R. Burlingame, passed away unexpectedly of natural causes at his home in Gilpin County on March 11, 2024.

He was the older brother to Shane Burlingame and father of Jami, Jasmine and Colton Burlingame. 

Jay’s legacy is one of love for his family and being a caring friend. He will be remembered for the countless lives he enriched during his time on earth. The memories he created will forever remain in our hearts.

Jay’s presence will be deeply missed.

Patrick McCarthy passed away on Wednesday, May 29, 2024, with his wife and children by his side. 

Patrick moved to Colorado in the 1970s, first to Nederland and then to Longmont. He raised a family, and started a business. Patrick, a former drummer, was also a poet, song writer, and musician, as he played guitar solo as well as in a duo.

In retirement he and his wife took time to travel and explore the beauty of nature he loved so much. He truly loved traveling to Utah, Arizona, California and so many other places. They travelled to the Pacific Northwest and down to Mexico, as well as to the Atlantic and the Gulf. 

Patrick was a funny man, witty and known for his “dad jokes”. He loved golf and Impala cars and enjoyed cruising main street in his Impala.

He is survived by a large family.

Betty Joe Porter died on June 28, 2024, after a short illness. She and her husband Dale moved to Nederland in retirement. While in Nederland Betty served on the town planning commission and town board, serving twice as mayor pro tem. 

In 2018 she and Dale moved to Longmont and were among the first members of the Village Co-operative, a senior co-housing community. There she headed the marketing committee and became known for her compulsive knitting and creative quilting. Having lived in Mexico in the ‘70s, she continued her study of Spanish, which aided her volunteer work as a teacher of immigrants in Michigan and Colorado.

Betty was a vital part of her family who misses her dearly and community. She will be cherished for her remarkable character and spirit.

Tom M. Miller died of natural causes at his home in Rollinsville, on July 3, 2024. 

His parents worked in the U.S. foreign service. With their wanderlust, they traveled extensively and moved frequently. Tom went to school in Iran, Honduras, Ecuador, and Nigeria. He graduated from high school in Arizona. 

His college days included college in Germany, Switzerland, and University of Colorado at Boulder, where he graduated.

After college, among other work, he co-owned and operated a leather shop in Boulder. In the 1980s, he escaped to the wild, elemental Rocky Mountains which he loved so much. He embraced the Colorado mountain life and left the flat land.

His passion for animals, love of nature, appreciation of deep silence, reflection, and the inner life nurtured him. Tom valued loyalty, integrity, kindness, humility, and loved his cabin, his mountain friends and community in Gilpin County and Nederland. 

In his quest for knowledge, Tom obtained certification as a paralegal and worked as a paralegal for more than two decades, practicing with his sister. His love of reading, research, and attention to details served him well in this field.

Yoga was an important pursuit; he was a regular yoga student at the yoga studio in Nederland. He loved hiking, walking, birding, and contemplating the mystery of the mountains.

Tom, in his humility, his commitment to nonviolence, and with his quirky sense of humor, made the world a much better place.

David “Big Dave” Lindberg of Black Hawk, Colorado, died on July 16, 2024.

Dave was a loving and generous man who loved the outdoors. He liked to hunt, and grow his veggie garden. Dave loved welding and making his art. He loved riding dirt bikes and his Harley, and he absolutely loved the Green Bay Packers. Dave also loved his dogs and cats.

Dave loved his family and friends and would do anything to make their world a little better. When Dave married Tracy, he took in her three children as if they were his own, creating a bond with them and making many memories and teachable moments. 

Dave believed in a good handshake to close a deal. Dave was loved by many; he will be deeply missed by all who knew him.

Jean Ann Fischer passed away on July 30, 2024, in Estes Park, Colorado.

Jean’s family moved to Denver, Colorado, when she was 4 1/2 years old and they moved to Grand Junction, Colorado, when she started high school. Jean came back to Denver for college at the University of Denver where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in Mathematics and Education followed by a Master’s Degree in Guidance & Counseling. 

Jean’s successful teaching and counseling career was in Denver, Colorado, at the high school level. Then she transitioned to work in the private sector and moved to Nederland, Colorado, and later moved to Estes Park, Colorado, where she resided for 35 years.

Hobbies included snow skiing and water skiing. Jean said that it was a joy to live next door to and enjoy the Rocky Mountain National Park for 35 years of her life.

 Jean would say that “the only thing that really means anything, and gives you joy, is to surround yourself with people you like, people you admire, and people you love. Choose people rather than projects.” Jean would like to share a big THANK YOU with all the folks who contributed so much joy and pleasure to her life.

David Hall passed away peacefully in his sleep on August 10, 2024. 

David studied and worked as a field archaeologist. When he settled in Nederland, Colorado, he helped start and manage the natural foods store, Mountain People’s Co-op. 

While living in a teepee, he became an avid gardener, known for growing greens and garlic. He also started building his house. Knowing very little about carpentry at the time, he started with the foundation because he knew how to dig. He then collected building materials to reuse, including a bowling-alley floor that became a beautiful countertop. Years later, he took an interest in watches and clocks and eventually repaired clocks professionally in the Boulder/Denver area.

He and his wife Dana later moved to Michigan where she had accepted a faculty position in the Humanities Department at Michigan Technological University. Since then, he has stridently advocated with the Copper Country Recycling Initiative (CCRI), for curbside recycling and for crosswalks. He has created a beautiful home and garden. 

In recent years, he found great joy in travelling, especially to Edinburgh, Scotland, where he loved to ramble around the city and its many parks for hours every day. He wrote beautifully about these travels to family and friends.

As he wrote in a family email some years ago, “Do something good in your own neighborhood/community to spread love.” 

James (Jim) Robert Miller, died September 4, in a traffic accident in northern Wyoming. Jim was a Colorado native and three-term mayor of Nederland, Colorado. 

A longtime resident of Nederland, Jim started the custom jewelry business Master Goldsmiths in 1970. Jim sold Master Goldsmiths in 2006 and retired to Salida to be near some of his grandchildren. 

A sometimes controversial figure, his proudest achievements as mayor of Nederland were being a key proponent of the transformation of the old elementary school into the Nederland Community Center and presiding over the first “Frozen Dead Guy Days.”

Nancelia Elizabeth Scott Jackson passed away on Sunday, August 18, 2024, in Denver, Colorado, not quite making it to 100. She is best known in Gilpin County for being the granddaughter of William Pitts and the mother of retired judge Gary Jackson.

Nancelia was born October 27, 1924, in Chicago, Illinois. Nancelia and her family migrated to Denver in 1926 from segregated Missouri and Illinois looking for better opportunities. Those opportunities included her grandfather, William Pitts, who was born into slavery in Missouri, building three homes in North Cherry Creek and a family cabin called Zephyr View in historic Lincoln Hills.

Growing up, Nancelia would spend summers at Zephyr View and attended the YMCA camp for African American girls called Nizhoni (Navajo for beautiful) that was next to Lincoln Hills.

At the age of fourteen, Nancelia started keeping a daily diary of her experiences at Lincoln Hills and kept it up throughout her life. Her journals are now being digitized for the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington D.C.

Throughout her life, Nancelia was known for her letter-writing when she saw injustice. Those letters were sent to college presidents, mayors, governors and the Colorado Supreme Court Justices.

At age 99, Nancelia’s dream of a family reunion was realized when, on July 20, 2024, 71 family members gathered together at Zephyr View cabin in Lincoln Hills to celebrate her trailblazing life. The celebration included the receipt of a letter written to Nancelia at her Lincoln Hills mailing address from Vice President Kamala Harris, congratulating her on a job well done.

Tim Hannon, a long-time Eldora resident, died August 16, 2024. Tim didn’t lead a life that is easily encapsulated in an obituary. His life’s work was loving the mountains and the plants and animals that lived there, which he did very well.

He discovered a world he loved when he rolled into Nederland in the early 1980s. The vibe, the people, and most of all, the astounding beauty spoke to him. He had found his people and his home.

In the summer, he hiked and hiked and hiked. He knew the Indian Peaks Wilderness trails and lakes well. Every winter, he delighted in watching the snowdrift outside his cabin grow. He loved cross-country skiing up Fourth of July Road and on the secret trails that only Eldorans know.

A person of simple material needs, he hiked with a simple canvas rucksack and a 40-year-old canteen. He rarely bought anything new. 

Tim’s social circle was small, but he was loyal to those who were in it. If a bear broke into a friend’s cabin, he cleaned up the mess. If it snowed especially hard, he’d show up with a shovel. If a moose appeared in the neighborhood, he’d call neighbors so they could stick their heads out the window and see it too. He picked up other people’s trash, both figuratively and literally, and was meticulous about leaving the wilderness the way he found it.

The family asks that those who wish to honor Tim in some way, do so by fighting to keep the mountains beautiful and Nederland a refuge for the people who just don’t quite fit in the regular world.

Alfred H. Arias, 84, passed away at home on September 20, 2024. 

He grew up in an extremely close and loving family, and learned values that he carried and shared throughout his life. The Arias family moved to Colorado and Al told many stories of working on the family farm in Sterling. He went to East High School in Denver and then pursued a career in the culinary arts. He was skilled in several cuisines, and worked at the Ridgeway Inn and Swiss Bells in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. His career took him to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he worked at La Fonda’s, a Japanese restaurant, and owned a fish and chip shop.

He made his way back to Colorado and became the Head Chef at the Black Forest Inn in Black Hawk. He mastered German cooking, and created exceptional dishes, as his friends and family can attest! 

In 1999, Al and Deb went into partnership with Bill and Kay Lorenz to move the Black Forest Restaurant to Nederland, Colorado. He loved being a chef, met countless lifelong friends and would joke that he was a Mexican cooking German food.

Al loved living in the mountains and after retirement he focused on his other passions in the outdoors and creative arts. He loved spending time outside, skiing, working with flowers and landscaping, as well as painting and woodworking. He enjoyed watching game shows, old movies, and all sports. His greatest joy was spending time with his family and friends, playing pool, and Denver Broncos football.

Al radiated love, joy, and happiness which he spread to everyone he met and will be cherished by his family and friends forever. Remember him in the garden of memories where he will be forever treasured.

Elizabeth “Libby” Stewart Hatch Ellis passed away on September 21, 2024, in Estes Park, Colorado, surrounded by her loving family. Libby was a resident of Nederland, Colorado, from 1997-2015. 

Libby attended Radcliffe College (now part of Harvard University) in Cambridge Massachusetts, graduating in 1952 with a BA degree in Art History. She was an active member of the Harvard Mountaineering Club and enjoyed many outings to rock climb, hike and ski, especially Tuckerman’s Ravine on Mount Washington. Coming from a family of avid outdoor enthusiasts, Libby was eager to spend a good portion of her free time first in the White Mountains and Adirondacks, and later in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and Wyoming. 

Libby’s passion for mountains fed a lifelong devotion to sketching, drawing and painting scenes in nature that inspired her. She was an avid bird-watcher, knew the wildflowers, read natural history books, kept up on environmental issues, and donated to conservation organizations. She enjoyed nothing more than a day outside with her sketchbook and colored pencils, most often on a hike.

Libby devoted herself not only to her family and her art, but also to her dogs, of which she had many. She loved to travel to the National Parks and beyond.

Music, books, gardening, crossword puzzles and games were some of Libby’s other joys. She took up the mandolin at age 75, learning to play and sing alongside her husband Bob at their annual music camps. While living in Nederland, Colorado, she volunteered at the local library and joined a book club. She was also a member of a couple of creative writing groups in Nederland and Boulder. 

Libby was a much beloved matriarch of her large family, and will be dearly missed.

Greg Markle arrived in Colorado from Pennsylvania in the early 1970s and Gilpin and Clear Creek Counties were never the same. 

He started his business, Clear Creek Surveying, in the early 1980s and tirelessly walked the backcountry and town streets. He was County Surveyor for both Gilpin and Clear Creek Counties multiple years. 

In 1994 Greg and his buddy Bob Flagle dreamed of starting a local radio station. A cable TV version of KYGT (“the Goat”) started in the Idaho Springs Heritage Museum with an empty studio and a grand idea, and an on-air license was obtained in 2002. The Goat is still going strong today. 

Greg also created a variety of video projects about Clear Creek County: a series called Clear Creek Magazine, oral histories of longtime residents in Gilpin and Clear Creek,  documentaries for the museum about early history in the area, and five feature-length films with hundreds of community members as actors and crews, beginning with Rastaman Surveyor and ending with Idahoe. Gilpin oral histories can be found at the Gilpin Public Library. 

Greg was a kind spirit and charismatic presence in many lives. He cherished his family and many longtime friends. He will be greatly missed--but his crazy stories will live on.

Tina Marie Porter passed away peacefully at her home surrounded by many loving family members in Black Hawk, Colorado, on October 31, 2024.

She was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and lived most of her adult life in Victoria, Texas. She is survived by her husband and children and grandchildren who love her dearly. 

Tina was many wonderful things but above all, a Mother and devoted Wife, and very proud of her children. She loved helping others, building others up and spoiling her children and grandchildren. She will always be remembered as a beautiful, kind, selfless and strong woman. Tina was loved deeply and will be heavily missed. 

Sheila Bray of Granby, Colorado, passed away unexpectedly at home on November 6, 2024. In her twenties she followed the Grateful Dead out to Colorado, where she lived in Nederland, Denver, and Aurora before moving to Granby.

Sheila loved cats, reading, playing computer games, and binge watching her favorite shows. She enjoyed cooking and inventing new recipes from whatever was on hand.

She worked for many years at Scott’s Liquid Gold in Denver. In Granby she worked for a time at Country Ace Hardware where she was Morris the store cat’s number one fan.

Jesse Harrison Scroggins Spratford passed away in Ward on November 10, 2024. He was a chef who has gone to the big kitchen in the sky.

Jesse enjoyed skiing, croquet, and river rafting. He loved being with his children and loved being around kids. He was a big Broncos fan. 

Jesse’s family believes that family is where life begins and love never dies. And there is a belief in the Spratford family that “once a Spratford, always a Spratford.”

Jesse was loved by many and is deeply missed. 

Carolyn Sue Henry, a good friend and longtime Gilpin County resident, passed on December 12 at age 90. 

A resident of Gilpin County for over 40 years Sue served on the Gilpin Planning Commission, was chair of the Citizen Advisory Board of Health and Human Services and Board President of the Columbine Family Health Center.

Dr. Henry had a distinguished career in social work, retiring as a professor of social work from the University of Denver and leaving a rich legacy of research, publications, and students dedicated to advancing the fields of social work and higher education. She was a recipient of the prestigious Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018.

She was a lover of the mountains, all dogs especially her own, and her many family members and friends.

Sue was a treasure for the county, always willing to share her vast range of knowledge for the benefit of Gilpin citizens.