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Nov 04, 2024

Saddle Sore: Remembering yesteryears | AspenTimes.com

News News | Nov 1, 2024 [email protected] In 2011 (seems like an eon ago), Jeffrey McFadden and I started a Facebook social media page called “Aspen before 1960.” Jeffrey was the instigator, brought me

News News | Nov 1, 2024

[email protected]

In 2011 (seems like an eon ago), Jeffrey McFadden and I started a Facebook social media page called “Aspen before 1960.” Jeffrey was the instigator, brought me on ’cause not only were we chums from the Red Brick school, but he thought I knew a lot of people. Our motto is: “Open to all who love old Aspen. A community honoring Aspen before 1960 with relative posts from any era. Please like this page, comment, and share.” Jeffrey did all the work. I was just a pretty face (ha).

It took off like gangbusters, and before long, we had great interest from Aspen natives Patty Zelnick Henke and Kristina Thorpe, along with another life-long friend, Max Vaughn (1945-2016), whose personal historical archives might have compared to those of the Aspen Historical Society. These three were added as administrators.

All of us had great contributions, old photos, news articles, comments, bringing in new “likes” and offerings from history buffs all over the country, not just Aspen. Vaughn’s posts to the page were prodigious, so much so that sometimes there wasn’t enough time to keep up with his almost-daily offerings. I’d check a few and pause, swearing I’d come back and catch up at a later date.

Before I move on and you totally turn the page, be advised that almost all of the information (sans photos) can be found on another site, “Colorado Historic Newspapers” — a collection of historic Colorado newspaper stories, a site indispensable to anyone interested historical accuracy.

Either internet site can quickly become a rabbit hole of distraction, leading one away from current projects, creating curiosity about what tidbits of history one might find therein. They are treasure troves. Ours, however, is personal to Aspen. Just so you know, my partner in creating the site, Jeffrey, passed on in 2020, and the page slowed in intensity.

There can be introspection, a sadness of sorts as one reads through our site, many newspaper morsels about birthday parties, graduations, promotions, athletic achievements, untimely deaths, and other seemingly ordinary happenings of history, an onslaught of information correlated in one place, unlike the “Newspapers” site. For many, we actually knew, or knew about, the people mentioned in the short blurbs of people’s lives.

The birthday parties generally get to me, reading about kid’s 4th, 5th, or thereabout parties, having a great gathering thrown by their mothers. Because — and this may be important — I knew many of those kids as adults when I was a young boy. To think how I knew them: working around town, ripping the ski slopes, or just moving through the halls of the Red Brick when I was just starting out. And now, today, many of them have passed on, their life’s history written forever with no options for correction or change. We’re all the same in that regard, earmarked by the fragility of life.

It was my fifth birthday party, my maternal grandmother and great-aunts there, and maybe a friend or two, all of us seated at a big table in the living room, ready to cut the cake, when the phone rang, announcing that my mother had just given birth to my brother at the Aspen hospital. I clearly remember that I was not pleased, having my party interrupted by such news. Who was this interloper? Of course, it later became a source of pride between us. (Other Aspen notables with a birthday on the same day: Mary Eshbaugh Hayes, Aspen icon; and my grandson’s ski coach, Patrick Lyle). My brother Steve died in 1977.

Lately, I’ve taken to looking over the site again because it’s been a while. Keeping it going from time-to-time, I post several photographs from my collection or that of the Aspen Historical Society. Occasionally, I’ve copied a few of the posts and sent them to the families that are mentioned. What a warm feeling I’ve received back from those folks. It’s so nice to have our personal history mentioned in such a way.But this is not personal; it is indicative of people everywhere, more particularly of the people who have lived in Aspen, who live in Aspen today. How many times have you heard folks say that living in Aspen, for whatever time period they did, was a great experience they still carry in their hearts. It is only personal to each of us, in our own way, the same way we review the history.

If you’re into Aspen history, including people and photographs, there are a couple of other Facebook sites you may want to check out: “Friends of Aspen from the 1960s-70’s” and “Friends of Aspen from the 1980s-90’s.” You might see someone you know. Or the private, contemplative site “Aspen Unbound,” moderated by Kristina Thorpe.

If you’re not a Facebook person, check out “Colorado Historic Newspapers” or, for certain, the online archives of the Aspen Historical Society.

Happy reading.

Tony Vagneur writes here on Saturdays and welcomes your comments at [email protected].

Tony Vagneur writes here on Saturdays and welcomes your comments at [email protected].

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