People

: Roy Oliver Gaither; He was born to Bazzil L. Gaither and Cora Olive (Vangilder) Gaither in Rulo, Nebraska. His father was a farmer and his mother was a homemaker. Roy grew up in Oklahoma and Nebraska. The 1910 US Census shows the family living in Lincoln, Nebraska, where he was listed as a farm laborer at the age of 18. By 1920, census records show him living with his parents in Douglas County, Colorado. There, Roy was a minister. He married Ruby Whelan in Nebraska on August 20, 1924. The 1930 census shows them living with three children and Roy’s mother in Arcadia, Nebraska, where Roy was a clergyman at the Methodist Church and Ruby was a homemaker. In 1940, they lived in Crawford, Nebraska, where Roy was also a clergyman. They moved to Palisade, Colorado on July 1, 1943 when he became the minister at Palisade United Methodist Church. They moved to Clifton in 1945. During this time, Ruby taught high school at Palisade and Central High Schools.

: Roy Raymond Sisac; Mesa Lakes Resort founder and ski area pioneer. He was born in Colorado to Julian R. Sisac and Amanda Elizabeth (Ross) Sisac. The 1900 Census shows Roy as fourteen years old and living with his parents in the town of Mesa, Colorado, where his dad’s occupation was listed as farmer. He married Ida Foster on December 29, 1909, and the 1910 Census shows them living and farming in Mesa. By 1920 they had moved to Grand Junction, where they owned a grocery store on the corner of 2nd Street and Colorado Avenue. Roy also ranched. With his brother-in-law, Lyle Foster, he opened the Mesa Lakes Resort on the Grand Mesa sometime in the 1920's. It was a lodge on Beaver Lake. With his son and daughter-in-law, Edith (Huffer) Sisac, he operated the resort until the 1940's. He also had a role, with his son and daughter-in-law, in starting the Grand Mesa's first ski area, the Mesa Lakes Ski Run, in 1938.

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