People
Collection for person entities.
Pages
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- Charity J. Bowers
- Student at Colorado Christian University, graduated December, 2014.
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- Charles "Charley" Ela
- An early Mesa County pioneer. He was born in New Hampshire to Jacob Hart Ela and Abigail Pearson (Kelley) Ela. His mother’s name as listed in birth records is Abigail Pearson Moore, indicating that she may have been married once before her marriage to Jacob Ela. Charley’s father was a printer and publisher, a depot master, the US Representative for New Hampshire’s First Congressional District, and an auditor in Washington D.C. His mother was a homemaker. According to his great-nephew, William McHarg Ela, Charley came to the Little Dolores River area in 1881 as part of the Palisade Land and Cattle Company, a ranching interest. He seems to have died around 1883 and his brother William Phillips Ela arrived to take his place in the business.
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- Charles "Charlie" Arthur Kessinger
- A second cousin to Mary Belle (Powers) Plaisted. They married around 1911. The 1920 Census shows Charles as a laborer in a lodging house. They had four sons. According to Mary Belle (Powers) Plaisted's Oral History interview, Charles held a belief that "the world owed him a living". He was not a good provider, and she had to resort to begging and gathering coal by the tracks in order to support she and her children. Charles and Mary divorced on October 10, 1921.
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- Charles "Charlie" Burg
- The oldest known homesteader in Unaweep Canyon, Colorado. He came in 1881. He was in a US Army regiment stationed in Montrose, Colorado in the 19th century, and was acquainted with the Ute who lived in the area. He was also and early rancher in the area.
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- Charles "Charlie" Downing
- According to multiple interviewees for the Mesa County Oral History Project, he was the chief of fire for the Grand Junction Fire Department, and lost his arm trying to fight the Grand Junction train depot munitions fire in 1943, when a Denver and Rio Grande train carrying US Army munitions caught fire and shot off several bombs. According to Frank Kreps, who succeeded Downing as the fire chief, Downing retired from the position of fire chief, but as the department could not find anyone suitable as a replacement, he remained the chief on an interim basis for a number of years. He finally retired for good in 1953, and Kreps replaced him in 1954.
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- Charles "Charlie" Lumley
- He was an early Mesa County Sheriff who was known for being good to children, especially troubled youth. During his time as sheriff, he arrested George Abshier (aka Bill Messick), a local bootlegger and member of the Fleagle Gang that robbed the First National Bank of Lamar and murdered four people. According to oral history interviewee Josephine Dickey, He would notify a member of the Handy Chapel if an African American came into his town and needed assistance. In the early Twentieth century, he owned a stable on the south side of Ute Avenue near the intersection with 5th Street, adjacent to the Free Corral, where cowboys, horse racers and others stabled their horses. According to Clarence Prinster, his brother Leo Prinster would donate anonymously to Lumley's political campaigns. Here is author Ruth G. Moss’s description of Lumley: “One of the most respected sheriffs ever to hold office in Mesa County took over in the late 1920’s. Charles Lumley was in his seventh term as sheriff when he died in 1941, probably the longest reign of any sheriff. One thing which made Lumley the widely-known, beloved sheriff that he was, lay in his handling of juveniles. Lumley’s philosophy was to keep youngsters out of jail if possible. Even today many of Grand Junction’s solid citizens can respectfully remember hearing the calm voice of Sheriff Lumley straightening out their thinking and actions” (Mesa County Historical Society newsletter, May-June 1983).
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- Charles "Charlie" Paterson
- Charles Paterson was born Karl Schanzer in Vienna, Austria. After Hitler’s 1938 annexation of Austria, Charles’ family fled to Czechoslovakia. After Hitler invaded Prague, Charlie and his sister were forced to escape again, through France to Brisbane, Australia, where they were adopted by the Paterson family. After WWII, the children rejoined their father in NYC where Charlie finished high school and began engineering studies at CCNY. While in New York, Charlie’s early ski memories from the Alps called him back to the slopes. He headed to Aspen in 1949 where he fell in love with the town and its residents and decided to stay. He soon built an 8’ x 16’ cabin, the beginnings of the Boomerang Lodge. In the 1950s, Charlie served two years in the US Army’s Mountain & Cold Weather Training and added three hotel lodge units to his log cabin. In 1958 Frank Lloyd Wright accepted Charlie as an apprentice at Taliesin East in Wisconsin, whereupon Charlie returned to Aspen from Wisconsin the next three winters to run the lodge and teach skiing. He continues as a board member of Taliesin Fellows and an underwriter of the Taliesin School of Architecture revitalization effort. Fonda Dehne was born in Mason City, Iowa to an itinerant minister and a teacher. Fonda’s social activism began in high school with a citizen's challenge to unenforced state liquor laws and two years service as a Page in the Iowa legislature. A year after graduating from the University of Iowa, Fonda married Charlie in 1969 and joined him in Aspen, where they raised their two daughters Charlie designed and remodeled a handful of houses in the Aspen area but running the Boomerang kept him from pursuing more of a career in architecture. Following his retirement, Charlie co-authored his memoir with his daughter Carrie “ESCAPE HOME, Rebuilding a Life After the Anschluss.” Charlie served on the boards of the Aspen Chamber and Visitor’s Bureau, the Aspen Music Festival & School and the Rocky Mountain Ski Instructors Association. In 2011, the City of Aspen named him Volunteer of the Year in recognition of his 40 years serving on the Board of Adjustment - the longest serving citizen volunteer in Aspen history! He has also been recognized by the Historic Preservation Commission for his contributions to Aspen architecture. Fonda has also left her mark on the Aspen community, volunteering at the Aspen Thrift Shop, and serving in leadership positions with the Aspen Music Festival & School, the Aspen Valley Medical Foundation, the Aspen Country Day School, and Aspen Community Church, where she spearheaded the remodeling of the Aspen and Snowmass parsonages, as well as the church’s exterior restoration. Fonda also advocated for the creation of Triangle Park, worked on a ballot initiative to support the acquisition of open space and trails, worked to protect the Midland Trail right of way, and served on the Board of Trustees for Aspen Center for Environmental Studies.--Aspen Hall of Fame bio