Willoughby: My mother’s Aspen

My sister — when we were adults, comparing our memories of our parents — would remind me that our parents had a whole life before we were around. In my mother’s case, that was quite long, as she was 40 when I was born. Writing history columns has enabled me to learn more about those years and my mother’s photo collection and stories contribute. Comparing her Aspen and to mine is a fun exercise.

Until my mother was ten, Aspen was a much larger city than for me; it was still a thriving mining town. The largest mines were still operating. Her class at school was three times larger. The streets were busy but with horses and horse-drawn wagons. There were few automobiles. Locals traveled, even to Glenwood, by train.

Her father, with his brother, operated one of Aspen’s grocery stores. It was on what is now the Hyman Mall. They also operated one of Aspen’s first movie theaters, in the Wheeler, showing silent movies. Her grandfather, a teamster by trade, was the driver for the fire department’s hook and ladder and tended the horses. Like many Aspen families, focus was on WWI with family members serving abroad.

The next decade of her life, and Aspen’s, was an upheaval. The 1918 Influenza struck, killing a large percentage of young men including her father and uncle. She, her mother, three sisters, and a brother moved in with her aunt who had lost her husband and her baby. They crammed into what is now Explore Booksellers on Main Street.

Aspen’s major mines shut down, only operating with upper workings above the water level with leases to a few operators. Many long-time locals left; many businesses, including her father’s grocery store, closed; and her class at school shrank. 

Life got back to normal in her teens and early twenties. Her social circle became the center of her life. This was the flapper generation, and young women stretched the norm their parents expected of them to adhere to. Cars were common, and that enabled them to make life broader than the confines of Aspen. They made weekend trips to Ashcroft, staying at the Elk Mountain cabins. They made trips to Glenwood to swim. They partied inside Aspen Mountain, at the underground waterfall in the Durant tunnel.

Upon high school graduation, mother went to work to help support her mother and siblings. She clerked at Kobey’s — Aspen’s longtime clothing store in the Hyman Mall. She also joined with others in two different dance bands. They traveled to Leadville and to other Western Slope towns. Dancing was the rage for her generation, and ’20s music annoyed the previous generation. Mother played the piano, and in those days without microphones, she had to play loud.

The next decade was another challenge for her and for Aspen. It started with another major setback: the Great Depression. Some of her friends who had started college, a high number compared to previous generations, had to drop out and find work. Mother married my father in that decade. The Midnight Mine was still surviving, so while their income was small, as my father worked part of his hours for stock, they survived.  

The decade of her 30’s started in the late 1930s and was a major transition for her and for Aspen. The Highland Bavarian group initiated skiing, and her generation signed on to help make it happen. Like other members of the newly-formed Aspen Ski Club, she was taught to ski by André Roch. Almost impossible for me to believe, she then went on ski trips with Roch and the club members — including climbing and skiing down from Hayden Peak. She and my father spent winter weekends in a cabin they refurbished above the Midnight and skied Little Annie Basin. Once the ski club opened their operations on Aspen Mountain and hosted races, mother was a timer and organizer.

There were ups and downs those years of her life before she was a mother, but her memories were mostly of the ups. It was a different town, and my mother was a different person, but I have always been grateful for what she and her friends passed on to me and my sister.

Tim Willoughby’s family story parallels Aspen’s. He began sharing folklore while teaching at Aspen Country Day School and Colorado Mountain College. Now a tourist in his native town, he views it with historical perspective. Reach him at redmtn2@comcast.net.