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Philip West
August 23, 2004
Philip West, a longtime artist-faculty member at the Aspen Music Festival and School and renowned oboe and English horn soloist, died June 26.
West, of Newburgh, N.Y., had been an artist-faculty member at the festival and school since 1972, where he taught oboe. He also played oboe and English horn with the Aspen Festival Orchestra and Aspen Chamber Symphony.
At a concert earlier this summer, festival trumpet player Lou Ranger remembered West as a man who embraced the beauty of life and his instrument with equal mastery.
"Phil was not only passionate about music-making but about education, politics, art, humor; in short, all the things that contribute to the best in the human experience, " Ranger said. "It was a joy and an education to collaborate with Phil and a privilege to be his friend."
West was professor emeritus of chamber music at the Eastman School of Music. He prepared many arrangements of solo and chamber music, including those for the final recordings of his late wife, Jan DeGaetani, featuring songs of Mahler and Berlioz.
Earlier in his career he was a leading freelance performer in New York and a member of the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, the Boehm Quintet, the Festival Winds, and the New York Pro Musica under Noah Greenberg. He performed often with the New York Philharmonic, Symphony of the Air, the Mostly Mozart Festival, and orchestras of the New York City Ballet and Opera.
West is survived by his wife, Carole Cowan, also a longtime member of the artist-faculty of the Aspen Music Festival and School; his daughter and son-in-law, Francesca and Nicholas Watson; son C. Mark DeGaetani; and granddaughter Danica Watson.
Contributions in his honor may be made to the Philip West Annual Scholarship Fund at the Aspen Music Festival and School, 2 Music School Road, Aspen, 81611.
Gail Wille
August 25, 2004
Gail Lynn Leslie Wille died at her residence in Basalt on Monday. She was 46.
Wille spent her childhood in San Diego and Aspen, where she attended Aspen High School. She was an Aspen resident until 1969 and a Basalt resident from 1976 until she died. She worked at Valley Lumber as a saleswoman for many years.
Wille was born Aug. 22, 1958, in St. Joseph, Mo., to Joan Clay Bodie and Frank Leslie. A memorial service will be held Thursday at 4 p.m. at Christ Community Church, 20351 Highway 82 in Basalt. Inurnment will follow at the Fairview Cemetery in Basalt with Thomas Cheatham officiating.
Previously married to Toran Wille, Gail Wille is survived by her father, Frank of Tucson, Ariz.; her mother, Joan Bodie of Grand Junction and Snowmass Village; her daughters, Jessica Sayre Wille-Peters and Laura Estelle Wille, both of Basalt; her brothers, Gary Leslie of Basalt and David Leslie of Borrego Springs, Calif.; sisters Cherie Harris of Borrego Springs, Calif., and Terry Brucker of Basalt; nieces Jennifer Loza of Carlsbad, Calif., Erica Brucker of Denver, Monique Leslie of Portland, Ore., Ingrid Brucker and Alyssa Leslie, both of Basalt; and nephew David Leslie of Basalt. Wille was engaged to Jack Cross on July 4, 2004.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial contributions to the Laura Wille College Fund at US Bank, 400 E. Valley Road, Carbondale, CO 81623.
Malinda Ziluca
August 30, 2004
Malinda Marie Ferguson Ziluca died of Hodgkin's lymphoma on Aug. 20.
Malinda was born in Fort Worth, Texas, and graduated from R.L. Paschal High School. She attended Texas Tech University, where she joined Pi Beta Phi Sorority. She was a member of the Assembly and the Junior League.
Malinda resided in Greenwich, Conn., and Aspen, where she enjoyed skiing, horses and the outdoors. She also loved chatting on the phone, staying in touch with family events and her grandchildren. She loved to laugh and had an extremely warm personality. She enjoyed summers in Nantucket, Mass., and traveling with her cocker spaniel, Sam. Her friends and family will miss her dearly.
She had lived in Aspen for close to 20 years. That is where she met her husband, Tony. She worked at the Polo shop upon moving to town and was a frequent customer of many restaurants and shops in Aspen.
Malinda was preceded in death by her father and her daughter, Malinda Marie "Cissy" Wolfe. She is survived by husband Tony Ziluca; sons Frank Wolfe III and wife, Kim, of Columbia, Mo., and John Wolfe and wife, Jenny, of Fort Worth; grandchildren, Bradley, Charlsey and Aubrey Wolfe and Tabitha Wolfe; mother, Emma Marie Ferguson; and brothers, John, Bob and George Ferguson.
Service and burial were held in Greenwich, Conn., and a memorial service was held Saturday at All Saints Episcopal Church in Fort Worth.
Memorials in her name can be made to 4-H Club of Garfield County, c/o Patti Watson, Cozy Point Ranch, 111K-AABC, Aspen 81611.
Dale F. Johnson
August 30, 2004
Dale Foster Johnson, a native of Aspen, died Aug. 9 in Albuquerque, N.M.
He was born May 16, 1931, in Aspen, son of Carl and Eunice Johnson. They preceded him in death.
Johnson is survived by his beloved wife of 50 years, Shiori Johnson; three sons, Gary Johnson of Apple Valley, Minn., Roy Johnson of Lafayette, Colo., and Zack Johnson of Salt Lake City; sisters Carletta McLain of Eaton, Colo., and Irene Conner of Aspen; brother Harold Johnson of Laramie, Wyo.; and five grandchildren.
All of Johnson's grandparents, Anna and Axel Johnson and Tom and Jenny Beck, settled in Aspen in the 1890s. He graduated from Aspen High School in 1949 and attended the University of Colorado. For several summers, Johnson worked on the crew that raised the Music Festival tent.
He also served in the U.S. Air Force, where he met Shiori. They resided in Albuquerque for the past 40 years.
Arthur Trentaz
September 9, 2004
Arthur Trentaz, father, fisherman, husband and lifelong Aspen-area resident whose family ranched the homestead now known as Starwood subdivision, died on Tuesday in Glenwood Springs. He was 92.
Among friends and family he is remembered as a kind, quiet man who loved fly-fishing and people. A week before his death, Trentaz caught six fish with his wife on Ruedi Lake.
"He didn't talk a lot but you always knew that he cared about things and that he cared about people, " his daughter Mary Lou Regelin said.
Trentaz was born in 1911 in Aspen to recent immigrants from Aosta, in Northern Italy. He and his brother were raised in town until Arthur turned 16. His father, a miner, moved the family to a ranch on McLain Flats, determined to keep his sons out of the mines.
With little ranching experience, Arthur's family began mostly as farmers, growing potatoes, grain and hay before eventually raising cattle. In the late 1930s, Amelia Cullet, the daughter of family friends, was introduced to Arthur at the family ranch. The two dated for three years before marrying in 1940.
In 1962, Trentaz sold his ranch to developer Edgar Stern and moved to a home in Aspen's West End. Stern went on to develop Starwood, which remains one of the valley's most exclusive subdivisions.
"He was one of the first ranchers to sell, " his wife Amelia remembered. "We were ready to leave. Ranching is hard work."
After he left ranching, Trentaz took a job as a lift operator for the Aspen Skiing Company on Buttermilk Mountain, a job he kept until full retirement in 1979. The job let Trentaz, a passionate fisherman, spend the summers exploring the streams and lakes around Aspen. He would also make yearly trips to visit his daughter and son-in-law in Alaska, as much for the salmon fishing as the undying love of his daughter.
In 1994, Trentaz moved to Glenwood Springs, where he continued to fish until his death. He also tended a community garden plot in Glenwood until his health began to fail three years ago.
Trentaz is survived by his wife Amelia, his son Fred, his daughter Mary Lou Regelin, and four grandchildren. A rosary service will be held at Farnum-Holt chapel in Glenwood Springs at 7 p.m. today. A funeral service will be held at St. Stephens Catholic Church in Glenwood at 10 a.m. tomorrow. A graveside service will follow at 3 p.m. at Red Butte cemetery in Aspen.
In lieu of flowers, the family wishes that donations be made to Mountain Valley Development Services; Hearts and Hands Ministry in Glenwood Springs, or your charity of choice.
Lotte Bresnitz
September 13, 2004
Lotte Bresnitz, one of the most enduring volunteers and recognizable faces of Aspen for the last five decades, died last week. She was 85.
Lotte was born in Nuremberg, Germany, and spent the first 19 years of her life in Europe. She immigrated to the United States in 1938, making a home in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was there she took up the study of nursing, graduating as a registered nurse from the Jewish Hospital in Cincinnati.
It was in those early years in the United States that she met and eventually married Kurt Bresnitz. While Kurt served in the U.S. Army, Lotte lived in New York City and worked at a psychiatric unit there.
Kurt and Lotte were reunited following his honorable discharge from the Army, and in 1948 they moved to Denver. Lotte took a job as first head nurse in the emergency room of the newly built Rose Memorial Hospital.
In 1950, while on vacation, Lotte and Kurt stopped in Aspen to see what at the time was the longest chairlift in the world. They were instantly enchanted with the town, and in one afternoon their lives were changed when they decided to relocate from Denver. It was a decision neither regretted, as they both fell in love with Aspen and became active members of the community.
Lotte worked as head nurse at the old Aspen Hospital, and Kurt went into business for himself, opening a jewelry store.
They later had two children, John and Carol, and Lotte retired to be a full-time mother. She did, however, remain active in the community, volunteering as a Blue Lady and with the League of Women Voters and the Senior Citizens Council, to name a few. She loved flowers, music and literature, but mostly she loved her family and many good friends.
Lotte is survived by Kurt, her husband of 60 years, both her children, five grandchildren, three great grandchildren and her cat, Missy.
In lieu of flowers, the family is asking well-wishers to make donations to the Pitkin County Animal Shelter, 212 AABC, Aspen, Colo., 81611 or to Valley Angels, c/o Aspen Medical Foundation, P.O. Box 1639, Aspen, Colo., 81612.
Mark Joseph Moore Ross
September 16, 2004
Former long-time Carbondale resident and co-founder of an alternative education school in Carbondale Mark Joseph Moore Ross died Sept. 9, in Philadelphia. He was 58.
Ross is remembered as a man who devoted his life to the support of young children and the adults who live and work with them. He had a bachelor's degree in anthropology from Beloit College, a doctorate in anthropology from the University of Texas and extensive preschool and lower elementary Montessori training, an alternative education program that follows a holistic approach to child development.
He served as a Montessori preschool and lower elementary teacher, a Montessori teacher trainer, a leader of parenting classes and a board member at the Colorado Rocky Mountain School. He and his wife Kathryn co-founded the Mt. Sopris Montessori School in Carbondale, which he directed for almost 20 years. He also helped to start a Montessori program within the public elementary schools in Carbondale.
In 2002 he became the director of the Greene Towne School in Center City Philadelphia and was an active member of the Montessori community there for the last two years of his life. His intellect was matched only by his profound emotional connection with children and their families.
Ross' attempts to nurture the very early stages of life and development was a testament to his belief in the importance and sanctity of each human life. This belief went hand in hand with his faithful adherence to the Montessori philosophy of education, and his admiration for its founder, the Italian physician and education expert Maria Montessori.
Apart from his work, Mark had many and varied interests. He spoke some Mandarin, Cantonese, and German, and was fluent in Spanish. He was a voracious reader, particularly an ardent student and admirer of German philosopher Karl Popper, and many English writers including G.K. Chesterton, George Orwell and C.S. Lewis.
He was also a writer, producing a number of essays on early childhood education as well as children's stories that he illustrated himself. He was proud to be a longtime member of Rotary International and former president of the Carbondale Rotary Club. He was a gourmet bread baker, a gardener, an enthusiastic cultivator of worm farms, a licensed ham radio operator, a master of the Japanese art of fish rubbings and a lover of good music and good food. Most of all, he was a husband and father, and loved to be with his family.
A memorial service is planned for Saturday, Oct. 2., at 10:30 a.m. at the Colorado Rocky Mountain School Barn in Carbondale. The family suggests that those attending the service wear Hawaiian shirts, because Mark was fond of wearing them during his years in Carbondale.
Ross is survived by his wife Kathryn, their son Will, their daughter Ariel and his brothers Timothy and Matthew.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Mark Ross Scholarship for Teacher Training at the Mt. Sopris Montessori School, 869 Euclid St., Carbondale, CO 81623, or the Mark Ross Memorial Endowment for Professional Development at Colorado Rocky Mountain School, 1493 County Rd. 106, Carbondale, CO 81623.
John A. Thomas Jr.
September 29, 2004
John Anthony Thomas Jr. died on Sept. 18. J.J. was born on April 28, 1979, in Houston.
He had lived in the Roaring Fork Valley since 1991, graduating from Basalt High School in 1997.
J.J.'s passion was the outdoors. He loved snowboarding, camping, hiking and fishing. A memorial service was held at the home of Kevin and Shirley Helmer. He is survived by his mother, Sabrina, and Joe Deveydt, his brother, Joshua, and many friends.
So, to our son, our brother, our friend: "You were at your prime, taken away before your time. You touched all our lives with your gentle spirit, your laugh and your smile. We will love and miss you forever, bro."
W. Dorwin Teague
September 24, 2004
W. Dorwin Teague, industrial designer, engineer and inventor, died on Sept. 16, in Carbondale, Colo. He was 94, and moved to Colorado from Nyack, N.Y., in 2002.
An enthusiastic skier, Teague had a long relationship with the Roaring Fork Valley, arriving first in 1949 to try the newly installed lifts on Aspen Mountain.
At that time, a big storm had closed the roads to Aspen, so he chartered a small airplane from Denver. But there was no obvious place to land in Aspen as the landing strip was under several feet of snow.
A little frustrated, his intrepid pilot circled over town while figuring out what to do next. They then noticed a taxi speeding away from the Hotel Jerome. The taxi drove out on Highway 82 to a straight stretch near Sardy Field, where the driver stood on the rear bumper and signaled down the road. Moments later the plane landed on the empty highway, and the taxi took a very excited skier into town.
Teague's adventures in the early days of skiing in Aspen continued at the top of the mountain, where some patrolmen were digging a "one-armed bandit" (slot machine) out of the snow. Apparently the patrolmen figured their somewhat illegal machine was protected from the law by the remoteness of the location.
An alert lift operator spotted the sheriff on his way up to spoil the fun and stopped the lift while the sheriff dangled over a high spot. He then called up to the top to warn the patrollers. By the time the sheriff arrived at the top, the machine was nowhere to be found. Teague happened to witness its recovery and get an quick introduction to the spirit of a unique, fun-loving, irreverent, new ski town.
With that auspicious introduction and some spectacular skiing, Teague's affection for Aspen grew and he passed his contagious enthusiasm for the little ski town in the Rockies on to his family. Now, not surprisingly, two of his sons have houses in the valley and his four grandchildren were born in Aspen.
Born in Manhattan in 1910, he was the son of Walter Dorwin Teague, the pioneer industrial designer, and the artist Cecil Fehon Teague. While an engineering student at M.I.T., he would commute on weekends by Ford Tri-motor to his father's office in New York City to design the body of the innovative Marmon 16 automobile.
As chief product designer for Walter Dorwin Teague Associates, he was responsible for the design of numerous ubiquitous household and office products such as the National cash register, the A. B. Dick Mimeograph Machine and Montgomery Ward vacuum cleaners.
During the World War II he worked for the Eclipse Pioneer Division of the Bendix Aviation Corporation on defense-related projects and was responsible for the development of the Lark surface-to-surface and Loki surface-to-air liquid propellant rockets.
After the war he designed the first reclining dental chair, awarded the Best Design of the Year by the Industrial Designers Institute in 1960. Also in the late 1950s, he designed buildings and exhibits for the United States Information Agency in the former Soviet Union.
In addition to buildings and exhibits at international exhibitions in Moscow, Zagreb, Vienna and Geneva, he designed the Gas, Inc. and Korean Pavilions at the 1964 New York World's Fair.
As an inventor, Teague has 92 patents in his name between 1936 and 1992.
Teague was an avid sailor and a car enthusiast, successfully racing cars and boats of all types. He was the author of numerous articles on sailing for Yachting magazine and Motor Boating magazine. He was a member of the New York Yacht Club, the Cruising Club of America, The Classic Car Club of America (honorary member) and the Marmon Owners Club (honorary member).
He published an autobiography, "Industrial Designer The Artist as Engineer" (Armstrong) in 1998.
On July 25 of this year, Teague became one of the first two inductees to the Car Design Hall of Fame at the Concours d'Elegance at Cranbrook in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. He received the award in person, riding in the beautifully restored 1934 HCM Marmon 12 prototype of his design.
Teague's wife, the former Harriette Barnard, whom he married in 1939, died in 1998. His brother, the artist Lewis Teague, died in 1978. His sister, the author Cecily Crowe, died in 1997.
He is survived by his children, Walter Dorwin Teague III, of Adelphi, Md., Lewis Teague, of Beverly Hills, Calif., and Aspen, and Harry Teague, of Basalt, and four grandchildren.
A memorial will be held in New York this winter.
