With her big heart, it's easy to imagine that Georgia Hanson embraces the whole town.

In many ways she has. Since moving to Aspen in 1969 she has given much of herself to the community from volunteering for the World Cup, Community Theater, Food & Wine Classic, Filmfest, Ski Club, Buddy Program, Hall of Fame, Wheeler Opera House board, Valley Partnership for Drug Prevention - just to name a few.

As most Aspenites of her era, she created her own career. She opened a gourmet kitchen shop that many of us still remember. When "no snow" years caused that business to fail, she decided to focus on ways to help the local economy have less drastic peaks and valleys. With her wide circle of friends and co-workers, everyone in town knew she could accomplish the impossible. She became the facilitator for the approval and building of two of Aspen's biggest and hotly contested resort complexes, the Ritz-Carlton (now the St. Regis) and Aspen Highlands Village.

When her job with Highlands ended, an opportunity arose that dovetailed with her skills. In 2002 the Aspen Historical Society was in a bad way. There wasn't any money for staff and programs. The last two directors had not worked out. They were out-of-towners and couldn't get local support. Rumors of a permanent shutdown actually had a basis in reality.

The Historical Society needed someone to save it. They needed a leader who was a local resident who was well-known and trusted, and had a good knowledge and a love for Aspen history. That person was Georgia Hanson.

Georgia rekindled faith in the society by meeting with leaders in the community and reminding them of the need to preserve Aspen's unique mining-cultural-skiing history. She was able to push through a tax district so the society will have a stable financial base.

For years there were small turnouts for museum events. Recent happenings, such as the Crystal Palace reunion picnic and the opening of the glass negative exhibit, have drawn record crowds. AHS, with Georgia at its helm, is on a roll.