Dottie Wolcott, former office manager at The Aspen Times and legendary Aspenite, passes away

Dottie Wolcott was the office manager at The Aspen Times for almost 30 years before her death on Friday, May 30, following a brief illness.

Dottie was an integral part of The Aspen Times and the Aspen community, according to Samantha Johnston, who was the publisher of The Aspen Times during a portion of Dottie’s long tenure. Dottie was a “master of the circus,” who kept the office functioning from 1994 until 2022.

She kept staff in line by quelling disagreements and stoking humor and mischief into the office. She provided unceasing support to visitors to the old Aspen Times building and watched over the many animals that kept watch at the newsroom. Dottie was always willing to go out on the town in Aspen with her friends and coworkers, as well as bail them out of jail if need be. 

“She’d get you out of jail when you needed it,” said Johnston. “Everyone called Dot. She did all of those things. I lost my dog and Dottie was the first person to be there. She was like the lifeline for everyone, for everything.”

Visitors to The Aspen Times during those years were likely greeted by Dottie first, but she wore many hats at the newspaper during her tenure. 

She managed bookkeeping, and the employee housing properties that The Aspen Times owned at the time. If projects needed to be taken care of around the office, she was the one to take care of them. 

Dottie also archived the papers and was an “orchestrator of personalities,” according to Johnston. 

“She kept the calm in the office of a bunch of journalists and hotheads and personalities,” said Johnston. “Dottie was good at managing the chaos that could be a busy, full newsroom with big personalities.” 

Dottie loved animals, and during those years The Aspen Times office was full of them. She had a cat that she brought into the office, according to Carolyn Sackariason, a reporter at The Times during Dottie’s career. She would offer to watch over other people’s dogs and cats while they were away and frequently offered to feed and walk the animals in the office. 

“She made going to work fun. She was a jokester, she was a prankster, she liked to have a good laugh, and she was so personable,” Sackariason said. “People would just come every day and talk to the Dottie or to get a treat for their dog from Dottie.”

Dottie moved to Aspen in the 1960s. She went to college in Massachusetts and lived in San Francisco for some time before visiting Aspen on a ski trip. After the trip, she and her friends moved to Aspen. 

According to Sackariason and Johnston, she was an exemplar of what people wanted to be when they moved to Aspen: endlessly fun, mischievous, and involved in the community. 

Along with her career at The Times, Dottie was the business manager for legendary ski racer Stein Eriksen, she sang and served at the Crystal Palace, she operated a bed and breakfast on McLain Flats with her husband, and was on the board at the Aspen Hall of Fame. 

Dottie moved from Aspen to Fort Myers, Florida in 2022, after a long career keeping The Aspen Times alive as well as keeping Aspen itself alive.