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Job Well Done

Mary Eshbaugh Hayes
Co-worker Ruth Hatfield tells Sam Stapleton how much she enjoyed working with him. (MEH photo)
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Sam Stapleton has retired from the Aspen Skiing Company after working 48 years for the organization. Friends, family and co-workers held a retirement party for him recently at the Elks Club and many co-workers roasted him. Sam’s Knob at the Snowmass Ski Area was named for him. He and his wife, Liz, ranched nearby on Owl Creek and for many years had a bed-and-breakfast at the ranch house.Just back from an adventurous journey are Judi and Bob Francis. They were in Amman, Jordan, when the three hotels were bombed. They were two blocks from the Radisson Hotel (one of the hotels bombed), staying safely in the Ammon West Hotel. They traveled on to Egypt where they visited Cairo, Answan and Luxor, viewing the pyramids and getting stuck on a sandbar in the Nile for 36 hours on Thanksgiving. They had cold pizza for Thanksgiving dinner.Jane and Jim Jenkins got stuck in Grand Junction while flying their plane home last week after a month of travel. It has been 50 years since Jane first published her Christmas tree story about the Sardy House tree. It has now been published in Spanish as well as English and is sold at Explore Booksellers and Carl’s Pharmacy.Just back in Aspen for the winter are Jan and Bob Blaich, who were recently in Holland to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Royal Philips Electronics’ Design Division. Bob was the head of design at Philips from 1980 to 1992, during which time he was knighted by the Queen. After Holland, the Blaichs were in Copenhagen, Denmark, to give out the awards from the INDEX-2005 Prize of 500,000 euros to five prizewinners. Bob, as chairman of the jury, and the crown prince of Denmark awarded the prizes. The Blaichs then went to Greece, where they toured historic sites in Mycenae, Olympia, Delphi, Athens and the Cycladic Islands of Timos, Siros, Delos, Mikonos and Santorini, traveling on a 170-foot sailboat. After a short stay in Chicago, they then spent a week in Oaxaca, Mexico, during the “Day of the Dead” celebrations.After 35 years in Aspen and Woody Creek, Hal and Barb Radeke have sold their home and are leaving the Roaring Fork Valley. They plan to travel and determine where they would like to permanently settle. They hope to settle a little closer to daughter, Tina, who lives in Portland, Ore. The Radekes promise to stay in touch with the friends they made over the years in the Aspen area.

All aviation enthusiasts are invited to the Aspen 99s annual Pilots’ Christmas Party on Monday, Dec. 12, from 6 to 10 p.m. at the Hotel Lenado, 200 S. Aspen St. There will be potluck appetizers and desserts and a cash bar. Come swap flying stories. It is free and open to the public. For more information, please call Cindy at 927-9690 or Polly at 925-5510.Janet and Pat Cole have been vacationing on the Island of Kauai in Hawaii.Linda Waag and Marty Schlumberger have been in Antarctica.Sean Trotter, a sophomore at the Holderness School in Plymouth, N.H., has been named to the school’s first-quarter honor roll. This fall Sean also worked in the school’s on-campus student jobs program and played on the junior varsity soccer team. He is the son of Linda and James Trotter of Aspen.The T-Lazy 7 Ranch and Maroon Bells Lodge and The Bentley Team held a holiday party yesterday at the ranch, featuring snowmobile and sleigh rides, food and drinks and dancing.Off for a couple of weeks on the Island of Oahu in Hawaii are Elli (Hayes) and Gordie Ford, who live in Center Sandwich, N.H., and their daughters, Alice, a senior at the University of Arizona in Tucson, and Meridith, who is working in San Diego. Alice is competing in a triathlon while in Hawaii. They will stay on Waikiki Beach but also visit with Elli’s brother, Clayton Hayes, and his family who live in Hawaii Kai.Undercurrent … the ski season is upon us.