Theodore Louis Goudvis

Theodore Louis Goudvis, formerly of Aspen, died peacefully at his home in Cambridge, Mass. on Sept. 19, 2009. He was born on March 30, 1918, raised in the New York City area and graduated from the Colorado School of Mines.

During World War II he joined the Navy Seabees, serving in France and the Philippines. After the war, he and a college buddy started a small business in northern Ohio which manufactured concrete products. He married Elinora Lewis and they raised two daughters on the shores of Lake Erie, sailing in the summer and iceboating in the winter.

He fell in love with Aspen during visits in the 1960s and bought 10 acres of land along Conundrum Creek, building a house in 1980 where he retired. He was an avid hiker, skier and nature lover. Always enthusiastic about Aspen’s intellectual and cultural offerings, has was a regular at seminars, Institute offerings and the music festival.

In 2003, due to congestive heart failure, Ted could no longer tolerate living at high altitude and he moved to Cambridge, close to his daughter Pat and her two children. He struggled to remain physically and mentally fit to the very end. Always a voracious reader, he remained interested in, and connected to, the world even as his physical circumstances became more constrained.

Ted’s many friends and family remember him as a man with wide ranging interests, ever ready for an adventure, and fortunate to be able to follow his passions.

He is survived by his daughters Patricia Goudvis of Cambridge, Mass. and Anne Goudvis and son-in-law David Johnson of Boulder, Colo., as well as grandchildren Ben and Natalia Goudvis and Allison and Kai Johnson.

An afternoon of remembrance is planned for a later date. Memorials in Ted’s honor may be sent to Aspen Center for Environmental Studies, 100 Puppy Smith St., Aspen, CO, 81611 or the Hospice of the Valley, PO Box 3768, Basalt, CO 81612.