The Eighties

    Louie was slight of stature but great of heart. The tough Colorado winters and warm summers never got him down. He's seen here in front of the Cheyenne Arms Apartments.

    Eventually, though, time takes its toll on the best of men. In 1981, Louie lost control of his car and ran into a hedge, which brought to a close the many decades of his madcap driving. For awhile, he continued working at the Carriage Museum by taking the bus, but eventually he had to give even that up, which was quite a blow to him.

    Louie and Louise were long-time Christian Scientists, which Louise practised most of her life and relied upon as a possible way of overcoming the increasing stiffness and discomfort in her knee. While perhaps not as devout, Louie too participated in the services of the Christian Science Church and often served as an usher while Bob played hymns on the organ.
   In 1952, Betty had a mild case of polio, right after Laura had had appendicitis. “I kept falling asleep,” Betty remembered. “Every time I woke up I would find Grandma there watching over me, just like an angel, her steadfast faith and prayer for my recovery always at hand." Betty suffered no lasting effect from the disease.

     After a long, hard-working life and 67 years of marriage, Louie fell ill and died in August of 1985, doing something that very few people ever do: his weight matched his age. Louise lived another three years, mostly in the home and loving care of her granddaughter Betty, where she passed away in November of 1988. They lived to see their only child have five children of his own, who in turn gave them eight great-grandchildren. In his later years, Louie once told a story in which he used the expression “it scared the hell out of me,” to which Louise replied quietly, “Not all of it.” The years never dimmed his fire or sapped her strength. Their legacy will long endure.