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Many of us already know about Buzz’s passion for
mining, and anyone who’s seen Val's spectacular terraced garden knows
her talents in horticulture. But both have also had lesser-known
backgrounds. For instance, Val has had a garden since she was five years
old. And in Buzz's past life, he produced a musical, "Christmas on a
Grand Scale," at Colorado Women's College, complete with fifteen grand
pianos, forty-five piano players, revolving platforms, a choir, Muppets,
and snow.
Back to the beginning. Buzz is a real native. He was born in a log cabin
four miles from the small town of Aspen (pop 750). His father owned one
of the early general stores, and his mother developed one of Aspen's
first set of tourist cabins at the foot of Independence Pass. Buzz went
to school in Aspen and Denver, and then went on to receive fellowships
to Stanford for graduate work. In spite of all his academic
achievements, Buzz liked working with his hands best. Architecture and
home construction remained his primary loves in life. That and ideas.
His ideas earned him the reputation as a whistle blower/trouble maker
while teaching in the Denver Public Schools. Because he irritated the
militants threatening the schools with violence, he was "promoted" to an
administrative job as Testing Specialist for the schools—experiences he
wrote about in his autobiography. Buzz is particularly proud of having
founded and directed two symposiums on the humanities and physical
well-being at the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies.
In 1953 Buzz and his brother became the 29th and 30th persons in the
world to climb all the Fourteeners. They climbed 28 of them in 24 days.
Buzz also climbed Grand Teton and Mt. Owens in Wyoming, and on an
expedition to the Himalayas in 1986 he twice looked down from over
15,000 feet into Tibet.
Val was born in Surrey County in the UK, the daughter of the Director of
Air-Worthiness for Britain; every new aircraft in Britain had to be
signed off by her dad. Val married at seventeen and had three girls and
a boy before the age of twenty-three. The family came to Scottsdale in
1967. She worked at Baskin Robbins, first as a scooper, then as a cake
decorator and later as a manager. While in Scottsdale she joined the
Teddy Bear Club, making, selling, and collecting bears. She was
sometimes seen around Phoenix on her moped with a 5-foot bear riding
behind her!
In 1986 Val relocated to Hong Kong with her husband, and then he told
her that he was going to divorce her. After the divorce and returning to
Phoenix, she joined a hiking group called the "International
Y-Trekkers," and lost 80 pounds in 2 years. During time off from a job
in a store service department, her main achievement was a
rim-to-rim-to-rim Trekkers hike in the Grand Canyon, seventy-five miles
in five and a half days. In her divorce recovery class Val was
encouraged to put an ad in a singles paper at Christmas. Buzz, along
with several others, responded. When Buzz invited her to join him in
Aspen in July, her daughters were horrified, but her "mum" and son said
"go do it," and she did!
While living at the base of Independence Pass, Val and Buzz opened an
old silver mining tunnel on the back side of Aspen Mountain. In 1994
they moved to Glenwood and joined the 100 Club. They were married in
1996 (no use rushing into things after their previous experiences) in a
spectacular ceremony at Picnic Point. At the point of "kiss the bride"
they were greeted by three dynamite explosions!
Now Val and Buzz both like to travel. They have been all over the world
(except Alaska, as Val doesn't do cold!),
They have hiked with the Trekkers in the Alps and Pyrenees and in the
Canadian Rockies. Fall 2004 brought a
two-week trip to India. They spend winters in Phoenix where Val
organizes parties and outings for their neighborhood retirement
group—and avoids the snow. During summers in Glenwood, they lead the
"Adventurers" group, leading 100 Club members on special outings.
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