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“That’s Jitter Nolen.” “Jitter?” “Yep, that’s his
real name.” Well, his name for the last sixty-some years anyway.
Jitter and Patricia, who’ve lived in Glenwood Springs since the early
1990’s, are involved in more activities than you can shake a stick at.
They can be seen at almost every Glenwood Springs function and, more
likely than not, they’ve had a hand in developing or promoting it.
They’ve helped in raising funds for the Community Center’s new pool;
they enthusiastically promote the Community Concert Association; they
are active members of the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church; and Jitter
served three years on the board of the Glenwood Springs Art Center.
Patricia is an active member of the Trade Wins Investment Club. (That’s
right, it’s Trade Wins. That’s all you need to know about the success of
this club. Maybe its success is due to it’s being a ladies only group.)
She is also active with the Glenwood Springs Garden Club. Jitter, from
1995 to 2001, was one of the founding board members of the Roaring Fork
Education Foundation and is treasurer of the Two Rivers Community
Foundation-– the list goes on. How they have time to hike (both have
earned their 1000 mile hiking pins), ski, bike, play tennis and do all
the other things they do is a mystery—and an inspiration.
It was, by the way, on the tennis courts of the Oklahoma City Tennis
Club that Patricia and Jitter met. That was in 1985. They must have been
exceptional tennis players even then, for shortly after they met they
participated in the club’s tournament and took second place! At that
time Jitter was vice-president of the Oklahoma Medical Research
Foundation. Formerly, he was president of North Texas State University
in Denton, TX as well as president of the Texas College of Osteopathic
Medicine. Patricia, who in 1975 had earned her Masters degree in
Psychiatric Social Work at Oklahoma University, was working in this
field.
Patricia, from Oklahoma City, and Jitter, from Austin, both developed a
love for Colorado as a result of their travels to the state. In 1990,
just two years after they married, they purchased a condo in Glenwood
Springs which they used as a vacation home. It was during their
vacations here that they became involved in 100 Club activities. Then,
in 1994, they decided to retire from their working life and buy their
home in Glenwood, where they still live today.
Jitter, in his younger days, was a very active Boy Scout and earned his
Eagle badge with three Palms. Later he was awarded the Silver Beaver
award after serving as scout master. Jitter’s experiences in the Boy
Scouts served him well when it came time to serve in the military. He
was in the Navy for three years during WWII and then in the Naval
Reserve, where he made the rank of Commander. At age fourteen Jitter was
selected for The Order of the Arrow, which required a thirty-six hour
initiation during which the initiates were not allowed to speak (imagine
Jitter not speaking for 36 hours) and were given a nickname by their
best friend. The nickname was written with lipstick on the initiate’s
forehead and remained there for the duration of the initiation. At that
time there was a newspaper comic strip with a chimpanzee called
“Jitter,” and Jitter’s best friend and Lodge Chief, said that Jitter
reminded him of that cartoon character. So that’s the nickname he chose
to write on Jitter’s forehead, and it stuck with him to this day. So,
now you know the rest of the story.
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