Looking Back Over Five Decades

As part of our 50th Anniversary, we wanted to take a look back at each of the decades from the perspective of those who lived and worked here during those times. We hope you enjoy!

The 1960s: Askelson family of Indian Hills reminisces about what the area was like 60 years ago
By Deb Hurley Brobst
Wednesday, October 3, 2018 at 6:50 am

That’s the term that best describes the foothills in the 1960s — when Arlie and Ardys Askelson adopted their sons, Erik and Kirk.

The couple, who married in 1960, adopted the boys in 1962. The twins, now 56, are next door neighbors in Indian Hills with their parents living around the corner in a home they’ve lived in for 45 years.

There’s nowhere they’d rather be.

The 1970s: The Sjoden brothers call the decade a ‘raucous time’
By Corinne Westeman
Tuesday, October 9, 2018 at 4:17 pm

Evergreen’s Main Street might as well be Memory Lane for brothers Kerry and Scott Sjoden, as it was a central part of their childhood and adolescence.

Walking down the sidewalk, the two pointed to various businesses and reminisced about bygone haunts. The movie theater. The gas stations. The grocery store.

But, the most meaningful locale was the current CenturyLink building — the site of their former childhood home. The two even pointed to a tree and said that their backyard trampoline had once been next to it.

And, the mountain area was getting a little raucous, too, the brothers said.

Kerry, who graduated from Evergreen High School in 1974, said that streaking was very popular as was tubing on Bear Creek. He recalled how he and his friends would jump off the dam into Evergreen Lake.

Stay tuned in the coming weeks for the 80s and beyond!

Tucked away from the cacophony of the city, life in Evergreen was quieter and simpler in the 1980s — at least for Richard Staller, Evergreen’s first osteopathic doctor.

At the time, Staller’s practice involved a lot of things that residents would be hard pressed to find now — house calls that involved the proverbial black medical bag, treating patients for free or in exchange for goods such as fresh eggs, and treating major lacerations or other injuries in person instead of sending patients to nearby hospitals.

“In the ‘80s, there was still more of a local pride about being an Evergreen resident — being here and being part of the community,” he said. “We were kind of in it together. You had neighbors that if you got into trouble, they’d help you out.”

The culture in and around Evergreen was a little different, too. Staller remembers a big ranching community and a “cowboy culture” that he feels has largely disappeared, apart from Evergreen’s annual rodeo weekend.

Read more here: The 1980s: Simpler life for Richard Staller, who opened his medical practice in ’83
www.canyoncourier.com/content/1980ssimpl...practice-%E2%80%9983
By Deb Hurley Brobst
Wednesday, October 17, 2018

Growth.

That’s how Larry Fitzmaurice, the only head football coach that Conifer High School has ever known, describes the changes that Conifer has seen since the 1990s, when he first joined the Lobo family.

As a Littleton resident, “Fitz” noted that the biggest improvement the area saw since the mid-90s was something that directly affected him and the safety of all the residents in the area: the widening of U.S. 285.

“From driving up on just a two-lane and the snowstorms that I drove through, and I think about the kids going to school back then, it’s just wild compared to now and with the four-lane (highway),” he said. “It’s grown, with the town center and all that stuff.”

Read more here: The 1990s: The area saw tremendous growth since Fitzmaurice took the reins of the football program when CHS opened
www.canyoncourier.com/content/1990s-area...gram-when-chs-opened
By Alissa Noe
Thursday, October 25, 2018 at 7:23 am

No matter what changes, the 285 Corridor will always feel like a close-knit community to Tony Buccelli and Jan Worthem, owners of JJ Madwell’s, an Italian restaurant in Conifer.

The couple moved to the Conifer area in the mid-2000s. While the area has certainly grown since then, both appreciate that you’re still all but guaranteed to run into a neighbor while shopping at King Soopers or Safeway. And on any given night, Buccelli estimates knowing three-quarters of the customers dining at his restaurant.

Read more here: The 2000s: The decade brings change and growth, but the sense of community remains
www.canyoncourier.com/content/2000s-deca...se-community-remains
By Deborah Swearingen
Wednesday, October 31, 2018