Summer – 1974?

Our summer breaks from school and college were filled with work and time to get outside and play.  This meant jeeping, hiking, camping, flying and playing golf to name a few of the many activities.  Did I mention golf?

In the 1960’s and 70’s the public golf course was home to a “Pro Shop,” hotel and a pretty decent restaurant.  My friends and I would often spend our days off hanging around the golf course, hitting buckets of balls, snacking in the restaurant and being general nuisances to the golf pros.  We even worked stints as caddies or sales associates in the pro shop.  The golf course manager back then was Yvonne Tache’.  He was a strict individual who ran things his way and did a good job at it.  We always knew where we stood with him and it was not always a good thing.

Yvonne always watched out for us and if a foursome came available he would let us know.  Looking back, I think he tried to get us out of his hair for awhile by sending us out for a round.  On this particular day I do not remember who I was playing golf with.  I have a good idea, but they will remain nameless just in case I am wrong. 

The beauty of playing golf in Aspen is that you are at a higher altitude to begin with so your drives go further and fly higher.  It is a real ego boost for a substandard player such as me.   The golf course has been redesigned many times since the 1970’s but back then Fairway Seven was along the back of the course just off of Cemetery Lane and Bonita Drive.  It was a long hole with relatively few hazards, except on this day.

The four of us had just teed off and were headed in the direction of our respective golf balls.  Just after leaving the Tee Box a golfer from behind us yelled, “Heads!”  As we turned to see what was up a glider flew about 12 feet over our heads and landed in the middle of the fairway.   We started to run in the direction of the downed plane as the occupants exited the aircraft.  They were fine and the glider sustained no visible damage.

In no time the fairway filled up with Police SAABs, fire trucks and Deiter Bibbig’s jeep (he owned the Glider).  We picked up our golf balls and headed for the next hole.  Later that day, the landing was the talk of the town.  As suspected, the glider had encountered a downdraft that prevented it from making it safely back to the airport.

Spring – 1976

As soon as I got my driver’s license my first stop was to go see Dale over at the Hertz Rent-A-Car agency.  At the time, the local Hertz office was owned and operated by Reid Miller Enterprises out of Grand Junction, Colorado.  The local manager was Dale Wilson and he was just about the nicest man on earth.  I had met him even before I learned to drive as my older brother had worked for him one summer.  He always said, “As soon as you get your license, come see me.”  That is just what I did.

The Hertz office was located in the Holiday Inn lobby just west of town.  The Avis office was there as well.  When I showed up, Dale knew exactly why I was there and he put me to work on the spot.  At first my job was to “shag” cars, which meant cleaning and filling them up with gas.  We had our own tanks at the time and kept a power wash out by them.  As soon as I “prepped” the cars I would put them back on the line and available for rent.  I loved this job as I was able to drive all kinds of cars and go out on the “ramp” at the airport.

Ramp duty included driving around all the parked aircraft and pulling up to the jets and Turbo-Props before the pilots even turned off their engines.  As someone who grew up loving all things “aviation” this was a great job.

Over time I picked up or dropped off a lot of famous people at the airport.  Now when I say famous, I am not only speaking of the “Hollywood types” although there were plenty of them.  I have always admired successful entrepreneurs and business titans which Aspen hosted plenty of as well, some of which were certainly famous in their own right.  So who is Frank Stanton?

One rainy day, an older couple came in to turn in their car and requested a ride to “Monarch Aviation” which at the time was the fixed based operator for private aircraft.  I volunteered the duty as I was glad to go do something.  This was a quiet time of the year and there was not much going on.

We arrived at the ramp only to learn that their jet was in a “holding pattern” above the field due to poor visibility and rain.  With nothing to do back at the office, I volunteered to wait with them.  We sat on the bench out in front of the Monarch Aviation office.  Our conversation quickly covered their visit to Aspen, their journey home to New York City and what kind of plane was coming to pick them up.  I learned that they were being picked up in a Rockwell Sabreliner 65 owned by one of the Television Networks.  Their names were Frank and Sarah Stanton (I had never heard of them.)

As time passed they asked me what I was studying in school and what other interests I had.  I promptly told them of my love of aviation and my hopes to get my pilots license some day.  After 30 or 40 minutes of waiting with the plane still stranded in the skies above, I reluctantly bid my new friends farewell and a safe journey home.  I needed to get back to the rental office.  As I got up to leave, Mr. Stanton handed me a check and said, “Thanks.”  Sarah politely informed me that they wanted to help me learn to fly.  I put the check in my pocket without looking at it and waved goodbye.

When I got back to the office I looked at the check and noticed it was made out for $350.00.  The memo line said, “10 hours of flying.”  I showed it to Dale and although he did not know who Sarah and Frank Stanton were either, he did offer to help me spend my new found wealth.

At home that night I asked my parents who Frank Stanton was.  My dad told me about how he had basically built the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) and really brought television “sitcoms” to the masses.  By the time I met him he had had been retired for about three years from the network.  The two of them were very active with the American Red Cross.

During his years with CBS he was credited with the careers of many successful performers including Jackie Gleason and Lucy.  I was disappointed to learn that he was behind the cancellation of “The Wild Wild West” show in 1970 as he deemed it too violent.

My chance encounter with Sarah and Frank Stanton is still one of my fondest memories from my years working at Hertz.

“Frank passed away in December 2006 at the age of 97”

 

Summer – 1981

During the summer of 1981 I worked for the Hertz Rent-a-Car agency in their Aspen office.  I had worked there over the years and always enjoyed the job.  Over time the branch had resided at different locations including Monarch Aviation’s “On Field” location, the lobby of the old Holiday Inn at the base of Buttermilk and finally in the main terminal building.  For executives and private aircraft owners we provided a service to drop them off at their aircraft after returning their cars.  I made many trips that summer out onto the airport ramp to deliver passengers to their aircraft or pick them up.  In mid-June while delivering an executive of Atlantic Richfield (ARCO) to his Gulfstream II, I observed two Lockheed Jetstars (N530G and N540G) as well as a Gulfstream II (N830G) parked at the far end of the ramp.  There was also an additional Gulfstream II parked nearby.  It caught my attention as one of the Jetstars had been in on numerous occasions over the years.  I knew it belonged to Continental Oil (Conoco).  Since the other Jetstar as well as the Gulfstream II had the same paint scheme and similar registration numbers it was safe to assume they belonged to Conoco as well.  I did not recognize the other Gulfstream and did not think I had seen it on the ramp in the past.

I gave it little thought, assuming it was just another oil company retreat.  Aspen had hosted many such retreats for Atlantic Richfield, Standard Oil of Ohio (Amoco) and other large oil companies.  Later that day I found out it belonged to E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company.  Even that did not cause me to give it much more thought.

At the time I was unaware that Conoco was the object of a rather hostile bidding war between Dome Petroleum, Joseph E. Seagram & Sons Inc. and other lesser known entities.  These companies were attempting to take over Conoco and none of the suitors were of great interest to Conoco’s board.  They were hoping to be acquired by a financially stable, strong company that would not acquire Conoco only to dismantle it out of existence.

Although I have never been able to confirm the nature of the meeting in Aspen between the two companies, it is a fact that Conoco’s board did approach duPont in an attempt to be acquired by them.  The meeting in Aspen must have been one of the earliest of their merger talks as Aspen provided a good airport for executive jets, excellent meeting facilities and it was an “out of the way” location where their meeting would not attract much attention.

Less than three months later, on Sept. 30, 1981, Conoco became a wholly owned DuPont subsidiary.

There is some speculation that ARCO’s ultimate fate to be acquired by British Petroleum (BP) may have been decided in Aspen as well.  Back then aircraft ownership was not a very well kept secret; it was easy to figure out who the owners or operators were.  In today’s security conscious world, aircraft ownership is usually hidden within a series of entities that do not point back to the actual owner or operator of the aircraft.