Her house sat on the highest ridge on Red Mountain, a log cabin originally built by Meg Brown, D.R.C. Brown’s first wife.  By the time the house was completed, Meg had made it very clear that she had no intention of living in a house so far from town.  “Who would ever want to live up there?” she proclaimed and with that, she put the house on the market.  The year was 1953. 

Euclid “Puc” Worden, having just completed his college years at the Colorado School of Mines, had chosen to put his geological career on hold that year, moved to Aspen to be a ski bum.  Meanwhile my grandmother, Elizabeth “Granny” Worden lived back in Brown Deer, Wisconsin along with her daughter, Pamela Worden, Euclid’s Mother and sister respectively.  After a bit of coaxing, Euclid convinced Elizabeth to move to Aspen with her daughter in tow.  Elizabeth asked Euclid to find her a suitable place to live.  Euclid found out about Meg’s home and made an offer on the place on behalf of Elizabeth.  Sight un-seen, Elizabeth became the owner of the highest house on the mountain overlooking town.  At the time of the purchase there were less than a dozen homes on all of Red Mountain and most were at the Pitkin Green level just above town. 

Luckily enough for me, Pamela and Elizabeth needed the services of The Little Percent Taxi Company at some point immediately after their arrival in town and that taxi was being driven by none other than Neil Beck.  I would like to think that it was “love at first sight” for the two teenagers but either way their future was sealed and by the summer of 1954 they were married.  Four kids in five years and they were a family.  

By this time, Elizabeth was now known by all of Aspen’s year-round residents as “Granny.”  Granny was one of Aspen’s socialites, hosting parties and evenings overlooking town with all of Aspen’s high society and even some of the valley’s most famous guests of the time.

Also at that time, Red Mountain was no longer considered “too far from town” and the hillsides quickly filled with new, very large homes.  All the while, Granny watched over her beloved hill from her highest of vantage points.

By the mid-1970’s, Granny had been forced to do a little less driving after dark but her evenings to town were no less important to her.  Granny soon figured out that an offer of an evening out, “all expenses paid” was all it took for one of her grandkids to be more than  happy to be her escort.  I thoroughly enjoyed those nights out on the town; it was almost like being out with royalty.  Granny was known for her “sporty” little cars over the years and she was equally known for her willingness to come off Red Mountain with no fear when she was behind the wheel.  The local police turned a “blind eye” whenever they could even when Granny was involved in a minor fender bender here and there but eventually they came to my mother asking for help in getting her off the roads when she was out for her evening cocktails.   Granny with her “Granny” vanity plates were becoming a local icon that people both loved and avoided. 

With the arrival of every big home on the hill she used to comment how each one of them was “lit up like a new saloon.”  She marveled at the size and grandeur of each new home and how the owners liked to bathe them in light.  She could even tell you who owned most of them.

In 1995 Granny passed away and her house was sold about a year later.  Sometime after the summer of 2008 her house finally gave way for one of those big houses “lit up like a new saloon.”