Bios, Stanley - Esther and Bill, Eagle County, Colorado Contributed by Jean Winthers October 10, 1999 Esther and Bill STANLEY From the Vail Daily's Locals Corner on 30 August 1999, by Jean Winthers (Used with permission) Gypsum had three grocery stores, a bank, a barbershop and two garages when Esther and Bill Stanley bought their first home there on Eagle Street in April, 1936. They have lived in that house ever since, and watched Gypsum change through the years from a bustling ranching and farming town to a bedroom community for up valley workers. "Gypsum had more business places then than it has now," Esther said. Looking and acting younger than their years mentally and physically, the Stanleys could pose for a television commercial on how to grow old gracefully. Bill, at 92 years of age, is hard of hearing, and hampered by illness, but still manages to get around with the aid of a walker. Esther, 89, is the designated driver, "but no further than Eagle," keeps her own house and loves to "fiddle around in her yard" and crochet. The couple were married on August 19, 1934 and just celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary. Thirty-one of their married years were spent owning their own grocery store in Eagle, which they bought in 1941. Before becoming the owner of a grocery store of his own, Bill worked in a grocery store in Gypsum and at Koonce Chevrolet in Eagle. Esther worked as a clerk and bookkeeper in the Gypsum Mercantile and from 1935 to 1942 served as Gypsum postmaster. Then their grocery store business kept them both busy. "Gypsum had a train depot, with four trains a day, two in the morning and two in the evening," Esther recalled. "The first class mail came in on the fly - a hook caught the bag, because the train didn't stop. But the train stopped to deliver the regular mail." Long before the construction of Interstate 70, supplies for the store had to come in via the lower valley by truck, but the bread came from Denver on the train. "We had to deal with the rationing coupons during the war years," Esther said. "We deposited them just like money." Esther Hendrickson Stanley was born on the Andrew Olson ranch in the Gypsum valley and except for some traveling after they retired, has lived in Gypsum all her life. Bill came to the Eagle Valley with his family as a young boy from Rawlins, Wyoming. Esther and Bill attended Gypsum grade school and Eagle High School together, but didn't start dating until after high school. "We didn't have any interest in each other until then," Esther said. They went together almost five years before they married. The Gypsum grade school no longer exists, but the Upper Gypsum school, which they both attended at one time, was moved to Gypsum and now houses a church. For entertainment, the couple went to dances at the Odd Fellows and Rebekkh Lodges, the high school gym and the American Legion Hall and to movie theaters in Eagle and Glenwood Springs. Esther's father, Alfred Hendrickson, a native of Finland, was 21 years old when he received his citizenship papers in 1904, but had attended school in Gypsum when he was much younger. When he married, he rented the Olson ranch in the Gypsum valley. Esther's mother, Lena, came as a young girl from Norway. Bill's father, Claude Stanley, was of English descent, and his mother, Christina, was born in Denmark. The family moved here in 1915, where Claude Stanley worked as a plumber. "We got around in those early days with horses and wagons," Esther reminisced. "I was about six or seven years old when Father got a touring car. There was a Mrs.Cooley who had a open car with a bulb horn that she would press to blow, like a bicycle horn. Bill's and my first car was a Model T Ford." When the couple first retired, they traveled to Europe, Hawaii and around the United States, but now they stay close to home. Bill is no longer able to do the carpentry and "handy man" jobs he liked to do. "I built a shop on the back of the house for that," he said. They have no children, but enjoy visits often from several devoted nieces, grand-nieces and nephews. Commenting on the changes in the valley, Esther said, " We've seen a lot of history and a lot of changes It used to be people made their living by farming, grain, alfalfa and potatoes. Now they go out of town to work, and they keep building more houses. We don't know our neighbors anymore." =================================================== Contributed for use by the USGenWeb Archive Project (http://www.usgenweb.org) and by the COGenWeb Archive Project USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. 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