People
Collection for person entities.
Pages
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- Pete Lapham
- A De Beque resident who worked in the cattle business. According to oral history interviewee Morgan Goss, Lapham had a feud with a man named Hiram, and Hiram shot him in the jaw at a pool hall on Main Street in Grand Junction, Colorado. According to rancher Donald “Don” Rogers, Lapham’s beef was actually with a man named Irey Walck. Lapham threatened to kill Walck when they saw each other in the Pastime Café on Main Street in Grand Junction. Most of the regulars thought Lapham was drunk and so ignored him. Lapham went to the Free Corral, got his gun, and shot Walck in the neck. Rogers’s father, Lucas “Luke” Rogers, had drawn his gun at that point, and threatened to shoot Lapham if he didn’t leave. Lapham holstered his gun and left. Rogers makes no mention of Walck dying, but does say that Lapham’s shot missed Walck’s jugular.
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- Pete Seibert Jr.
- Peter Werner Seibert, Jr., who is known to family and friends as Pete, was born 21 December 1955 to Elizabeth “Betty” Pardee and Pete Seibert, Sr. In 1962, the Seibert family removed to the new Colorado mountain community of Vail. Patriarch Pete Seibert, Sr. founded Vail Ski Area alongside Earl Eaton, an Eagle Valley miner and local renaissance man, Seibert’s Camp Hale trained 10th Mountain Division veteran friends, and a few intrepid Denver professionals. Pete Seibert, Jr. speaks fondly of growing up in the Gore Creek Valley. Winters were spent skiing and ski racing for Ski Club Vail and at the Junior Nationals, while Seibert and friends “Huck Finned” it during summers. Pete Seibert, Jr., alongside children from four other families of fledgling Vail, were educated at the Vail Country Day School (VCDS) by Alan Brown and the Calvert homeschooling system. During its first year of operation, VCDS rotated rooms throughout The Lodge at Vail. During its second year, VCDS was held in the Seibert family home basement on Rockledge Road. Seibert spent eighth grade in Davos, Switzerland and his secondary education was obtained at Denver Country Day School (later Kent Denver School). While in Denver, Seibert lived with the family of Jack and Penny Tweedy. Seibert graduated from Vermont’s Middlebury College with a B.A. in American Literature. In ensuing years, he earned his M.B.A. from the University of Denver. After competing on his college ski racing team and graduating in 1977, Pete Seibert, Jr. returned to the Gore Creek Valley and served on Vail Ski Patrol. During summers, Seibert worked as a hod carrier for Gerald Gallegos Masonry. Gallegos, who was a native of Red Cliff, was “the best success story in the Valley” in the opinion of Seibert. After supervisory and management positions at Snowbasin UT, Sun Valley ID and Arrowhead Ski Area in Eagle County, Seibert began his thirty-year career as a real estate broker. In 2021, Pete Seibert, Jr. was elected to the Vail Town Council. He serves, or has served, on the boards of the Vail Planning and Environmental Commission, the West Vail Master Plan Community Advisory Committee, Vail Valley Mountain Trails Alliance, and the Minturn Economic Development Council. He also volunteers for the local nonprofit organizations including Vail Veterans Program and Access Unbound. In 2015, Seibert was honored by Ski & Snowboard Club Vail for his considerable Leadership (Wall of Excellence award). In 1983, Seibert married fellow ski patroller, Teri Kay Salani. Four children were born to the couple: Pete III “Petey,” twins Anna and Tony, and Elizabeth “Lizzie.” Seibert and life partner, Kate Allan, currently live in West Vail.
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- Pete Seibert Sr.
- Peter (Pete) Werner Seibert, Sr. was born 7 August 1924 in Sharon, Massachusetts. He was the eldest child of Albert Daniel Seibert and Edythe Loring Seibert. Morrie Shepard, a lifelong friend of Seibert’s, reported that several local youths began skiing together, but they all watched and emulated Seibert. In 1940, Siebert and Shepard, who were both founding fathers of Vail, built a ski run outside of Sharon on “our country doctor’s farm.” Seibert graduated from New Hampton School, a college preparatory institute, in New Hampton, New Hampshire. In 1943, Pete Seibert Sr. volunteered for the U.S. Army 10th Mountain Division during World War II. He was assigned to the 86th Regiment Company F and rose to the rank of Master Sergeant. The 10th Mountain Division trained for winter warfare at Camp Hale, Colorado. Seibert met Earl Eaton, a local miner, rancher, skier and member of the civilian workforce, at Camp Hale. Seibert also met several other men who would eventually establish Vail and other ski communities in the American West. In February of 1945, Pete Seibert received life-threatening shrapnel wounds during the Battle of Riva Ridge in the Apennine Mountains of northern Italy. After seventeen months of hospitalization and rehabilitation, Seibert began to ski again and ultimately earned the Roche Cup, an honor awarded to Colorado’s top skier. He subsequently qualified for the U.S. Ski Team. In 1950, Seibert returned to Europe and attended L’Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne, an international hotel management school in Lausanne, Switzerland. In 1957, Pete Seibert and Earl Eaton made a seven-hour back-country ski trek up the mountain that came to be known as Vail Mountain. Seibert and investors, spearheaded by George Caulkins, created the Transmontane Rod and Gun Club and began purchasing ranches in the Gore Creek Valley. The initial organization board meeting for the community of Vail and its ski area was held on 10 December 1959; the first board meeting of Vail Corporation was held on 9 January 1962. Vail ski area opened on 15 December 1962. In 1977, Seibert resigned as CEO of Vail Corporation after the 1976 gondola tragedy. During the ensuing years, Seibert continued to spearhead other visionary ski area efforts. In 1954, Seibert married Elizabeth “Betty” Pardee. Three sons were born to this union: Pete Jr., Calvin and Brandt. In 1980, Seibert was named to the Colorado Ski and Snowsports Hall of Fame. In 2000, Pete Seibert Sr. wrote Vail: Triumph of a Dream, but was unable to finish his second book, For Love of the Mountains. The second volume was a history of the 10th Mountain Division and those who trained at Camp Hale. Pete Seibert Sr. passed away on 15 July 2002 possibly due to illness that originated from his wartime wounds.
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- Peter Aristide "Pete" Landini
- He was born in Massa Carrara, Italy to father Sante Landini and an unknown mother. He came to the United States in on June 10, 1913 with his older brother. They worked in the CF&I iron foundry in Pueblo, Colorado. When his sister-in-law got sick, Peter had to return to Italy. The Italian Army drafted him at this time, and he served for two years. He returned to Pueblo and was drafted into the US Army and fought during World War I, serving in England and France. After the war he went to Utah, where his brother had purchased a homestead. There, he worked in the Latura coal mine. He contacted his brother in Italy, asking him to find him a bride. He asked his acquiantance Luisa Durante to marry him. She came from Italy and they married on May 14, 1921, shortly after her arrival. They had two girls and one boy. He worked in a coal mine in Utah during the Winter and then farmed on their homestead in the summer. They lived with Pete’s brother and near her friend Carolina, then briefly in a home built by Pete and his brothers, before moving onto an 80 acre homestead. They grew beans, corn, and other crops. They sold some of the beans. They later raised milk cows, alfalfa for their animals, and wheat. As of 1983, the family still owned all 80 acres. His son Carlo and grandson Tom carried on the dairy operation. According to his wife, he was a very patient, loquacious, and funny man. He was a member of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church of Fruita, the DAV and Last Squad clubs. He died at the age of 91 and is buried in Fruita’s Elmwood Cemetery. *Photograph of Luisa and Pete Landini
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- Peter Baker
- Early resident of Crested Butte, Colorado. Died in the Jokerville Mine Explosion on January 24, 1884.