S T E A M B O AT
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MAY 27, 2009
Steamboat Springs, Colorado
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Vol. 21, No. 126
RO U T T
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DA I LY
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S T E A M B O AT S P R I N G S
Cheap eats draw diners Restaurants have mixed results for Mainstreet Steamboat dining event Page 3
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FILE PHOTO
Lifelong Steamboat Springs resident and tireless higher education supporter Benita Bristol, pictured in a December 2007 photo, died Monday at age 87. Benita and her late husband, Everett, were at the first meeting when plans were set in motion for Yampa Valley College, the predecessor of Colorado Mountain College in Routt County.
Benita Bristol dies at 87
Magic take 3-1 lead Page 29
Correction The name of Carl Ramunno, military veteran and longtime Steamboat Springs High School teacher and wrestling coach, was misspelled in a photo caption with the story, “Bringing honor home,” on page 1A of Sunday’s Steamboat Pilot & Today.
Blythe Terrell
PILOT & TODAY STAFF
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS
Benita Bristol, a Routt County native and higher education advocate who worked with Colorado Mountain College for decades, died Monday after an illness. She was 87. Benita Bristol and her husband, Everett, attended the original meeting when plans for Steamboat Springs’ Yampa Valley College were set in motion, according to a news release from CMC. She volunteered at that college for years and later helped rescue the cam-
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■ INDEX Briefs . . . . . . . . .10 Business. . . . . . .28 Classifieds . . . . .35 Colorado. . . . . . .18 Comics . . . . . . . .33 Crossword . . . . .33
Beloved CMC trustee and Routt County native will be a ‘real loss,’ friend says
Happenings . . . . .7 Horoscope . . . . .34 Nation. . . . . . . . .19 Sports. . . . . . . . .29 ViewPoints . . . . . .8 Weather . . . . . . .24
Tuesday night’s Cash 5 numbers: 1-3-11-26-28 Drawings are held Monday through Saturday.
pus when it was in danger, said Brian Hoza, assistant campus dean of student services. “At some point, there was a risk that we would lose the college, and Ev and Benita were instrumental in a group that worked with so many others. … They gathered support in the community to join the Colorado Mountain College district and sustain it as part of Colorado Mountain College,” Hoza said. Bristol Hall, the main academic building on the CMC campus, is named for Benita and her husband. John Vickery worked at CMC from 1982 to 2000, the last 12
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years as campus dean. Bristol was the college’s rock, Vickery said. “As much as she supported the college and the campus and everything, her No. 1 priority were students,” he said. “And even when some of the students could be a little trying at times, 18-, 19-year-olds, she was there for them. … She didn’t baby them; she didn’t coddle them, but she was very supportive.” Vickery said he had lunch with Bristol about six weeks ago at the Egg & I Restaurant. “She was just her regular lively self and knew probably half the people in the restaurant,” he
said. “And she made sure she went over and talked to them if they didn’t come over and talk to her. That’s the kind of person she was.” She was also a straight talker who wasn’t afraid to give Vickery the skinny on what was really happening on campus. Bristol also wasn’t afraid to tell him when she thought he should be doing his job differently, Vickery said. Bristol was involved with the Tread of Pioneers Museum and was one of the original board members for the Yampa Valley See Bristol, back page
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