Retta Mae Vela

RETTA MAE VELA

MONTROSE—-Retta Mae Vela, 108, of Montrose, Colo. passed away March 23, 2014.

    Retta Mae (Horn) Vela was born September 19, 1905, to Levi and Maude (Blodgett) Horn in Ochiltree County, Texas. Her parents moved the family to Clayton, New Mexico and then to Colorado, settling around Eckert, Colorado. She graduated from Eckert High School in 1925.

She met Francis L. Vela during high school at Cedaredge, Colorado.  He asked if he could drive her home from school in his racer.  Unfortunately, the Model T Racer didn’t have any fenders and it was raining that day.  Francis hit a mud hole, and mud went all over Retta’s new winter coat.  He thought that was the end of it …but it was only the beginning.  She married Francis on November 11, 1925, in Delta, Colorado, at the Methodist minister’s parsonage, and they were fortunate to celebrate 73 years of marriage.  They enjoyed being together and shared many hard and good times. They lived in the Eckert area on his parent’s ranch (who were immigrants from Crodo, Italy) until the start of the Depression. They then moved to Telluride. Colorado in 1933, as the mines were opening up with work.  Retta spent over 70 years in Telluride until moving with her daughter to Montrose in 2007.

    Retta enjoyed living in Telluride with her many friends and activities.  She was active in the Lady Elks Organization, Commonweal Club and the Telluride Women’s Baseball Team. She managed and sold tickets for two theatres, the Sheridan Opera House and the Nugget Theatre for many years; substituted at the Western Colorado Power Company Office and worked at the Telluride Mines as a metallurgical clerk.

    Retta enjoyed jeeping, hiking and especially dancing.  She always said, “they couldn’t have a dance without them”.  For many years, she and Francis owned a cabin at Trout Lake and the entire family spent most weekends there working on the cabin, fishing or visiting with the other cabin owners.

    The Vela’s purchased property in Telluride on the corner of Main and Fir Streets in the 1950’s.  They opened a four-lane bowling alley at this site.  They acquired the lanes from a bowling alley in Albuquerque. New Mexico, and installed them on the main floor of the building with semi-automatic pinsetters.  A pinsetter loaded the pins into the device then tripped a switch to “spot” the pins”.  The “Telluride Bowling Lanes” provided a very social place for the town citizens.  Hamburgers, hot dogs, soda, a popcorn machine, plus a jukebox provided music and a pool table entertained bowlers and non-bowlers.  Teams from Rico, Ouray, Norwood and Telluride all came to compete at the Telluride Bowling Lanes.

    Retta loved flowers and had a small flower shop underneath her home.  She raised beautiful geraniums and her “green thumb” could do magic in making any plant grow.  She loved to watch baseball, due to her father having played semi-professional baseball in Texas.  The Colorado Rockies were her favorite professional team.

    Retta made wonderful homemade cinnamon rolls and divinity candy.  She was an excellent homemaker and dearly loved her family.

    She had a wonderful sense of humor and was quite witty with an especially sharp mind.   Her favorite saying was that “she only had so many heartbeats in life and she wasn’t going to waste any on exercise”.  She really never had to exercise, as she was always busy being a homemaker or helping Francis with clearing rock and cutting firewood for their home in the Last Dollar Subdivision.

    She will be greatly missed by her son Jack Vela of Golden, daughter Sherry Rose of Montrose; granddaughters Julie Nealon (Jack), of Grand Junction, Janet Childs of Golden; and grandson Darren Rose of Boulder; three great grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren, plus nieces and nephews.

    Her parents Levi and Maude Horn, her brother and sister-in-law Moad and Eula Horn, her sister, Esther Coons and her grandson, Steven Vela, preceded her in death.

     The family will hold private services.

Donations in Retta’s memory may be made to Hope West, P. O. Box 1804, Montrose, Colorado 81402.