LEADVILLE – Don Hix – Colorado Mountain College pioneer, leader and visionary – died in 1983 at age 60, though his significant guiding influence continues to make an indelible impact on the college.
On Oct. 23, dozens of people attended a dedication of the Don Hix Memorial Gazebo, a large, wood-and-steel, open-air gazebo at CMC’s campus in Leadville. The gazebo sits in place of the former Storm King building, though the circular dome that was part of the old library has continued on the form of the new structure.
“There were lots of ‘pod’ buildings here back in the day,” said Don’s son, Bruce Hix. “They were either octagons or polygons. This building is a reminder.”
The crowd that gathered to honor Don Hix was filled with members of the Hix family, and numerous friends and colleagues, many of whom had worked with him at CMC during his 14 years at the college, first as chief financial officer, and then as vice president.
“He built a stable foundation,” said Dr. Jonathan King, CMC’s interim campus vice president in Leadville, standing in front of the gazebo with a backdrop of nearby 14,000-foot peaks. “I’m honored to be here to recognize Don Hix and this gazebo. It’s a wonderful edifice for us.”
Hix was a high school teacher before he became the business manager for the Colorado Education Association prior to moving to the mountains. When he began working at CMC in 1969, he and his wife Barbara brought from the Front Range their two youngest children – Bruce and Laurie – to Leadville to finish high school.
Later, son Bruce and his wife MaryLee, a Leadville native who met Bruce in high school, moved to the Front Range. They have since moved back to Lake County, and their generous donation helped fund the construction of the gazebo – a vision the college has had for a number of years.
When Don Hix started at CMC, it was a two-campus college – the west campus in Glenwood Springs and the east campus in Leadville.
One of the Leadville campus’s draws then and now, the ski area operations degree, was the first of its kind offered at a college campus. With Hix’s passion for skiing, the program was a natural. His son Bruce was one of its students.
Another program was Gary Goms’s auto shop, which expanded into a two-bay operation. “The biggest thing I learned from Don here was ‘service to the student, service to the community,’” said Goms. “He really pushed for that here.”
Under Hix’s leadership, Joe Nachtrieb, a hard rock miner, helped develop a mine rescue training program at CMC. Both men understood the need for such a program to serve the nearby Climax Molybdenum Mine.
“At one point, we had 75 men and women trained and ready to go seven days a week, 365 days a year. No less than nine lives locally were saved as a direct result of Don’s leadership,” said Nachtrieb. “I’ve lost count of how many across the country.”
Whether mine rescue or ski operations, Hix had to utilize the people and facilities he had on hand during CMC’s early days, even if it came down to ski area operations instructors teaching the finer points of office management.
“I think I was the first instructor to teach snowmaking and shorthand,” said Bob Hartzell, smiling, who, since 1979, has done everything at CMC’s Leadville campus from teaching to serving as assistant dean. “Don was a father figure to me. He was a wonderful man.”
And Leadville Mayor Jaime Stuever was also on hand Oct. 23 to acknowledge the new open-air building.
“I’m looking forward for the Hix family tradition to continue in Leadville with this gazebo for a long, long time,” he said.
By Carrie Click.