Elaine (Becker) Gay
Marriages
Robert Gay - July 17, 1938
Burial Details
Obituaries
Steamboat Today - December 31, 2015
Steamboat Springs — Routt County lost a legendary woman Wednesday with the passing of longtime rancher Elaine Gay.
"In her life of nearly 98 years, she ran the 10-mile dash to a great life," said Bill Gay, Elaine's son.
Elaine grew up on the old Kemry place on Routt County Road 24. She and her late husband, Bob Gay, founded the Green Creek Ranch 67 years ago in the Pleasant Valley, also known as the Lake Catamount area.
"She was a legend in our valley and we will miss her dearly," said Marsha Daughenbaugh, executive director of the Community Ag Alliance and president of Routt County CattleWomen.
Ranch life was not easy, particularly during the winter months in Pleasant Valley. The Gays usually left their car beside their mailbox, which sat along a main road. They used a horse-drawn sleigh to go back and forth between their car and their house.
Elaine loved Pleasant Valley, and she fought to protect it.
In the 1990s, the Gays became well-known in the community when they adamantly opposed plans for a large ski resort in the area that would have forever altered the landscape and brought up to 10,000 new people to town.
Elaine took a stand against big money and the pressure from real estate developers, but she went about it in a professional way.
"She was the epitome of feminism in the Old West in that she knew how to approach the subject with the greatest of grace and yet determination and thoughtfulness," Bill Gay said. "Achievement was her greatest asset."
Instead of a ski resort, a 3,296 conservation easement was placed around Lake Catamount.
"She thought that was more important than concrete and pavement," Bill Gay said. "She was willing to stand up and gracefully say what was in the best interest for the community."
Elaine had many talents. She was a painter and avid gardener, but possibly she was best known for her cooking. Her specialties were banana cream pie and French bread.
"She entertained with a flare and a flavor of cooking that was extraordinary," Bill Gay said.
She always had food ready for family, visitors and ranch hands and would insist on people having a second, third or fourth helping.
The secret to filling so many bellies, she said in 2004, is "get up early and get busy."
Elaine was also a writer, and she authored two books. "Cowpokes, Cowpies and Otherwise," was a cookbook interspersed with stories from the ranch. "How Pleasant is the Valley" chronicled the history of the area.
Elaine would visit local fourth-grade classes every year to offer children a first-hand account of ranching in the Yampa Valley during an earlier era. She was acknowledged numerous times for her community involvement, including in 2002, when she was honored with the Hazie Werner Award For Excellence.
"A truly dynamic person of her time, and yet she loved to have fun," Bill Gay said.
Elaine's memorial service will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Steamboat Christian Center. Interment will be at the Steamboat Springs Cemetery and will be followed by a gathering and lunch cooked by the Routt County CattleWomen.
"The family would love to have everyone attend," Bill Gay said.
Steamboat Today - January 2, 2016
Emily Elaine Gay, 97, lifetime resident of Steamboat Springs passed away December 30, 2015. Funeral service will be held on January 6, 2016 at 11:00 AM at the Steamboat Christian Center. Interment will be held following the service at the Steamboat Springs Cemetery. For more information please call the Yampa Valley Funeral Home 879-1494
Steamboat Today - January 6, 2016
Emily Elaine Gay, daughter of William and Opal (Selbe) Becker, was born April 17, 1918, in Logan County, KS. She departed this life December 30, 2015, at Doak Walker House in Steamboat Springs, CO. Elaine and her sisters Nadine and Eula spent their early childhood in the Phillipsburg and Logan, KS, communities amidst a large clan of aunts, uncles and cousins, but by 1929 dustbowl conditions prompted the family to relocate in Colorado. They traveled to Routt County in a Stanley Steamer auto that objected to high altitudes by vapor locking. The girls and their mother would get out and push the car until it restarted then rush to climb aboard before it shut down again. The Beckers lived on a farm in the Sidney area and Elaine attended the one-room Sidney school. To supplement meager Depression era income, they grew produce for local grocery stores. Elaine and her sisters recalled hand-watering patches of fledgling cabbage plants, picking strawberries, and hoeing endless rows of vegetables. After graduating from Steamboat Springs High School in 1936, Elaine attended what was then Colorado State Teachers’ College in Greeley. She earned room and board doing housework and childcare for the George Kimball family who remain lifelong friends across several generations. July 17, 1938, Elaine and Robert Gay were married in Craig, CO. They made their home on his family ranch in Pleasant Valley and over the next few years became parents of 3 children—Roberta, Margaret and Bill. In 1948 they moved across the river to the place they purchased from the Lugon brothers and began to build Green Creek Ranch. Hard work was the order of the day, but there was always time for fun, especially dances at rural schoolhouses and the Grange Hall. There were picnics, card parties and potlucks as well as brandings, threshing days and holiday festivities. These events always involved food, and Elaine established her reputation as an excellent cook, particularly for pies and dinner rolls. An accomplished seamstress, Elaine made much of the family clothing as well as curtains and home accessories. She tended to and preserved the produce from a large garden and relaxed by caring for her beautiful flowers and yard. After her family was grown, she began tole painting and eventually taught the craft. She also wrote articles and scripts for historical programs she presented and authored two books, “Cowpokes, Cowpies and Otherwise” a collection of stories and recipes, and a history of the Pleasant Valley Community. Throughout her life, Elaine was involved in many organizations and community activities. She belonged to the Mesa Club from the time she was a bride to the present. She was a charter member of the Routt County CowBelles (CattleWomen). In the 1970’s, Elaine, Shirley Nay and Shirley Brenner took on the daunting task of coordinating the Colorado Make It Yourself With Wool Contest culminating with a fashion event in Denver. She was an active supporter of her children’s school and 4-H activities, and she loved to play bridge. In the late 1980’s a proposed ski area and village at Lake Catamount put Elaine in the forefront for organizing opposition to the development and spearheading its eventual defeat nearly a decade later. Although she remained steadfast in her opposition to most local recreational and expansion development, Elaine befriended many of those who came as a result of the community’s changing culture, and she truly relished her status as an ”old timer”. She was particularly honored to receive the Hazie Werner Award and to have her story appear in several publications.
Elaine was fortunate to live on her ranch until December 2014, when failing health necessitated a move to Casey’s Pond where she enjoyed the care and company of new and old friends. Elaine is survived by her children: Roberta (Delmar) Moellenberg of Idalia; Margaret (Rob) of Westminster; Bill of Steamboat Springs; grand¬children: Gay (Jeff) Uhland, Eads; Joy (Cody) Akey, Wray; Dell Rae (Mike) Ciaravola, Loveland; Todd (Sarah) Hagenbuch, Phippsburg; Heidi (Mike) Dowell, Odessa, FL; great grandchildren: Tori and Mindi Uhland; Alaina and Railyn Akey; Trevor and Amelia Hagenbuch; and Dante Ciaravola. She is also survived by several nieces, nephews, cousins and many friends. She was preceded in death by her husband Bob; her parents; sister Nadine Reager and husband Robert; sister Eula Bufwack and husband Charles; sister-in-law Amelia More and husband Val; sister-in-law Emma Kuntz and husband Paul.
