Catherine Elizabeth Tracy Russell (2024)

Russell, Catherine Elizabeth TracyJuly 20, 1915 January 1, 2008Catherine Elizabeth Tracy was born July 20, 1915, in Chatham, New York, to Charles Aurelius Tracy, a graduate of Cornell University (class of ’99), and Lida Martin (Bramhall) Tracy. The couple had three other children; a son, John, and two daughters, Laura and Winifred.The day after Catherine’s eighth birthday, her father died. Her mother took Catherine and her siblings to Chicago, and supported the family by working as a schoolteacher, often in some of Chicago’s roughest neighborhoods.After Catherine grew up, she went to work at a prominent La Salle Street banking firm. But she was possessed of an artistic and adventurous temperament, and headed west by railroad with a friend, finally arriving in the sleepy little hamlet of Rollinsville, Colorado, in late 1943. After a brief period “slinging hash” in a roadhouse in nearby Nederland, Catherine and her friend, Elizabeth “Betty” Barney moved to the Gilpin County seat, Central City. The local newspaper, the Weekly Register-Call, reported their arrival: “Miss Catherine Tracy and Miss Elizabeth Barney moved to Central City from Rollinsville the first of the week and are located in one of the Stroehle apartments. The former is clerk in the office of County Assessor Victor Tavonatti.”Shortly thereafter, Catherine moved across the hallway in the historic Central City courthouse to work in the Treasurer’s Office, under County Treasurer Hugh Lawry; she was originally paid $51.26 a month; by March, 1945, her salary had increased to $89.30.Though obviously good with numbers, Catherine was a talented poet, as well; several of her pieces ran in the Register-Call. Some, such as “The Joy That Peace Can Bring,” reflect her longing for an end to the war that was still raging in Europe and Asia. But one in particular, simply entitled “Central City,” demonstrated her fondness for her new home:I am glad I can know you now, little townWhile you look not ahead but behind;And your church bells chime, and your people find timeTo be friendly and wonderfully kind.A young miner and local entrepreneur named William C. “Bill” Russell, Jr., had first seen the comely young woman walking her dog on Spring Street, and was immediately smitten. After a short but determined courtshipBill recalled that someone else was also courting her, but he dismissed the rival as a “dilettante”the Register-Call announced that “a marriage license was issued in Denver last Saturday to William C. Russell, Jr., and Catherine E. Tracy, both of this city. Miss Tracy is the clerk in the office of the County Treasurer, and Mr. Russell is the owner of the Antique Shop and various real estate and mining holdings.”Their wedding was held September 8, 1945, in St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Denver, where Bill (a Denver native) had been christened. After a wedding reception at his mother’s home on Josephine Street, the couple left for a brief honeymoon in Santa Fe. But, as the paper reassured, the couple “expect to return to Central City the latter part of the month and will make their home here. Both of the contracting parties are well and favorably known in Gilpin County and their many friends wish them the best of luck and happiness during their wedded life.”After a brief stay in rented quarters on East First High Street, the couple moved into the building Bill had purchased (for $1000) at 109 Eureka Street. The couple spent countless hours renovating and redecorating the upstairs apartment, with the help of local craftsmen and artisans.Bill moved his antique collection and local history museum into the bottom floormost recently the law offices of James Serightand Kay, as she had come to be known, became involved in a number of community causes. She was active in the War Finance Committee, and organized a card drive for the soldiers undergoing rehabilitation at Fitzsimons Army Hospital. She soon gave up her position with the Treasurer’s Office in 1948: the Register-Call lamented that “Mrs. Russell has been in this office for the past several years, was most efficient and accommodating, and will be missed by all who have business to transact with the treasurer.”The cause closest to her heart was the Gilpin County Arts Association, which was formed in 1947 under the auspices of Frances Belford Wayne, Caroline Bancroft, and other Denver society types. In those heady days, just 15 years after the reopening of the Central City Opera House had propelled the old mining town back onto the national stage, the entire community had become a sort of arts colony. Kay was the long-time secretary of the association, which boasted members and exhibitors like Vance Kirkland, Muriel Sibell Wolle, and Angelo di Benedetto.Kay and Bill frequently opened their home for receptions to welcome any number of artists, authors, and actors; in 1956, they hosted the entire D’Oyly Carte Opera Company! Their entertainments became even more lavish after 1968, when they moved into the large house at 207 Eureka Street after the passing of Bill’s mother, Leontine. The house originally belonged to pioneer pharmacist John Best, and was positively grand by Central City standards.The couple furnished the house with antiques, many from Bill’s mother’s family (the Cranmers, prominent in Denver since the 1880s), but also with many art objects Kay collected from local and nationally known artists who exhibited in the annual Arts Association summer show. Kay also traveled widely, throughout the United States and Europe, and exhibited pieces she brought back from her excursions.In the Spring of 1969, Kay appeared on the Denver public television station, along with local artist Dick Hicks, in a program describing and promoting the upcoming season of the Arts Association. Throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s Kay remained the vital force behind the growth of the organization.With the arrival of limited stakes gaming in Central City in 1991, the social scene in which Kay had played such a prominent role changed dramatically; many of the local groups involved in the arts simply left, and the Arts Association itself struggled with the new reality. A series of accidents and illnesses limited Kay’s activities, and by the new millennium, she was rarely seen in Gilpin County.She continued a spirited correspondence with family and friends, although even that was sharply curtailed in recent years. Her final illness came in the last few days of 2007; after a brief stay at Exempla Lutheran Medical Center, she expressed a wish to go home. With the help of friends, Bill was able to honor her wish on New Year’s Eve; she died at 10:15 a.m. New Year’s Day with Bill at her bedside holding her hand.Kay is survived by her husband of 62 years, Bill, and her sisters, Laura Hrudicka of Tacoma, Washington, and Winifred Pons of Glasgow, Kentucky. Interment will be in the Cranmer family plot at Fairmount Cemetery; a memorial service will be held on Saturday, January 12, 2008 at 1:00 p.m. at the Fairmount Mortuary Chapel located at 430 South Quebec Street, Denver, Colorado (Alameda and Quebec). Donations in Kay’s honor may be made to Mt. Evans Hospice, 3081 Bergen Peak Drive, Evergreen, CO 80439; or the Central City Opera Association, 400 South Colorado Blvd., suite 530, Denver, Colorado 80426.