Betty Jane Harbour - circa 1950 arrival
Betty Jane Harbour
From Port Arthur, Texas, Betty Jane Harbour came to Aspen around 1950 with her husband Jack. She built the houses that bracket the east end of Castle Creek bridge.
Betty had a smile that could melt boilerplate and a foghorn of a voice. In the ’60s, during a whiteout on Aspen Mountain, Betty left the Sundeck with her ski class of 14. By the time they reached Little Nell, there were 44 terrified skiers following the sound of her voice.
After Jack’s death, Betty traveled the world, hunting big game in Alaska and living in the Maharani palace in Katmandu. She trekked to Everest base camp three times
— after losing a kneecap when her Norwegian Dun slipped and fell on her. Though she’d never finished high school, she enrolled at CU in Astrogeophysics just as her daughter Cyndie was finishing her master’s.Betty died while she was building her fifth house, in the mountains of northern New Mexico. She’d been living in the first and only completed part of the house
— and the most important to her — the observatory tower.–
Doug Franklin
Jack Harbour and my father were good friends before Jack’s tragic accident. Our family visited Betty and her daughter Cindy, each summer between 1958 and 1965. Betty took me camping and fishing in the Anderson/Petroleum lake region of Independence Pass and Cathedral lake. These camping trips remain among the highlights of my childhood memories. She and her friend Wes Hammerick(sp) also took us “jeeping” before that was what it was known by and into areas that have long since become restricted or prohibited. My parents took me to the limelight club in the Crystal Palace to listen to a young folk singer, Glenn Yarbrough and drink Shirley Temples. I shall never forget Betty Harbour and the Aspen of the fifties and sixties. – Scott Shattuck
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