• News
• Sports
• Opinion
• A&E
• Multimedia
• Features
• Obituaries
• Blogs

  Home Page » Opinion » Columnists » My Turn » A Fond Farewell To MorleyBallantine

A fond farewell to MorleyBallantine

by Charlie Langdon
My Turn

Morley Ballantine was my benefactor and my friend despite the fact we had an off-and-on relationship.

In the end, she was in my corner when it came to the publication of my poetry, as well as my history of the Purgatory
ski area. Without her, none of that would have happened.

Like many others, I
enjoyed the routine visits to see her in the late afternoons before old age incapacitated her. Richard and Mary Lyn Ballantine, Bob Beers and Mary Jane Clark generally were present to have a few drinks. They talked about all sorts of things they’d done in the past before Laura and I came to Durango.

Also, we talked about Arthur, whom I knew and admired before his sudden death in 1975. He and Morley had introduced chlorine to purify the water in this town.

Apparently, some people thought it was a secret plot. They canceled their subscriptions to the Herald.

The Ballantines were considered to be outsiders, who were more at home with the Rockefellers than with common folks.

Of course, over the years, they brought Durango into the modern world. They fully understood that newspapers always were controversial, and never forgot the old adage, “’tis a privilege to live in Colorado,” plus the fact “everyone knows how to run a newspaper better than you do.”

That’s as it should be. It’s part of living in a free country. You might say the president is a moron or a traitor, but nobody’s going to toss you into prison for saying it.

Before the Ballantines
arrived, cliques ran the town.

It was the customary thing. “Here’s how we do it in
Durango. No others need to be involved.”

Every newspaper since the founding of Durango with the arrival of the railroad had failed sooner or later. And there were some darn good
papers.

The Herald never came close to failing. It just kept on keeping on, even after Arthur’s passing.

Morley was at the helm. And she passed it on to Richard as she was aging. And Richard runs a fine paper with a talented, professional staff. No doubt the Herald will
continue to prosper in the
years ahead.

I remember the last time I saw Morley. She was barely able to speak. She was elevated on a permanent bed, and no longer in her bedroom. Her caregiver showed me how I could talk to her through a loudspeaker. I held her hand while talking, and while talking I’d squeeze her hand, asking if she could hear me. She’d squeeze back.

I talked about what Laura and I were doing at the
moment, and how we enjoyed going here and there.

Her caregiver came in and handed me a glass of white wine, which I sipped as I talked.

I went on for perhaps half an hour, then I kissed her on the cheek and tried not to say goodbye, because I didn’t like the word under the circumstances.

I walked into the kitchen and set down my glass and thanked the caregiver, adding “until the next time.”

But there was no next time.

Charlie Langdon is the Herald’s senior critic. He can be reached at langdons@gobrainstorm.net.