Dear Editor,

I read your article about the TFPD and the sale of the Smith Ranch fire station. I was quite upset to see my grandparents referred to as “a couple” but then realized that you could not possibly know of the contributions to the mountain communities made by my grandparents, Dr. and Mrs. Kenneth L. Green and how beloved they were. I would like to tell you a little about them.

Kenneth Green and his family moved to Robinson Hill around 1917. He graduated from the veterinary school at CSU and worked with ranchers from Texas to the Western Slope through the great depression keeping their cattle healthy. He was instrumental in eliminating tuberculosis from cattle. He married Lela White, daughter of a neighboring rancher in 1940.

The Green Ranch was an active ranch until the late 60s. Gramps even served as Gilpin County Commissioner in the early 1970s, following in the footsteps of his father George Green, who was a Jefferson County Commissioner.

When the High Country Fire department needed land for a substation in 1978, the Greens donated the land with the deed restriction that if the property ceased to be used as a fire station it would be returned. When their only son, my father, died in an accident in 1979, the community came together and formed the Kenneth Alan Green Foundation which has made charitable contributions to Gilpin County ever since. In fact, the Kenneth Alan Green Memorial room at the Gilpin County Library was one of their gifts. The family has continued to donate money to the Foundation over the decades, continuing to quietly support the community that has such a special place in their heart. Alan’s son Michael Green is a trustee of the KAG Foundation.

In the late 1980s, they worked with the state to sell/donate the remaining thousands of acres to Golden Gate State Park, as Lela Green’s parents had done with White Ranch Park. When Lela’s mother died in 1986, the Paul and Anna Lee White Charitable Trust was formed to support causes in Colorado. Jeremy Green and I serve on the White Charitable Trust, continuing to give significant support to local organizations.

I clearly remember going to visit my grandparents at Smith Hill Ranch. When I, and later my wife and children visited Colorado, my grandparents always wanted to drive by the fire station. They got great satisfaction from knowing that their donation had helped keep them, their neighbors, and most importantly, the mountains a little bit safer.

My grandparents’ success came from hard work, frugality and absolute commitment to the land. Their stories are fascinating, and I hope that in the future, they can be referred to by name.

Many thanks,

Joel B. Green
Peak to Peak

(Originally published in the June 3, 2021, edition of The Mountain-Ear.)