Eleanor Kimmell Roubique

Eleanor Kimmell Roubique, 98, a lover of family, teaching, history, travel, adventure, but most of all, her beloved Colorado mountains, passed from this life on December 13, 2024, in Toledo, Ohio, where she moved in 2022 to be near her daughter. She was blessed with the gift of years, her life spanning the Great Depression through today's technology, which she mastered and celebrated. Most of her rich experiences she left behind in collections of stories she wrote about her childhood and youth and in her vast store of genealogical research, a true gift to succeeding generations. 

  She was born Eleanor Lucille Kimmell to Anthony Crispell Kimmell and Luella Beatrice Prickett Kimmell on November 14, 1926, in Denver. Effusively proud of her Colorado heritage, the center of her world was her second home in Pitkin in west-central Colorado, a one-time silver-mining town where her father had been born and where she and her late husband, Charles Roubique, spent summers in their mountain cabin since the 1970s. 

  Her grandfather, William Crispell Kimmell, owned a general store in downtown Pitkin, the foundations of which can still be seen on the town's main street. Feeling a special kinship to the town's history, Eleanor worked tirelessly to upgrade the town museum and made sure its exhibits were interesting and informative. She devoted countless hours to the Pitkin Historical Association, for which she was a board member, and along with Charles directed and acted in the town's melodrama produced annually to raise funds for the association. She was a founding board member of the Quartz Creek Property Owners Association. She loved to play weekly games of Bunco with the women of the Pitkin community. 

  When her grandmother, Leah Crispell Kimmell, died after giving birth to Eleanor's dad, the grieving widower moved the family back to Indiana, where her dad was reared by a cousin's family. Eleanor was born in Denver, the youngest of two surviving children. Eleanor treasured her growing-up days in the close-knit, kid-plentiful community, again vividly re-created in a detailed compendium of childhood stories. She idolized her older brother, Arnold Kimmell, who preceded her in death in 2000. 

  After graduating from East High School in June 1944, she attended the University of Denver, where she was a member of Kappa Delta sorority, remaining an active KD even into retirement. She studied journalism, which she came by naturally because of her family's "predisposition to the pen", as her maternal grandfather, Elmer Ellsworth Prickett, once wrote her in a letter. Both grandfathers were newspaper editors, and her mother wrote a column for the Albion (IN) New Era in her senior years. Eleanor's goal, according to her journal, was to become the “greatest reporter in the U.S”. However, after graduating in 1948, Eleanor was unable to pursue journalism as a profession because the job market was filled with returning servicemen at the end of World War II. 

  At that point she switched aspirations and ultimately began a 32-year career as a kindergarten and first-grade teacher in Denver area public schools, most of that time in economically disadvantaged parts of town. "There are a whole lot of little kids who can read today", she often said, because of her rigorous drilling. Although she emanated a gruff persona, she was attached to her students and often took her classes to the Dairy Queen, which wouldn't be acceptable in most public schools today. She retired in 1981, with a large reception tossed in her honor. 

  Retirement freed up opportunities for Eleanor and Charles to spend more time in their mountain home as well as in numerous volunteer pursuits. She also became passionate and intrepid about genealogical research and archival history and ultimately compiled a massive history on both sides of her family dating back to the 17th century. From a rare collection of Civil War letters that her grandfather W.F. Kimmell wrote home to his friend (and later spouse) Leah Crispell during W.F.'s service in the 8th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, she compiled a book, "Home By the Fourth of July", an amazing first-person, raw accounting of one soldier's recollections from the front-lines. Though she never pursued journalism formally, her giftedness for description and making a story come alive was evident in these and other writings, including her own personal letters brimming with details. 

  Other organizations where she held membership included Colonial Dames XVII Century, Brewster of Scrooby Manor; Daughters of the American Revolution, Denver Chapter, and P.E.O. International, as well as being a member of the Trinity Presbyterian Church in Arvada. 

  She worked in the archives department of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, where she took delight in researching information about the museum's history. Eleanor also volunteered at the Molly Brown House in Denver, where she worked in the gift shop and assisted with serving formal teas the museum offered as fundraisers. 

  Eleanor and Charles loved to travel in the United States and Europe. North Dakota was the only state she never had visited. She was always ready to take a trip at the drop of a hat. In her mid-90s, Eleanor traveled to Alaska, Hawaii, and the Canadian Maritimes with her daughter Catharine and son-in-law Jeff. Her last trip in 2024 was to Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky to see the opening day of horse racing. She bet on a gray horse that won the race. 

  Eleanor had an expansive view of family and was ardent in keeping in touch with relatives on both her and Charles' sides. She and Charles were highly social people and never knew a stranger. Blended family members were immediately taken into the fold and those that might normally have been distanced as a result of such reasons as divorce were continued to be embraced warmly as well. 

  One of her greatest joys was hosting her grandchildren for weeks at a time at the cabin, where she instilled in them a love of exploration and the outdoors. Though retired, she was ever the teacher, using the slightest unusual tree formation or nature find as a teachable moment. 

  She is survived by daughters Catharine Harned and husband, Jeff Bell; Debra Robic and husband Bob Saunders; Kay Wheeler Moore and husband Louis; and son Corwin Roubique. Her grandchildren are Julia Amanda Harned Bell and husband Dustin Mitchell; Ted Charles Bell and wife Kristin; Natalie Roubique Price and husband Aaron; Cameron Roubique and wife Darla; Megan Saunders; Ian Bell and wife Sheila Como; Matthew Moore and wife, Marcie; and Catharine Moore Welch and husband, Casey. Great-grandchildren are Oliver Mitchell, Quinn and Ella Price, Caroline and Ryan Moore and Hunter and Archer Welch. 

  She will be laid to rest alongside Charles in the cemetery at Pitkin and at Ft. Lupton National Cemetery in Denver. A celebration of Eleanor’s life will be held in Colorado the summer of 2025. 

 Memorials in Eleanor's memory may be made to Denver Chapter, NSDAR, c/o Margaret Battiste, treasurer, 847 Woodside Dr., Pine, CO 80470; Crispell Family Association, 12 Broadhead Ave., New Paltz, NY 12561or Brewster of Scooby Manor Chapter, Colonial Dames 17th Century c/o Sandy Carter-Duff, 3085 Mill Vista Rd., #2504, Highlands Ranch, CO 80129. 

Condolences to the family may be sent to Catharine Harned, 2323 Drummond Rd., Toledo, OH 43606.