Clifford A. Mestel passed away on September 15, 2024, at the age of 87. He was born in New York City on February 8th, 1937. Shortly after, his parents and 2 siblings moved to Canton, Ohio, where he spent his youth through high school. He attended the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated with a degree in accounting. He passed his CPA exam the first time and went to work for his father’s accounting firm in Canton. In 1958, he moved with his wife and first child to Denver and began a life there. He is survived by all of his 4 sons.
In the early 70’s, Cliff moved to Grant in Park County, and immediately became involved in the community. Cliff’s whole life in the Rocky Mountains was about a life of community and service. Soon after his arrival in Grant, he moved to Pine Junction, where he began building a house. With no formal training or experience, he built his house over the years simply using “common sense”.
Cliff was one of Colorado’s first certified volunteer Emergency Medical Technicians. When the State of Colorado mandated continuing education for EMTs, Cliff, along with 12 others met to formulate a plan to create continuing education classes, as none were available. They met in 1973 at the Knotty Pine Cafe in Bailey, where Cliff volunteered with the Platte Canyon Volunteer Fire Department. In that meeting the “Dirty Dozen” EMTs created the Emergency Medical Technician Association of Colorado. He was instrumental in expanding Baily’s volunteer fire department, and helped establish the new location of the fire house.
After a few year stint in which he bought a farm in Arkansas, he moved back to Colorado and bought the property in Johnson Village where he lived until he passed. He was a volunteer EMT as well as a member of the Volunteer Fire Department. He was a volunteer for the BV Community Health Center, a Cub Scout and Boy Scout leader as well as a committee member.
In the late 90’s there was an issue with odors from the prison drifting into BV, at which after much complaining to the authorities, nothing was being done. Cliff got the residents of BV together, formed a legal entity, and went after the Colorado authorities to finally solve the issue.
He was a member of the BV Heritage Museum, contributing much to the railroad division there. He worked to get the boxcar located in St. Elmo designated as a historical landmark, set in motion its preservation, having new siding for the car milled at his own expense. As his sons, we aren’t even aware of how many restoration and heritage projects he was involved in, from Como to St. Elmo and beyond.
He was an avid square dancer, as well as being on the committees for the clubs in which he was a member. As is evident, Cliff rarely was part of any organization as just a member. He almost always was part of the governing body, committing his time and material.
He subdivided his property in BV, and donated a portion to Habitat for Humanity, helping to build the 4 houses that are there to this day.
Cliff’s passions were model railroading and stamp collecting. In BV he had a shop where he ran four separate small businesses, all devoted to making track, railroad cars, and railroad related building reproductions for sale. He loved everything about the Rocky Mountain past including not only railroads, but mining, post offices and the many towns that were supported by these industries.
As his sons, our work and lives left us scattered across this country, only making it to Buena Vista when we could. As we tried to uncover all that Cliff was involved in over the years, more and more kept popping up, and there seemed no end to the number of organizations and committees he was involved with. We know many people will read this and think of something they knew he was involved in that we didn’t mention, a testament to his dedication to the community and the people of it.
His presence, influence, and devotion to the causes he donated his time and energy to will be sorely missed.
