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The ashes belonged to retired Snowmass ski patroller and noted
local musician John Suzawith died Friday, Nov. 30, in Clifton, CO. of natural causes.
He was 61. John grew up on the family farm in Yelm, Wash., and graduated in 1964
from Yelm High School, where he was the football team captain and student body president.
The winter of 1967-68 he arrived in Aspen, in a blizzard. He started on the Snowmass
packing crew in 1969 and later moved to the ski patrol. He ultimately became a patrol
supervisor. John spent many winters living in a primitive cabin at the bottom of
the Campground lift. He called it “Pleasant Valley” and smiled when he talked about
it. The Aspen Times once did a feature piece on John, in which it stated that he
represented “a new breed of patrolman.” The name stuck, “Breed” became a patrol
nickname, along with “J. Suza.” He left the patrol in 1995 and spent the next decade
working as a house painter in Whitefish, Mont. He later moved to Clifton. He worked
for the city of Grand Junction at the Persigo Wastewater Treatment Plant and was
part-time owner of Johnny’s Bar and Grill. His lifelong passion was music: John
was a talented jazz and rhythm-and-blues guitarist who played in bands beginning
in high school. He played with groups in California, Washington, Montana and Oregon.
In the Roaring Fork Valley, locals remember his stint with Carbondale’s Sirens of
Swing. John enjoyed people, sports and family. Friends and family remember his easy
smile and dry wit. He will be missed. He leaves behind a grown daughter, Aria, of
Newport Beach, Calif.; and his longtime companion, Beverly Smalley, of Clifton.
Other survivors include brothers Thom, of Basalt; Gerald, of Rainier, Wash.; Bill,
of Yelm, Wash.; and sisters Theresa, of Yelm; and Suzann of Fairbanks, Alaska; and
niece Mantia Maria, of Olympia, Wash. |