Tales About The Mayor By Norm Vance
From the Pagosa.com archives
The saying goes, politicians come and go. This is not necessarily true in Pagosa Springs. Think of all the presidents our country has had from 1978 when Jimmy Carter sat in the big chair. Ross Aragon warmed Pagosa’s chair for all that time. To think of it in another way, it is one quarter of Pagosa Springs’ entire history. That is staying power!
All office holders and particularly one in an office that long, develops supporters and detractors. These people have “tales to tell” both positive and negative. My tales are not of a political nature but just some things a lot of people don’t know about Ross.
First, Ross has some real history here being a fifth generation native and is now bouncing seventh generation natives on his knee. That is a long time and provides a certain perspective few others can match.
Many people assume being mayor was Ross’ job. It wasn’t, Ross is a volunteer mayor receiving no money for this time consuming and difficult “job.” His actual job was running Archuleta Housing Corporation.
Ross has also been willing to pay what most of us would consider a personal price for progress. For many years he had a nice secluded home in far South Pagosa. With his instigation and cooperation his secluded spot is now a paved and busy road with the Town Hall and Community Center as new and close neighbors. Few of us would consider bringing that to our neighborhood.
A personal tale stems from a need I had some years ago. I had been doing highly visible promotions for tourism for several years. I had developed some goodwill from many area merchants and wanted to do a less visible and non tourism project. I settled on doing Christmas Dinner for the less fortunate in the community. Over several years three of our restaurants stepped up and provided twenty five cooked turkeys and other restaurants and the grocery supplied bread, potatoes, canned food, deserts and the trimmings. Later, general merchants kicked in toys from balls to bicycles.
The first year I had all the goodies lined-up but needed a list of people to deliver them to. Knowing Ross always stood for and with the less fortunate I visited with him asking for a list of those most in need. He wouldn’t do a list, he said, “I’ll take you there.” For many years, without fanfare or public knowledge, he donated his Christmas mornings to this project. We loaded the food and toys early and drove around town making sure some of our fellow citizens in need had a nice Christmas. Without being specific to someone I might know, Ross told me of the needs some of the families had. It was very heart warming, at times a few tears were shared and it was one of the most meaningful experiences of my life.
Over the years I requested letters from the mayor for sportsmen honoring them for long-time hunting the area and general, excellent sportsmanship. One long time hunter was terminal with cancer and we honored him. The family later told me Ross’ letter was on a little table next to his casket. In all these years Ross has touched many people and in many ways.
You should not judge a man like Ross Aragon purely on public events. He is a man to be judged over the long haul and in that light he has been a steady, strong and positive influence on Pagosa Springs’ history. Few people can claim a community service record to match his.
