Steamboat Pilot & Today

Former Steamboat Springs resident Elisabeth Salzgeber passed away Dec. 7, 2004, in her home in Crawford. She was 80.

Elisabeth was born April 5, 1924, on the eastern coast of Sumatra to the late Arnold and Anna Kettiger. When she was 6 years old, the family moved back to Switzerland, where Elisabeth graduated from school.

After graduating from high school, Elisabeth attended a gardening college for three years. During World War II, she worked as a gardening instructor in Zurich, Switzerland, where people would come to learn to grow vegetables. Yards and city parks were turned into vegetable gardens to provide needed food during the war.

Elisabeth married Rudy Salzgeber on April 22, 1950, in Zurich. The couple traveled to the Navaho Indian reservation in Ganado, Ariz., where Elisabeth enjoyed working in the children's ward of the hospital and managing campus laundry with the high school girls.

The couple next moved to Denver, where they lived for 25 years, built a home and raised their four children. Their next adventure brought them to Steamboat, where they owned and operated Ski Town Campground. They welcomed nine grandchildren to their lives during the 22 years after their move here.

Elisabeth and Rudy lived in Crawford for the past three years. Elisabeth attended Crawford Community United Methodist Church, and she was a member of the Needle Rock Club. She enjoyed volunteering at the thrift shop and being a housewife and vegetable and flower gardener.

Elisabeth was preceded in death by her parents and a brother, Ernst Kettiger.

She is survived by her husband, Rudy Salzgeber of Crawford; a son, Ulrich Salzgeber, and his wife, Janet, of Steamboat; three daughters, Christina Lehr and her husband, Bob, of San Francisco, Calif., Ursula Miller and her husband, Mark, of Loveland, and Ruth Wentzel and her husband, Jeff, of Crawford; a brother, Arnold Kettiger, and his wife, Heidi, of Switzerland; and nine grandchildren, including Elisabeth and Anya Salzgeber of Steamboat.

A memorial service is from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday at Olympian Hall at Howelsen Hill. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made in Elisabeth's name to Second Harvest/The Food Bank of the Rockies, 10975 E. 47th Ave., Denver, CO 80239.