Charles Waddington Obituary

Longtime Durango resident Charles Waddington died Sunday, Dec. 27, 2009, at his beach home in El Sargento, Mexico. He

was 94.

Mr. Waddington was born on Sept. 17, 1915, in Memphis, Tenn. He later moved with his family to Pasadena, Calif. As a

teenager in California, he learned to surf and ski in the 1930s, and skiing became a lifetime passion.

Trained as a machinist, Mr. Waddington served in the Navy and was stationed in Washington, D.C., during World War II.

After the war, he lived in Europe to ski for a number of years.

In 1949, Mr. Waddington arrived in Aspen and became one of the early employees of the Aspen Skiing Corp., working as

a member of the ski patrol on Ajax Mountain. His family said Mr. Waddington felt it was “a great job to have in a

great place to live."

In December 1952, he met Lorna Body in Aspen. In April 1953, the couple married.

Determined to build a lodge in Aspen, the Waddingtons lived and worked in California for two years to earn enough

money to finance the construction. The returned to Aspen in 1955 and built the Chalet Lisl on three lots facing

Little Nell. They owned and operated the Chalet Lisl until 1976. It is still in operation in Aspen.

In 1976, the Waddingtons moved to Durango. In the 1980s, Mr. Waddington took up wind surfing, which eventually led

them to buy property in the Baja Californian community of El Sargento, an emerging wind- surfing community They were

among the first non-Mexican citizens to build a home there.

“He was known to all for his wide-ranging interests," his family wrote, “his active intellectual curiosity and his

ability to fix all types of machinery and tools. He enjoyed a wide circle of friends in Colorado and Mexico."

Mr. Waddington was a weekly volunteer at the Durango Methodist Thrift Shop for many years. He also donated and then

kept in repair sewing machines for many Mexican women in El Sargento.

Mr. Waddington is survived by his wife of 56 years, Lorna Waddington, of Durango and El Sargento; daughters Liz

McCormack and Ruth Rydiger, both of Durango; four grandchildren; and a niece and a nephew.

Burial took place in El Sargento.

A memorial service will be announced at a later date.