Come Back to My Valley Do you remember when, or who?

I have had a few people suggest that I do a column based on the questions "Do you remember when" and "Do you remember who." I'll try a few to see if there is interest in such a column.

Do you remember who had a drugstore where the VFW is presently located? Do you remember the barstools and the booths in the back? Do you remember the cherry fizz and 15 cent malts?

Do you remember the theater that burned down in 1947? Do you remember the serials that were shown every Saturday in the theater that took the place of the old one?

Do you remember Dr. Trotter and going to his office? Do you remember where his office was located?

The Mancos Drug Store

Lindy Linderholm had the Mancos Drug Store. After retiring, he was a pharmacist at Southwest Memorial Hospital for seven years. He married Pauline Haggatt in 1936. For some years, they resided in an apartment over the eastern part of the drug store. Pauline became president and historian of the Mancos Study Club, but one-day she found herself in an intense fight with cancer. She lost the fight and passed away in April 1986 at age 71. Lindy had passed away earlier, also at age 71.

On Dec. 27, 1947, the worst fire in the history of Mancos occurred. George Bauer, O. E. Noland and William Roessler had built the building. At the time of the fire, "Pop" Gollogher owned it. The businesses that burned were the Mancos Theater, The Barbershop, San Juan Cream Station, four upstairs apartments and the community hall.

The doctor's office

Trotter had his hospital and residence in the Bauer House. I remember going there with my father, who had a nosebleed that wouldn't stop.

Trotter married Joyce Kaufmann in Los Angeles in 1906. She worked beside Trotter for the entire 50 years he practiced medicine in Mancos. She took up art as a hobby and became quite good at it.

Trotter passed away in February 1953, and his wife passed away in November 1968.

They had a son, Walter "Doc" Trotter, who lived his entire life in Mancos. During WWII, he served in the army as a gun-laying radar set operator at Normandy and then through much of Europe. He later worked as a boiler foreman for the Match Factory for 19 years.

Darrel Ellis is a longtime local historian who lives in Mancos.