Today I learned of the passing of Mildred Hamilton. Mrs
Hamilton, as I knew her, was a good friend, mentor, and someone whose skill and
perhaps slightly obsessive-compulsive nature allowed her to establish one of
the finest philatelic collections in all of Colorado.
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| example of stamps Mrs Hamilton collected over the years. |
Many people probably recall Mrs Hamilton’s tenure as Delta
County Treasurer or her well known farm on Redlands Mesa. However I knew Mrs
Hamilton through the Delta-Montrose Stamp Club. Mrs Hamilton was one of the
founding members and long-time President. During the autumn, winter, and spring
we would meet each month at a different member’s home, and listen to a program
on various stamp related topics. Many times Mrs Hamilton would take the lead
and her ability to research rare stamps and then provide actual examples was
tremendous. One such program that I still recall was on the history of the
Benjamin Franklin and George Washington stamps. She had gone as far as to
create over-head slides and had even made inquiries as to particular literature
from the state library to assist her in putting together the presentation. At
the subsequent stamp club meeting, Mrs Hamilton then announced she wanted to
show us her completed collection, which was tremendous.
Other programs I recall her presenting were on the history
of the now closed Delta County Post Offices. I recall having a bit of a smile
when she said she hadn’t ever been able to find a Read, Colorado postmark. My
family homesteaded at Read and I had several letters with postmarks from the
First World War. Later my mom and I drove up to visit Mrs Hamilton and we gave
her a letter with a Read postmark. I felt honoured to be able to add a missing
piece to her collection.
During several summers in high school I would mow Mrs
Hamilton’s lawn, which was really a field. I also helped with some fencing and
the pulling of noxious weeds which were bad for horses and cows. I would try
and complete the tasks in the cool of the morning so that Mrs Hamilton and I
could look at coins and stamps in the afternoon. One afternoon I helped her use
a photographic machine to photograph a series of coins for a historic
presentation she later made for the Museum of Western Colorado. I was always
amazed by Mrs Hamilton’s deep knowledge of history. I recall her saying that
“what is the study of stamps, but the study of a nation’s history?”
Mrs Hamilton and I would once and a while would talk politics,
however these were the more lively conversations, as she was a true blue
Democrat in the tradition of FDR and JFK. She maintained Western conservative
values and in many ways our view of the world was very similar. The way she
managed was far from liberal and perhaps it was this style that led her to be
elected Delta County Treasurer multiple times in one of the most conservative
and Republican regions of Colorado.
I will greatly miss Mrs Hamilton, as she was a good friend
of mine and someone who I also regarded as a mentor as well as one of the great
pillars of the Delta County community.
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