Walter Lilly

On September 1948 he was married to Leota Mundell. His second marriage was on September 11, 1940 to Thelma Dorthy Mosher, daughter of Amos Martin Mosher and Myrtle Catherine Barton. Walter and Thelma had one son, Howard Duane. Thelma was born April 22, 1903 in Salem, Henry, Iowa. She passed away on February 28, 1986.

Walter passed away on November 13, 1960. Below is an article written about him in the book, "Now and Then with Kropffs and Crums.

Miner-prospector! Lumberman! Woodsman! Fisherman! Sportsman! Marksman! Farmer-rancher! Musician! Entertainer! Husband! Father! Grandfather! Son! Brother! Uncle! Friend! Neighbor! Yes! Walter Lilly, eldest child of James Lilly Jr. and Lula Florence Crum, has proudly been called by each of the above. It naturally follows that such a man would also be honest, loving, kind, hard-working and loveable.

Young Walter and his parents moved to the West in a covered wagon. In Hopewell, New Mexico he learned about timber and helped make ties which were sold to the railroad.

At the same time he began his life long love and study of prospecting and mining, he later had mining property in the Gunnison, Goldbrick area, which he and two partners worked.

Even after retiring he often took his son, Howard prospecting, many times to places he himself had discovered. In these later years he would hear about various minerals and metals coming onto the market and remember where he had seen the marketable item. He then would have someone drive him to certain areas around Gunnison, Colorado and walk over the hills until he found whichever site he had in mind. From these old abandoned mines he would take ore samples and send the once unmarketable ore to different places that were now in need of the ore. He loved to melt the different ores down in his forge and experiment with them.

As a rancher-farmer, he and his wife, Thelma Mosher (Kroschel), had a place in the San Luis valley for about eight years. They then moved in May 1948 to a location 5.5 miles southeast of Montrose, Colorado. Later they had a small farm two miles southeast of Olathe, Colorado.

At the time of Walter's death he and his family were members of the Olathe Presbyterian Church. He is buried in the Olathe Cemetery at Olathe, Colorado.

Though Howard was young when his father died, he has many many pleasant memories and stories of his father to pass on to his children. Many prospecting trips were also fishing and exploring trips, where they walked into small streams and lakes, that seldom if ever had human visitors before. Here they fished the clear cool streams and enjoyed the plentiful game: deer, elk, blue grouse, an occasional bear, etc.

At one place on the edge of a cliff, Walter was telling of a time he came upon a herd of mountain sheep, one of which he had shot, thirty years before. He showed just where he had been standing and sure enough, a bit of looking produced the spent 30.30 cartridge. It had to have been the same one!

Walter had a favorite shot-gun, that he was extremely proud of, as his Daddy had given it to him, and he has now passed it on to his son, Howard. This gun he called "Meat-in-the-pot."

Telling stories of things he had seen and done were equally enjoyable to himself and to his listeners. Here is one he told of loading hay onto a railroad car.

Walter arrived at the train depot with his wagon load of hay, drawn by a smallish team of horses. He was behind a man waiting to unload his wagon load onto the rail car. The car being used was filled, so the man was obliged to pull the filled car up in order to make room for an empty. However, after hooking his huge team to the rail car, the man could not get his team to budge it. After watching for a few minutes Walter graciously offered help. Accepting, the man suggested Walter hook his team in front of the larger team. Sensing a chance for a little amusement, Walter told the man to unhook and let his small team hook directly to the railroad car. "Are you going to try to pull that loaded car with your team," Walter was asked. "Yes was the short reply. At this bewildered man pointed out that if his large team couldn't move the car surely Walter's small one couldn't. Walter offered to bet one load of hay against the other that he could move the car with just his team. The other fellow called the bet, so Walter unhooked his team from his wagon and hooked them to the railroad car. He soon had the team take up the slack and had them lean into the harness steadily, and soon the car began to move. After several feet Walter stopped the team and offered to bet another wagonload of hay that he could move the car with just one horse hooked to it. At this point the other declined. Although he really didn't think it could be done, he was afraid that somehow walter might know what he was talking about.

Besides his son, Howard, Walter enjoyed his wife Thelma's sons by her former marriage. Norman and Delbert Kroschel were small when their mother married Walter and he cared for them and later for their children as his own.

His own and the other neighborhood children were entertained by Walter's lively guitar playing. Listen! Surely in your minds ear you can hear "Red River Valley" and perhaps "That Strawberry Roan" drifting in the evening breeze.

Reference

Wells, Ruth Crum (1974). Now and Then with Kropffs and Crums Boyd Done Skyline Printing Tucson, Arizona.

• Document of Land owned in Colorado by Walter Lilly

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