Another Friend Bites The Dust & This One Hurts....

Yes, he's the guy in this picture, when we were both 18 years old. After graduation from boarding school, my mother sent me here to stay with relatives & work for the summer. Jim was my boss and became my very best friend, a friendship that spanned 40+ years. Even after I left here to go back to Aspen, we stayed in constant touch and he came to stay with me and ski, many times. He and I had countless adventures together, as  he always dated my best friends & I always dated his best friends. It worked, for a time.


*Tuttle* (as I always called him, it was his mother's maiden name and his middle name) was truly one of the most charismatic people I've ever known. He had a magic personality that naturally drew people to him. During his life he skied for the Univ. of New Mexico Snow Ski Team, he was briefly a card dealer at Harrah's in Lake Tahoe, he was one of the most beautiful skiers I've ever seen in my life, and his style was impeccable and enviable. He was always the one person who was never satisfied with my level of skiing. He always thought I could do better, at least until my accident that rendered me ineligible for the Pro Skiing Tour. He also knew my first husband quite well, as we skied together the many times he came to stay with us in Aspen.


Naturally, he gravitated to LaLa Land (Los Angeles) and sought a career in acting, which eventually led him to Tuscon (Old Tuscon) and acting in Western movies such as Young Guns, The Missing, and several Walker, Texas Ranger episodes made for TV. He was still a member of the Screen Actors Guild upon his  death. Acting was what he loved most, although skiing was his second passion. He was a born entertainer and I loved him so much, even though I hadn't seen him in at least 6 years. We still talked by phone every other year or so, as always. I've known a lot of  interesting and famous people in my lifetime and Tuttle was one of the very best.

Tuttle married once, for a brief time but never  had any children. He was a Hemophiliac and had many brushes with death throughout his  life, still he was always the same happy Tuttle that he'd always been. Honestly, none of us who loved him could ever get enough of him. Tuttle was always off on another adventure before we were able to. He was like the elusive butterfly, beautiful but always flitting off in search of something.


Sadly, he died alone in a hotel room in Taos, New Mexico, after a fairly lengthy illness. I wish that I had known. No one should have to die alone after such an exciting and adventurous life...


So, today I'm sad beyond words...