VAIL - The most-asked question at Vail's Vista Bahn Express chairlift this ski season will surely be, "Where's Leroy?" VAIL - The most-asked question at Vail's Vista Bahn Express chairlift this ski season will surely be, "Where's Leroy?"
The answer, unfortunately, is "He passed away this summer."
Leroy "Vista Bahn" Valencia loaded skiers onto Vail's most-visible ski lift from the day it opened. He had worked for Vail Resorts, and the Vail Golf Club, even longer. The coming season at Vail would have been his 37th.
But that won't happen. Valencia, 58, was hit hard by a fast-spreading lung cancer this spring, and died at Vail Valley Medical Center on Sept. 3. More than 300 people attended a memorial service for Valencia Thursday at Eagle's Nest on Vail Mountain.
"He'll be missed," said Ann Gilmer, who runs chairlift operations for Vail Resorts and worked with Valencia at Vail for 28 years. During that time, she said, Valencia made countless friends.
"Whenever he had a day off, locals and people from around the world would ask 'Where's Leroy?'" Gilmer said.
Fake passes foiled
Valencia made friends at the lift with an easy smile and a never-ending desire to make people laugh.
"He'd take little wiffle balls and a wedge and hit them toward the ticket takers just for fun," daughter Carmen Valencia said. "He was always doing something like that.
"He was just out to have a good time, all the time," Carmen added. "Even when he was sick, he was trying to make jokes."
Bill "Sarge" Brown ran the ski patrol at Vail for many years. He's retired now, but remembers Valencia's skiing style.
"He was the great hot-dogger of the world," Brown said.
But beneath the fun-loving exterior beat the heart of a tireless worker.
"In all the years I knew him I don't think Leroy ever missed a chair," Gilmer said. "He could help kids, load beginners, he was just in constant motion.
"And he'd catch more bad passes than anyone. I don't know how he did it, but he had eyes in the back of his head for that," she added.
"Years ago, the kids at the (Colorado) School of Mines could make a fake ticket so well nobody could tell, but he could," Brown said.
That talent put extra money in Valencia's pay packet, since the ski company rewards employees who nab people with fake passes.
Liftline putting green
During slack times, Valencia would indulge his main passion, golf.
"He'd smooth out the snow and set up a little putting green right there," Gilmer said.
"We'd go to Arizona a couple of times a year to play," Carmen said. "At home, we had a putting course set up and we'd have competitions."
Valencia didn't spend much time indoors, though.
"He loved being outdoors," Carmen said. "He always had to find something to do. We'd take family camping trips on Memorial Day or the 4th of July."
Besides golf and skiing, Valencia was also an avid hunter. Whenever he wasn't working, he wanted to have his family around. Even when he was working, Carmen remembers that she and her sisters would often bring him lunch, to either the Vista Bahn or the golf course.
And no matter where Valencia was, the new people on the crew were always amazed by him.
"I met him in March or April, and I'd already heard so much about him," Vail Golf Club Maintenance Manager Steve Sarro said. "Everything I heard was 'You've got to keep this guy. He was just a great worker. He really went above and beyond."
Ben Krueger started working with Valencia at the Vail Golf Club in the late 1960s, the course's earliest days.
"He did just about every job there was there," Krueger said. "And he'd do the work of two people when he had to. But he always had a fun spirit.
"He was also a mentor to the younger guys at the golf course," Krueger said.
Valencia was a pretty good golfer, too. "He was getting better all the time," Krueger said. "For a smaller guy, he could hit it pretty good, too."
While Valencia's passion was golf, he was probably best known at the Vista Bahn.
"It's going to be so difficult without him," Gilmer said. "It's going to be hard to fill his shoes."
