Betty Dick, who died of cancer at age 84 on Tuesday, summered at one of the world’s most exclusive – and, for a while, controversial – addresses: 20631 Trail Ridge Road, a cabin deep inside Rocky Mountain National Park.
She caused an international sensation two summers ago, when she resisted an attempt by the National Park Service to evict her from the cabin and 23 acres on the park’s west side near the Colorado River.
The modest cabin “meant everything” to Dick, said her daughter, Betsy Tietz.
“She enjoyed the hiking and all. But the thing about it was she didn’t have to hike. The elk just came down in the meadow, and the moose came right to her door, and it was just there and she could enjoy it.”
Public sympathy overwhelmingly was on the side of Dick, who once described herself as “a little old lady who won’t live much longer, anyway.”
The saga began with the dissolution of George “Fred” Dick’s first marriage. The divorce settlement gave Dick’s ex-wife ownership of the cabin, but with the stipulation that Fred Dick retained the first right to buy the property if she decided to sell.
In 1977, without telling her ex-husband, Marilyn Dick sold the property to the Park Service.
When Fred Dick learned about the deal, he immediately complained to the Park Service.
In late 1979, after what Betty Dick termed “interminable” legal squabbles, the Dicks negotiated a “life estate,” allowing them to continue summering on their 23 acres until they died. But the final wording identified the deal as a 25-year lease.
Tired of fighting, and believing that neither he nor Betty would live that long, Fred Dick signed the agreement, Betty Dick testified before Congress in April 2005.
“Fred was right about one thing. He would not live so long that there would be a difference between a ‘life estate’ and a term of 25 years. But I am still here. And it does make a difference to me,” she said in that testimony.
Last May, U.S. Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo. – with assistance from Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., and Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo. – persuaded Congress to pass the Betty Dick Residence Protection Act, allowing her to stay in the cabin for the rest of her life before the property would revert to park ownership.
“In late August, I presented Betty with a framed copy of that signed law,” Udall said in a statement. “She was surrounded by friends and family who were gathered around the campfire just outside the cabin. All around us was the beauty and splendor of the Rocky Mountains, and Betty got to enjoy her last days there secure in knowing that she had a right to enjoy and care for this property that meant so much to her and the community.”
Even through the legal battles, Dick and park staff maintained cordial relationships.
“Betty Dick was a good neighbor to Rocky Mountain National Park,” park superintendent Vaughn Baker said.
A former board president of the Rocky Mountain Repertory Theater in Grand Lake, Dick was honored this year by having her name placed on the permanent housing she helped secure for the actors.
She died in Scottsdale, Ariz., where she spent her winters.
Dick was divorced from Carl Dick Jr., who preceded her in death, and later married his first cousin, Fred.
She is survived by four children: Carl Dick III, Dianne Mickelson, Deborah Swan and Elizabeth “Betsy” Tietz; stepdaughter Emily Dick; and brother Don Harmon. She had 10 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
