John A. Tillema, who died of cancer Nov. 27 at age 82, taught generations of children and adults to ski, a sport he adored so ardently that one friend suspected that he took up water skiing “as a way to reuse the melted snow.”
Born July 2, 1924, in Washington, D.C., Tillema served in the Army during World War II, and then worked as an insurance agent and manager for State Farm Insurance for 44 years.
He spent most of his life in Colorado. When he wasn’t at work or playing bridge – he earned the title of life master in duplicate bridge – Tillema devoted himself to being outdoors.
Tillema enjoyed fly-fishing and hunting birds and big game. He kept two or three hunting dogs that he trained so assiduously that he founded a local chapter of the Hunting Retriever Club, and spent part of his retirement years as a judge at hunting dog trials throughout the U.S.
Weekend trips to slopes
Skiing was his real passion.
“He wanted to become a better and better skier all his life, but I really think he actually drew more enjoyment in teaching the sport to others,” said Todd Pasquin, a family friend. Tillema introduced Pasquin, then 12, to downhill skiing nearly 30 years ago. Tillema, whose skiing enthusiasm extended to cutting-edge skis and clothing, cut a dashing figure. Pasquin still remembers Tillema’s stunning re-creation of Olympian Vladimir Peter “Spider” Sabich Jr.’s skiing gear, down to the matching hat marked with the black widow spider that became an emblem of his ski-wear line.
Throughout his adolescence on Friday afternoons, Pasquin and his brother and friends routinely piled into Tillema’s vehicle, ready for a weekend on the slopes. After navigating his camper into a good spot in a resort parking lot, Tillema and the others poured outside to admire the view.
“We have great memories of going out and looking up in the moonlight at the ski runs, just hardly could believe we got to ski that the next day,” Pasquin said.
“One winter, John had a foreign-exchange student from Switzerland staying with him, and all of us went to every ski resort in the state that year. That was the most wonderful winter – going out in the camper he called the Tiltin’ Hilton, hitting the parking lot late at night, and skiing our brains out the next few days.”
During the years that the Conquistador ski resort operated near Westcliffe, Tillema taught skiers. The Pasquins owned a cabin near the resort and built a special parking area to accommodate the Tiltin’ Hilton.
At Conquistador, Tillema started what he called his “farm team” of budding ski instructors – “kids who were really into the sport, but too young to be ski instructors themselves,” said Pasquin, a veteran of the original farm team. Tillema persuaded the Professional Ski Instructors of America to lower the minimum age for certification from 18 to 16.
The teenagers in his apprentice program learned confidence and leadership, taking a page from Tillema by channeling their own skill and energy into helping novices.
“A lot of the guys at Monarch today actually started as ski instructors under John at Conquistador,” Pasquin said.
“He’s had a big influence on a lot of skiers in this area. A lot of my friends who are ski instructors in Vail and Breckenridge and Keystone all worked with, and learned from, John. I couldn’t count how many people he put not only into the sport, but into the career of ski instruction.”
When Conquistador closed in 1988, the Tiltin’ Hilton moved to the Monarch ski resort on weekends.
Again, Tillema established himself as an enormously popular and unconventional skiing instructor. He broke the ice with apprehensive children by encouraging them to bite his skis hard enough to leave teeth marks. On the days when he wasn’t booked for a lesson, he was not above trawling through the resort lobby to look for potential converts.
In a 2004 interview with The Pueblo Chieftain, Tillema fondly remembered teaching 14 Chinese students. He knew a little Mandarin, and the budding skiers, all graduate students, taught him different dialects as they learned skiing maneuvers. Tillema saw it as slopeside diplomacy.
“They went away with more than a ski lesson,” he told the Chieftain. “They went away thinking, ‘J.T. is OK, Monarch is OK and people in the United States are OK.”
Lifetime of achievement
He took similar pleasure in recounting the story about a recalcitrant teenager pushed by his parents into taking a private lesson. By the end of the afternoon, Tillema said, he and the formerly sullen adolescent were sailing down Monarch’s black diamond Gunbarrel run.
Ski Country USA recognized Tillema by creating the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003. He was its first recipient.
Survivors include daughter Kathryn R. Tillema of Seattle; son Donald B. Tillema of Salt Lake City; brother Herbert Tillema of Missouri; and sister Julie Brace of Florida. His wife, Jean Marie Tillema, died in 1997.
Staff writer Claire Martin can be reached at 303-954-1477 or cmartin@denverpost.com.
