Jim Aspinwall, who died May 28 at age 85, “lived for politics,” said his daughter Susan Gill of Centennial.
A service for Aspinwall is planned for 3 p.m. June 24 at Greenwood Community Church, 5600 E. Belleview Ave.
“He was a behind-the-scenes guy, a political junkie and a valued and trusted friend,” said former U.S. Sen. Bill Armstrong.
Former state Sen. Joe Shoemaker said he was a neophyte when Aspinwall, a party activist and real estate developer, recruited him to run for the state Senate in the early 1960s.
Aspinwall pushed Shoemaker to get on the state’s Joint Budget Committee, which he did.
“He was an insider who got people organized, a block worker who knew how to get the machine going,” said his son James Aspinwall of Denver. “It was nothing glamorous.”
The senior Aspinwall often enlisted his wife, Irene Aspinwall, and their eight children to distribute campaign literature for various candidates.
“He was very helpful to me,” said Shoemaker, who shared Aspinwall’s Republican Party affiliation.
“Jim was a real asset to the state,” said Shoemaker, of Denver. “I will always be indebted to him.”
The best advice he got from Aspinwall was “work with the Democrats and never hold grudges.”
Aspinwall “was good at politics; he understood the game,” said former state Rep. Frank Southworth.
Aspinwall was elected in 1954 to the Colorado House of Representatives but resigned from that post in 1956 to take a job in Denver’s city planning office. Later he was appointed to the state Senate to fill a vacancy left by a death.
Aspinwall helped push legislators to create the Boulder Turnpike (now U.S. 36) between Boulder and Denver, predicting that one day, homes and businesses would line the highway between the two cities.
“No one believed him,” said his son.
Aspinwall also pushed for the creation of the Auraria campus downtown.
He served Gov. John Love in 1963 as a “troubleshooter” but left after public criticism that he was spending most of his time selling real estate. He resigned after serving less than a year. Love defended Aspinwall, saying he did a good job for the state.
James W. Aspinwall was born in Vermillion, S.D., on Aug. 29, 1922, and was reared in Boulder, where he earned a business degree at the University of Colorado.
He served in the Army in Europe from 1943 to 1945.
He married Irene Guise in August 1946. In addition to her and his son and daughter, he is survived by three other daughters: Mary Tacoma of Pasco, Wash., and Annie Harrier and Katie Aspinwall, both of Aurora; and three other sons: Tom Aspinwall of Castle Rock, Bob Aspinwall of Denver and John Aspinwall of Dallas.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
