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Mountain Chalet guests remember Ralph Melville

Courtesy, The Melville Family.

Ralph Melville, passed away last week at the age of 90. He was the founder and owner of the Mountain Chalet in Aspen. He was remembered for his generosity and humble nature. People at a big apres event were remembering him fondly.

When Joan Nelson first came to the Mountain Chalet eight years ago, she knew she had found a special place, and here she is at gluhwein, the Chalet’s weekly apres event - for the eighth consecutive year.

“We have seen people that are here every year and you don’t know them except for the Mountain Chalet," says Nelson. "It’s like old friends and it’s because of what Marian and Ralph have made this to be.”

Ralph Melville opened the Mountain Chalet more than sixty years ago. His strong faith instilled values in him that would lay the groundwork for how he and his staff would run the place for the next six decades. Everyone is treated like family. Even if you’re a reporter who just happens to show up at the event and is offered food and drink just like a paying guest.

 

Karen Vandervoet has been coming to the Mountain Chalet since the late 1970s. Her daughter doesn’t ski, and her son has only come a few times, so she usually comes by herself.

 

“I don’t think I’d find Aspen as attractive if I didn’t have the mountain chalet, because I ski a lot by myself," says Vandervoet, a California resident. "I have people to be with. They almost feel like a second family to me.”

 

And for many people who visit the lodge, the staff and other guests are family. They come at the same time of year. They go on other vacations together after they meet at the Chalet. Two couples, one from Germany and one from Australia, are going sailing this year. They met at the Mountain Chalet.

 

Vandervoet says Melville was someone that she always looked up to. He was someone that Karen wanted her son to be like.

 

“He was always a role model for me because he was always service-oriented," says Vondervoet. "I know that he had two weekly bible studies…”  

 

Karen shared her faith with Melville, even going to church with them on some occasions. She was drawn to him because of how he treated others. How he “walked the walk” so to speak. He practiced what he preached.

 

“I don't meet very many people like Ralph," says Vondervoet. "He has a strong Christian faith. He has a strong work ethic. he’s very people-oriented. He’s not self-absorbed, he’s not pretentious.”

 

Often times you would see Melville out shoveling snow, even though he had other staff to do that.

 

Ralph Melville’s magnetic personality drew people to the Mountain Chalet. Here at the gluhwein apres event on the fifth floor of the Chalet, overlooking Aspen Mountain, people aren’t mourning Melville. They are celebrating him. They are coming here to continue the tradition of being friendly, of being neighborly. And because of that environment, people like Joan Nelson and Karen Vandervoet can’t imagine staying anywhere else.  

 

“We have to be right here," says Nelson. "This is home. This is where all of our friends will be. I don’t think you can take us out of the Mountain Chalet. I don’t think it would be quite the same.”

It wouldn’t be the same for Vandervoet, either.

 

“I can’t imagine staying anywhere else. I don’t care how fancy the place is, how many services they provide...I want to be here.”

Melville’s family doesn’t plan to close the Chalet anytime soon, and if they work in the same courteous ways, Ralph’s legacy will stay alive - even after his death.

 

 

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