WARE

Tom Ware in his Evergreen home. artists approached their craft. I always appreciated his curiosity.”

His sculptures, paintings and drawings moved between realistic and more abstract work. In addition to the cartoons he was famous for, “He could draw a perfect portrait, a perfect likeness of anybody. He was a miracle worker at that,” Cate said.

Other endeavors

While Tom was known for his artistic endeavors and commitment to the arts community in Evergreen, he also had interests outside of art.

• During the Korean War, he served in the Army, stationed in Japan as a cartographer.

“ at was a golden time of his life despite mixed feelings about being in the military,” Laura said. “He and my mom had special times there together and made lifelong friends.”

• While on the Evergreen Metro

District board (for about 30 years), he looked out for the residents, making sure they weren’t shafted by the developers, said Mark Davidson, who served with Tom on the EMD board.

“He was pretty protective of the little guy and fairly tough on the developers,” Davidson said.

• Tom served as a volunteer on the Evergreen Fire Department for about eight years, including ghting a major wildland re on Mount Evans.

Because he lived so close to Station 1 near downtown Evergreen, when the re alarm sounded, he would go over the top of the hill and be among the rst to respond.

• Tom was part of a Tuesday lunch group of fellow geologists working in the petroleum industry. ey met weekly for more than 25 years, and they and their families were close family friends. Laura called the lunches “one of the most cohesive parts of my parents’ lives.”

Important qualities

“By far, he was the family thread on the Ware side,” daughter Laura said. “It was multigenerational. He kept four generations somewhat connected because he cared about that. He was interested in family, how it all ts together especially on his side of the family.”

He also believed in living each day to the fullest.

“He tried to live each day with joie de vivre – make it into something fun, and he lived that way most every day of his life, and I respect that,” Cate said.

Cate added that she admired his determination to nish any project he started.

“ e endless sculptures that he created — bringing those to completion over and over is so amazingly unique to the average person in this world today,” Cate said. “People don’t have the same kind of commitment of time to things.”

Sumner called him someone who really cared about Evergreen.

“I think part of the reason why I became so fond of Evergreen was because Tom was so fond of Evergreen,” he added.

Davidson called Tom a friendly, warm person.

“When he would run into you in a restaurant, he would say, ‘Hey, how are you doing?’ and he really meant it. He had a genuine interest in other people and was an interesting character to be around.”

Lasting legacy

Daughter Laura has invited the Warehouse Gang to return to the Ware home to sculpt each week.

“We talk about him every week,” friend and fellow artist Barb Chiarella said. “His presence is all over the walls of his studio, and his stories come up all the time.

“He was a special man to me — a mentor, a teacher, very generous,” she said. “I lost a very special person in my life.”

“He was a treasure to the community,” Go said.

Daughter Cate put it simply: “His good side ran deep.”