Hudson Gardens is gem for generations

BY SONYA ELLINGBOE SELLINGBOE@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

I spent a happy Monday afternoon soaking up Colorado sunshine and the beautiful views at Hudson Gardens with my grandson. And I wanted to remind readers that it’s a really lovely way to spend a few hours — just being there! It’s free, beautifully maintained by South Suburban Parks and Recreation District and o ers an ever-changing menu of growing things. Soon, the Rose Garden will be blooming, as will the Water Lily Pond and trees and shrubs ... including fragrant lilacs.

In 1940, Col. King C. Hudson was stationed at Fort Logan in Denver and his wife, Evelyn, joined him. He was ready to retire soon and the couple decided they would like to live in the area and start the restaurant she had been wanting to operate after a career in the foods business in Chicago. (Marshall Field’s tearoom in particular.) ey looked at various properties and decided on a large plot of farmland in Littleton, near the bank of the South Platte River.

Local old-timers in this primarily agricultural community shook their heads over that restaurant idea. “People will never come this far south to have dinner,” they said.

First, the Hudsons built a log home for themselves, close to the riverbank, then they designed and built the log Country Kitchen Restaurant on Santa Fe Drive.

e pair had traveled widely in Europe and Asia and she had written a series of “Tummy Travel” books about food they’d enjoyed. (Some reprints are available in the Gardens’ shop.) e restaurant opened with bu et assortments of foods re ecting various nationalities and added some more traditional menu dinners as well. e Country Kitchen was an immediate success, was recommended in the latest Duncan Hines travel guidebook that many driving travelers carried and, drew crowds from Denver, as well, who returned soon with more friends in tow. At rst, the pair would close the restaurant in the winter after the holidays and travel for a while, opening again in warmer weather, but eventually, it had a sta who could keep the operation running.

In the early 1950s, Marathon Oil and Martin Marietta both opened labs nearby, drawing employees who enjoyed good food. Our family came to work for Marathon and soon visited the Hudsons’ restaurant with our families. (Moving here, in the middle of the U.S., with Rocky Mountains close enough for a picnic excursion, seems to guarantee lots of company, which is usually ne, as long as there’s time to wash sheets in between!) e Hudsons continued to live in their riverside home. He raised purebred horses and she became interested in beautifying her city, con- tributing trees and planting materials to the new Arapahoe Community College campus and elsewhere. She also served on the Littleton Fine Arts Board, seeking ways to pay for sculpture and an art collection for the growing city.

Eventually, the busy couple retired, renting the log building to another food person, who operated as e Northwoods Inn, with a huge Paul Bunyan gure standing by their sign.

She told me of a visit to the city planning o ce to inquire about something. (A visit she made quite frequently.) While there, she saw a drawing on a desk of riverfront land that included hers, she realized. Planners’ drawings showed that land lled with houses and apartments.

I can remember Evelyn telling me a few days later that she had driven home and immediately called her lawyer and set up a foundation that day, which would protect the Hudson acreage as open land. Her thinking quickly progressed to creating a place of beauty that people of all ages could enjoy and appreciate — and perhaps learn a bit about how to grow beautiful plants and teach others about that beauty.

She called a few close friends and her beloved nephew, Don Had eld, and soon was involved in setting up the rst Hudson Gardens Board of Directors, which met in her living room monthly — and at times, more often. Local landscape architect Doug Rockne was hired to design Hudson Gardens, with input from British horticulturalist Andrew Pierce. Board members and sta were generous with time and expertise at public gardens visited across the U.S. and in Canada. From Longwood Gardens in Philadelphia to Buchart Gardens in Vancouver, Canada.

Plans were drawn and redrawn and plant lists were developed and landscapers hired. Soon, a lovely garden was open for business ...

I feel certain, Evelyn is somewhere, smiling ...

Warm Hearts Warm Babies serves hospitals, agencies across Colorado

BY TAYLER SHAW TSHAW@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Surrounded by colorful fabric patterns, handmade baby items and frequent laughter, volunteers of the Warm Hearts Warm Babies nonpro t went to work on a Friday morning to put together layettes for organizations who need them.

e nonpro t has a list of roughly 40 agencies it delivers items to throughout Colorado, said Kathleen Williams, the nonpro t’s grant coordinator. e list includes the Children’s Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Platte Valley Medical Center and Denver Medical Center.

“Warm Hearts is totally made up of volunteers,” said Sandi Powis, president of the board of directors. “Everyone’s volunteering with their heart and skills to make things for newborn (babies), preemies to help them get a good start in this world.”

Volunteers sew, knit, crochet and quilt items such as bibs, burp pads, jackets, hats and blankets. e items are assembled into a layette, which is a collection of clothing and accessories for newborn infants.

Each layette contains a quilt, two receiving blankets, bibs, burp pads, clothing and a goodie bag containing items such as a bottle, some diapers and a small toy. ese items are delivered in a handmade tote bag.

“All these items are made with love,” Powis said. “We don’t connect to the individuals personally. We deliver the layettes to hospitals, birthing centers, food banks — anyone that can help us help the newborn.” e nonpro t also o ers items for the neonatal intensive care units at hospitals in Colorado, such as positioning roles that are used to help support the infants.

A number of the mothers who receive these items are experiencing homelessness, sometimes living in shelters or in their cars, Williams said.

“We also provide clothing for babies that don’t survive, from tiny little babies to full-term babies,” Williams said. “We have clothing for them that we hand out at the hospitals.”

Included in those burial layettes is a cloth-made envelope intended for the parents to hold important items and memories, Powis said.

“It’s sad, but it’s so important,” Powis said. “And to know that a mom wouldn’t have to go out, or send her mom or her sister to go out and nd things for her precious one that has passed — that it can be given to them and that’s not a worry for them.”

How it began e nonpro t’s origin dates back to 1996, when a woman named Victoria Swain gave birth to a stillborn infant, according to the nonpro t’s website. e hospital she was at could not provide a blanket or clothes for her infant, prompt- ing Swain to look into how she could help donate these types of items.

After recruiting some volunteers and spending a few years working through a di erent organization called Newborns in Need, in 2000, Swain and the other board members decided to create their own nonpro t: Warm Hearts Warm Babies.

Powis estimated the nonpro t currently has about 200 volunteers and 12 work groups throughout the state including in Arvada, Brighton, Littleton and ornton.

Powis is part of the work group in Conifer, where she lives. She joined the organization roughly six years ago.

“I’ve been doing things for babies for many years, donating to other groups, but they were all missing something. ere was no social connection with anyone else making things,” Powis said. “I found that they had a local organization up here in Conifer and it was like, that’s it — that’s one I can link up with. I can meet people right here in our community.”

Williams learned about the nonpro t through a quilt show, as representatives of the organization had a table at the event. Living in Aurora at the time, she initially joined the Aurora group. Since then, she has moved to Colorado Springs

SEE IN NEED, P15