OBITUARIES

December 13, 1952 - April 20, 2023

Sarah Yolanda Carpenter Hix called her battle with cancer a draw on April 20, 2023, in Garden Grove, CA, at the age of 70. Sarah was born to the late Earl LeRoy Carpenter and Roxelda Ernestine (Clark) in San Diego, CA, on the 13th of December, 1952. Sarah is survived by her husband, Robert W. Haislip, son Edward R. Hix, his wife, Marie Skanis, and his father, James C. Hix, as well as her best friends Jama Hashbarger, Doug Hartwell, and the Hashbarger clan. She is also survived by OB (Our Beagle), whose prominence eclipses us all.

My mom saw the world as a beautiful place. She contributed to that beauty by cultivating iris and roses gardens that she received from friends and family at her beloved longtime home in Littleton, Colorado. She maintained a plot at a community garden for many years and took classes to become a master gardener. Her willingness to share her knowledge, lend a hand, and kindness resulted in abundant vegetables and great friendships. Her joy and readiness to care for others blessed her with many lifelong friendships.

Sarah was brave. A lady who couldn’t swim but went white water rafting. She was fearless. A lady who was very uncomfortable with heights yet climbed fourteeners. She needed

BROWNSBERGER to be strong, brave, and fearless to raise her baby boy, who enjoyed white water rafting and climbing fourteeners. She put her fears aside to give her son opportunities to have new, often adventurous, experiences - and to share in the fun with him.

Amazingly, Sarah’s strength and bravery never hardened her. She carried immense, child-like joy and curiosity throughout her world. Finding a penny to add to her collection would make her whole day. Sarah was always delighted to cook for and feed others. My mom’s parting words to everyone would be: never go anywhere without a tissue, pee before you go, a good haircut will always make you feel better, and that life doesn’t get any better than spending time with your best friend washing down cinnamon ice cream with margaritas.

If you would like to pay your respects, you are welcome to attend the memorial service we are holding in her honor at Grand Valley Cemetery on Saturday, the 29th of April, at 1:00 pm Mountain Standard Time. A video broadcast will be available via a link on the Spanish Valley Mortuary website after the conclusion of her service. Instead of owers, please donate to St. Judes Children’s Hospital or your favorite charity.

John Scott Brownsberger

February 12, 1952 - April 10, 2023

John “Scott” Brownsberger passed away peacefully on Monday, April 10th with his beloved girlfriend, Alma, and his son, Ryan, by his side.

Born in Canton, Ohio, he moved out west shortly after graduating from Hoover High School in North Canton, Ohio.

Scott loved the outdoors and spent much of his youth hiking in the woods where he’d occasionally rescue an orphaned great horned owl or red-tailed hawk. He loved animals of all kinds. He also loved shing, pitching horseshoes and was a great cook, known for his excellent green chile.

Scott is survived by his dear girlfriend,

Alma Gri en, his brother, Richard Brownsberger and wife Connie from Mentor, Ohio, his brother Gary Brownsberger and sister, Judy Fisher and husband Bruce of North Canton, Ohio. He is also survived by his beloved son, Ryan Brownsberger of Centennial, Colorado and Ryan’s mother, Linda Johnsen of Aurora, Colorado. He will be deeply missed by those who knew him and whose lives he touched.

Friends may gather for a celebration of life at e Pondy at 220 West Main Street in Cedaredge, Colorado on Saturday, May 13th beginning at 2pm.

BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

At e Alley in downtown Littleton, you might nd a musician who’s so into the music, they’ll get up and dance on the bar.

When a local band surprises the crowd with a stellar performance that no one saw coming, “it just knocks people’s socks o ,” said Mary Riecks, e Alley’s bar manager and a Littleton-area native.

e watering hole on Main Street doubles as a music venue that nds and helps grow local talent — and the shows are free. It’s one of the bars in the metro Denver suburbs that o ers a window into up-and-coming homegrown performers amid a music scene that one longtime bar owner says is growing.

“Twenty years ago when I opened up the bar, there were a few bars around that had live music,” said Doug Jacobsen, owner of Jake’s Roadhouse in Arvada.

Since then, he’s noticed that “all of these di erent bars” now o er space for shows, said Jacobsen, who has friends who perform at spots around metro Denver.

“ ere’s a lot of great musicians here,” Jacobsen said.

Here’s a look at places o the beaten path where you can catch some lesser known — and sometimes famous — music artists in person.

‘Something for everyone’ Wild Goose Saloon in Parker o ers a bit of a di erent environment: It’s a bar but also a large event venue. ey’re both longtime musicians themselves — they perform in a band called Lola Black, garnered play on the radio and toured around the country — and have played Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre several times, Dellinger said. ey take their knowledge of the industry to running the Wild Goose, which was built around the concept of serving as a music venue and has a bigger stage, sound and lighting setup than most bars do, Dellinger said.

It aims to be “Colorado’s version of the Knitting Factory” — a unique, independent venue that hosts local and national artists, said Chris Dellinger, who serves as co-owner of Wild Goose Saloon with his wife.

It’s “kind of like every musician’s dream to own their own venue at some place and time, and we just ended up being able to pull it o ,” said Dellinger, who lives in Aurora.

After opening in July 2021, Wild Goose has hosted some large country artists and “some `80s artists that are still big,” Dellinger said. National pop-rock act American Authors is set to play there in late April.

“My motto always is, ‘If you don’t like the music one night, that’s OK — it’ll be completely di erent the next night or the next week,’” Dellinger said. “So we really try to have something for everyone here.”

His venue tries to get exposure for local talent by letting them open for national touring acts. For the audience, the typical admission cost for a national artist’s show at Wild Goose sits around $25 to $30, but local artists’ ticketed shows can cost as low as $10, and most of the local artists’ shows are free.

Dellinger and his wife have

“snuck in” a performance or two at Wild Goose, he said — they were set to play there in late April with the Texas Hippie Coalition, an American heavy metal band. Keeping classics alive

You might also see Jacobsen, a guitarist himself, playing with a band at Jake’s Roadhouse in the north metro area every now and then.

His bar started o ering live music “right away” after opening near the end of 2003. Sitting in east Arvada close to Denver and Westminster, the venue o ers mostly cover bands and blues, and on Wednesday nights, bluegrass is on tap. Sometimes, artists play original songs, but it’s rare, Jacobsen said.

“Our people come in to hang out, and most original bands don’t have four hours’ worth of original music,” Jacobsen said.

But playing covers at Jake’s Roadhouse is one way to get a new artist’s foot in the door in the local music scene.

“We have bands that come to us all the time that can’t get these other bars to give them a chance to play because they haven’t played anywhere before,” Jacobsen said. He added: “We’re not like that. I know a lot of musicians around town, and we will give a band a chance to play just on the word of a friend.”

He feels that live music is im-