All the News About Denver’s Best Residential Community Since 1961 Volume 51, Issue No. 2
Inside Su Charles, Cure d’Ars Own American Idol pg. 4
Contributed Photo/Su Charles
Food Works, A Cannery with a Conscience pg. 6
Contributed Photo/Food Works-Greg Morton
Kate Sultan ushers in the Denver Old House Fair pg.9
Contributed Photo/Kevin Molick
A Greater Park Hill Community, Inc. Publication
March 2012
Art Branscombe: Helped Turn The Tide of Segregation By Merredith Branscombe Art Branscombe, who dedicated the greater part of his life to making Park Hill the first stable, purposefully racially and economically integrated community in the country, died on February 10, 2012. He was 93. Branscombe moved to Park Hill in 1959 with his late wife, Bea because, as he told an interviewer in 1998: “We found a house for $l3,500, big enough for two kids and two mothers; we’d had our fill of suburbs and new subdivisions; we’re both basically city people (Art from 42 states in the U.S. and Washington, D.C.; and Bea from Vienna, London and New York); and we drove by Park Hill school before we bought the house, and saw a great variety of kids, and thought our kids should grow up here.” But shortly after they moved in, realtors began leafleting their home on Bellaire Street urging them to “get out now – while they could still get a ‘decent’ price.” Most of the realtors, bankers and business people prophesied that Park Hill would soon become totally segregated. Several quoted an old, now discredited, myth that “integration is the time between when the first colored moves in and the last white moves out.” Art, by training a careful researcher, found and cited several impeccable studies disproving that myth, including several stating that as long as the neighborhood does not succumb to panic selling, home prices remain stable or improve in integrated neighborhoods, because there is competition for the same homes. His research was published in the Greater Park Hill Action News (the predecessor to the GPHC Newsletter) and is widely credited for calming the panic – and starting the conversation about what Park Hill could become. Branscombe and a small group of lay people from Park Hill area churches had formed the Greater Park Hill Action Committee (GPHAC) – initially mostly anglos, who soon realized that if the “Action” part of their name were to hold true, they would need to reach beyond their own boundaries and comfort zones to people of other faiths and races. Friendships that would last a lifetime, and change the shape of the community – like Branscombe’s with Fred Thomas or Bernard Gipson – were born. The Greater Park Hill Action Committee helped convince realtors that although they might sell fewer homes than they would in a “panic,” they eventually would gain more by promoting the neighborhood than by tearing it down. They eventually worked out programs to promote Park Hill’s diversity; the nation took notice of GPHAC’s work, with even the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. visiting in 1964.
Park Hill played a central role in Branscombe’s life both personally and professionally. First as an editorial writer and then as Education Editor for the Denver Post, he brought to the public eye the same issues that were gripping the neighborhood he lived in and loved: civil rights, DPS policies – both unofficial and official – and fairness and funding in education. “Everybody felt like Art Branscombe was their friend,” recalled longtime Park Hill resident, former City Councilwoman and current School Board member Happy Haynes. “He said those things that needed to be said, even if he made people uncomfortable; he reported on those issues where we needed the public eye.” Well, not everyone thought of Branscombe as their friend. Former Denver Mayor Bill McNichols, on hearing that Branscombe had won a week’s vacation in a contest, remarked, “Well, at least that’ll get Branscombe off my back for a week.” “Art was always looking out for those who can’t look after themselves, kids. We say we are a child-oriented society… but it is a lie. He stood out as one who was willing to risk his career writing about unfairness in education… Art was also a sane voice in the busing debate and that took guts. Many young children owe him a lot and they have no idea who he was or what he did,” said former Congresswoman Patricia Schroeder. Born on Armistice Day, November 11, 1918, the son of Evelyn Perkins Branscombe and Clarence Henry Branscombe, Art had traveled across or lived in 38 states before he was 18, thanks to his father’s work with the Army Corps of Engineers. He fell in love with Colorado and the Rocky Mountains when his father designed the steel work for the Daniels & Fisher tower and the Denver post office, but returned to the Washington D.C. area for most of his adolescence while his father worked on the Library of Congress and other Federal buildings. Art attended George Washington University, where he was a member of Delta Tau Delta fraternity, and graduated at the age of 19 with a degree in International Studies. After stints at the Pentagon and with the Washington Post, he enlisted in the Army for WWII, serving in North Africa. While on leave in New York, he met Beatrice Sutton, whom he married in 1946.
Contributed Photo/Merredith Branscombe
Upon his return from the War he followed his love affair with the newsroom. In addition to the Washington Post, he wrote for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Rocky Mountain News and the Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph, before accepting a position with the Denver Post, where he would write, report and edit for the next 30 years until his retirement in 1984, after which he wrote occasionally for the Colorado Statesman. He was known for being principled, fair and balanced in his coverage – long before that term came to mean something else. A lifelong hiker, he was a member of the Colorado Mountain Club. He also served many charitable and religious organizations, in particular St. Thomas Church, Head Start, the NAACP, Inter-Neighborhood Cooperation and Housing for All. In the 1960s, when Smiley and other North Denver schools were overcrowded because DPS did not want to allow African-American kids north of Colfax, Art helped organize study halls. After Bea’s death in 2000, Art was lucky enough to meet Carla Henebry. They married in 2003, and enjoyed many wonderful adventures. Art’s love for life and especially for Carla and his family pulled him through many a health setback, until he finally died peacefully on February 10, 2012. His sister, Marjorie Branscombe Rae, preceded him in death. In addition to his wife, he is survived by three daughters: Allison, Kim Womantree, and Merredith; a stepson, Charles Henebry; and nine grandchildren. “He was an elegant writer and thinker,” recalled City Councilwoman Carol Boigon. “I will always remember him as a voice for good sense, kindness and reason on Denver schools and kids.” A memorial for Art will be held Sunday, March 3, at the St. Thomas Episcopal Church, 2201 Dexter St, from 2-5 p.m