Duke City Roots

Minnie Blanche Lee (Blanche) (June 25, 1900-March 1,1988) was born near La Junta, Colorado and moved to Trinidad as a teenager with her parents Minnie and Henry and siblings Mabel, Grace and Harlan. She married Roy Bratcher (June 24, 1900-June 4,1988) in 1929 in Trinidad, and they lived there the rest of their lives. Roy was a fireman, then engineer for the railroad, and Blanche worked at the light company. They lived their middle and later years in the house on Tillotson that Blanche’s parents (Minnie and Henry) had bought.

Mabel, Grace and Blanche around 1902

Mabel, Grace and Blanche Lee around 1918

Blanche and Roy in the 1920s

Roy, in the middle. He was an engineer for the C and S railroad, which was later merged with Burlington.

It kind of looks like Blanchie is in the first car, and Clyde in the second – not certain though. They look to be in front of the house.

Blanche was close to her sister, Mabel (Mamie). In their adult lives they didn’t live close to each other – Blanche and Roy in Trinidad and Mabel and Clyde (Pappy) in Albuquerque from the mid 1940s on. They visited frequently, talked on the phone and wrote lots of letters. When they visited, after dinner you would usually find them playing cards – pitch was their game. They always had a good time.

The Browne kids spent two weeks of their summer vacation visiting Blanche and Roy in Trinidad each year in the 1950s and early 60s. The girls would go for two weeks, and then Mamie and Pappy would bring the boys. They often met in Cimarron for the switch and and had a picnic.

Blanche and Roy made it a fun vacation – we would usually go to Monument Lake a couple of times each summer. First we would dig the worms in their backyard, and put them in a coffee can. Blanche would pack a lunch and when we got there we would rent a rowboat and usually catch a few rainbow trout – Roy taught us how and also how to clean the fish. We liked feeding the chipmunks in the rocks at the end of the lake.

Clockwise from top right: Blanche, Mabel, Colleen, Clyde, Earl (Clyde’s brother), Roy, Suky. A picnic at Monument Lake about 1958.

Other memories of Blanche and Roy are going to Marco’s butcher shop for t-bone steaks, which Roy would grill, Bonfadini’s for pepperoni, Kelly’s Bakery for bread, and the “chain store” (Safeway) for other groceries. Our route included Rexall Drugs where we could pick out a comic book, and sometimes Jamieson’s clothing store. Also the post office, where we took turns opening the mailbox (#386) to get their mail, to the library, and to church with Blanchie on Sunday.

Blanchie would help us use the cookie press to make cookies, and get us started fixing a box of Jello chocolate pudding, which we would then stand on a chair to stir. Blanche patiently taught the girls to crochet. Their house had creaky stairs to an upstairs bedroom and attic, and the attic was dusty and filled with old dolls, a train and old letters to look through. The basement was dark and musty, but had a saddle on a saw horse you could sit on and also Roy’s collection of calendars, pin-ups and other objects hanging up for us to examine.

Roy, Blanche, Grace, Mabel and Clyde in front of their house

The most fun was climbing the mountain at the end of their street – it had little slippery rocks and was hard to make progress without slipping down.

View of Trinidad – Blanchie’s mountain is somewhere in the back right, not quite sure of the exact location.

One thing that Blanchie would do was after we dropped Roy off at the train depot, we would hop in the car and she would speed to Walsenburg in the hope of beating the train so at the intersection he would see us and blow the whistle.

Roy would also take us on the switch engine for a short ride as they switched the engines of the trains. One big highlight was the year we went to Colorado Springs and visited Santa’s workshop.

Buddy and Roy on the switch engine about 1957

Roy and Clyde having a beer on the swing in their backyard at 809 Tillotson

Blanche Lee Bratcher

Great aunt

2nd great aunt

3rd great aunt