{"id":24588,"date":"2024-12-03T16:30:02","date_gmt":"2024-12-03T23:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/duane-smith-local-historian-and-former-fort-lewis-college-professor-dies-at-87\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T04:56:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:56:28","slug":"duane-smith-local-historian-and-former-fort-lewis-college-professor-dies-at-87","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/duane-smith-local-historian-and-former-fort-lewis-college-professor-dies-at-87\/","title":{"rendered":"Duane Smith, local historian and former Fort Lewis College professor, dies at 87"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"History
History professor Duane Smith answers questions from the audience after giving his last lecture April 24, 2014, at the Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College. Smith died Nov. 26 in Durango. (Durango Herald file)<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Duane Smith, a nationally acclaimed author, former Fort Lewis College history professor and longtime Durango resident, died on Tuesday, Nov. 26, in Durango. He was 87.<\/p>\n

Smith\u2019s passion for Colorado history and his engaging teaching style earned him nicknames like \u201cColorado\u2019s Clio,\u201d \u201cHomer of the Hills\u201d and \u201cSage of the Silvery San Juans.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had a national reputation for being both scholarly and readable,\u201d said Tom Noel, a former colleague and co-author.<\/p>\n

Noel and Smith cowrote the history textbook, \u201cColorado: The Highest State.\u201d<\/p>\n

Noel, a renowned historian specializing in the Rocky Mountain West, said Smith had a gift for transforming seemingly mundane topics into fascinating stories through his creativity and unmatched work ethic.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was an incredible writer. I\u2019ve written 60 books, and I still couldn\u2019t keep up with him,\u201d Noel said, laughing as he recalled Smith\u2019s habit of calling him at 7 a.m. to check if he was working.<\/p>\n

Smith was also a dedicated jogger, often running in the early mornings before starting his writing.<\/p>\n

The two met while studying history at the University of Colorado Boulder, where Smith also met his wife, Gay Woodruff Smith, who died in 2017.<\/p>\n

Noel later became a longtime history professor at CU Boulder, retiring in 2020. Noel and Smith often stayed at each other\u2019s homes during visits.<\/p>\n

Noel and Smith also guided tours at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, detailing Colorado\u2019s history. The two professors did it every summer for 25 years until recently.<\/p>\n

Smith also led tours at the Animas Museum, sharing his passion for history with children. He was easily recognized by his signature style: jeans, Western boots and either a white, flattened cowboy hat or a Chicago Cubs baseball cap.<\/p>\n

\"Former
Former Fort Lewis College professor Duane Smith was part of the original faculty when the college transitioned to a four-year institution in 1964. Smith died on Nov. 26, according to an email sent to The Durango Herald. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file)<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

He was an avid baseball fan, especially of the Chicago Cubs. Smith was born in San Diego, California, but grew up in the Chicago area, Noel said. His love for baseball led him to pioneer the \u201cBaseball and the American Dream\u201d history class at FLC, which was a favorite among students.<\/p>\n

He would often dress up in regalia based on the time period he was teaching about, Noel said. In the \u201cBaseball and the American Dream\u201d class, he would often bring historic baseball uniforms and equipment to class. According to former colleague John Kessell, he would sometimes take them out to the fields at FLC to play baseball.<\/p>\n

Kessell and Smith initially met during a Western History Association conference in 1960.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was Mr. Durango during the \u201970s, \u201980s and \u201990s,\u201d Kessell said. \u201cHe worked at Fort Lewis College for over 50 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kessell is a history professor at the University of New Mexico.<\/p>\n

Smith wore many other hats in Durango. He served as chairman of the Durango Parks and Forestry Board and an emeritus board member for the La Plata County Historical Society. He was also one of the first directors of the Center of Southwest Studies.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuane was an extraordinary historian,\u201d said FLC professor of history and environmental studies Andrew Gulliford. \u201cHe helped put Durango on the map.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gulliford worked with Smith for about 20 years. He said Smith was a staff member when FLC became a four-year institution in 1964.<\/p>\n

\"Duane
Duane Smith, retired Fort Lewis College history professor, walks the playing fields of the sports complex named after him on May 8, 2015. (Durango Herald file)<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The Smith Sports Complex near FLC was named after him because of his love for Skyhawk athletics. He was named Durango Area Chamber and Resort Association\u2019s citizen of the year for 1995.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been lucky in a sense,\u201d Smith said at the time. \u201cI\u2019ve been able to live in a town I want to live in and work at a school \u2026 I think is the best in the state.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gulliford pointed toward Smith\u2019s generosity as one of his notable traits when at FLC. He said the way he interacted with students and donors was uncanny. When he retired from FLC in 2014, students and faculty filled the Community Concert Hall at FLC to listen to him speak.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s one of our staple historian authors in our store,\u201d said Maria\u2019s Bookshop book buyer Jeanne Costello.<\/p>\n

She said \u201cRocky Mountain Boomtown: A History of Durango, Colorado\u201d is still among his best selling books at the store.<\/p>\n

Maria\u2019s currently stocks 12 of Smith\u2019s books but has carried as many as 30 since the store\u2019s opening in 1984.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really appreciated his work,\u201d Costello said.<\/p>\n

The Durango Herald<\/em> was unable to reach family members on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Noel said his favorite piece of Smith\u2019s work was called \u201cThe Trail of Gold and Silver: Mining in Colorado, 1859-2009,\u201d published in 2009.<\/p>\n

The book covers the beginning of the gold and silver mining rush and how gold and silver mining established the basis for Colorado\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnything to do with mining, he was your guy,\u201d Noel said.<\/p>\n

Smith excelled at simplifying complex historical events, making them accessible and engaging for general audiences.<\/p>\n

Beyond his many achievements, Smith played a key role in incorporating Colorado history into the curricula of universities and colleges across the state, Noel said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Strater Hotel needs to dedicate a room to him,\u201d said Kessell, pointing out Smith\u2019s impact on the community.<\/p>\n

tbrown@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

a prolific author and devoted fan of Chicago Cubs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24589,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[950,155,132,28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-24588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-durango","tag-education","tag-fort-lewis-college","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24588"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24588\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78595,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24588\/revisions\/78595"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24588"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=24588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}