Dear HCN,
It was with sadness that
I read of our loss of Ruth Hutchins, one of the noblest of fighters
for a sane Colorado water policy.
My first
contact with Ruth was a Sunday telephone call to me in my then
capacity as a Colorado River Water Conservation District director.
She talked at such great length and detail about problems
confronting Mesa County irrigators that I began to suspect that I
was talking to some kind of “nut.” How wrong that was proven to
be!
As many know, Ruth monitored activities of
the Colorado River District, becoming a regular at our board
meetings. You mention that she was a cofounder of the Mesa County
Water Association; I sometimes felt that group better represented
western Colorado water interests than did the
district.
Ruth served as the conscience for those
of us appointed to various roles in water policy making. I listened
to that voice of conscience and, in the process, was privileged to
know better a lovely woman and a tough
fighter.
Bob
Child
Arroyo Grande,
California
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline A tough fighter.
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