30 years ago – March 17, 1989
A man known only as “John” offered to exchange a marble headstone for a tattoo at a Denver business called “Tattooing by Mickie.” The owner of the business, Mickie Cott, reported the incident to the Gilpin County Sheriff’s Department because the man told her he had taken the headstone from a cemetery above Central City. Cott, who had given “John” a tattoo last year, refused to take the headstone in exchange, but suggested that he leave it at the business, which “John” agreed to do. The headstone was retrieved from the store on Lowell Boulevard and returned home. Deputy Joe Meeds, assisted by Sid Squibb of Central City, located the grave in Red Man’s Lodge Cemetery, west of Central City. The three foot gray marble headstone bore the inscription: “Llewellyn Douglas, son of Albert and Elizabeth M. Nancarrow, north June 27, 1894, died December, 1895.” “John” was described by Cott as approximately five feet six inches in height, dark brown shoulder length hair, with a thin build. He was wearing a rock t-shirt with skulls on it, jeans, a flight jacket, and tennis shoes. He has an eight inch “Grim Reaper” tattoo on his right arm with flames under it. It is suggested that Gilpinites who wish to have a tattoo patronize “Tattooing by Mickie,” and while there, tell her thanks for retuning to Gilpin County some of its valuable history.
As the culmination of their study of the human body, students in Peggy Miller’s sixth grade class created life-sized replicas of the human body using various items they found around their houses. The winning body was a joint effort by Jed Shields and Whitney Blake. Shields and Blake managed to put together the best “body,” using such novel items as an eggplant for the liver, wine skin for the stomach, sponge for kidneys, styrofoam for lungs, pipe cleaners and packing bubbles for bronchioles and air, and yarn for the brain. The competition for “best body” was friendly and judging was done by six school employees. “It was a very enjoyable experience which required ingenuity to recreate the human body with everyday materials,” said Shields. Blake agreed, saying, “It was creative and good for the mind.” Unfortunately, the decaying process begins quickly, said Miller, and the bodies have been removed from the school. The project sparked great creativity and resourcefulness among her students, Miller said.
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