Colorado Mountain College lost an advocate and friend over the summer when Doris Dewton passed away on July 22.
Dewton was a two-time (three terms) CMC Trustee, member of the Foundation Board and President’s Advisory Council, donor, scholarship application reviewer, commencement usher, and anything else that the college needed for all the years she and her late husband, Dick Gretz, lived in the Vail Valley.
“She didn’t seek a legacy, but rather created one simply by giving fully of herself each and every day,” said Kristin Colon, CEO of the Colorado Mountain Foundation. “Our deepest thanks Doris. We miss you already.”
Dewton moved to Edwards in 1994, retiring “young” from a career in Washington, D.C. as a federal energy regulator and later as a petroleum industry lobbyist. In the latter role, she helped negotiate a new formula for cleaner-burning gasoline under the Clean Air Act.
In Edwards, Dewton jumped into volunteer activities, including a successful campaign to exempt CMC’s property tax revenues from the constraints of the state’s TABOR law. In 2001, outgoing Eagle County CMC Trustee Don Salanty recruited her to run for the board.
“I’ve always been a big advocate for higher education,” Dewton said. That advocacy, combined with vision and leadership, was reflected in her service on the CMC Board of Trustees and the CMC Foundation Board.
Dewton served the college in official volunteer capacity for eighteen years, including three terms as a Trustee (2001- 2009 and 2017-2019) and six years as a member of the CMC Foundation Board of Directors (2009-2015).
“Doris gave so much of herself to CMC and we are forever grateful and inspired by her selfless volunteerism on behalf of others,” said CMC President Dr. Carrie Besnette Hauser.
“Her leadership as a CMC Trustee resulted in sound fiscal policy, which resulted in investments across the college to rebuild aging structures and construct new facilities to meet the academic needs of each community.”
She also helped create and fund the Higher Education Resources & Opportunities (HERO) scholarship at the Vail Valley campus. To date, the HERO Scholarship has awarded over $750,000 in scholarships and is supported by nearly 200 community members.
“People have dreams who don’t always have means,” Dewton said, adding that scholarships and academic support make a big difference in how those dreams turn out.
