RESIDENT PROFILE

The Grand Dame of Garfield

It is rare to find anyone who has lived in the same neighborhood block for eighty-plus years...but it is even rarer in this day and age and in a neighborhood that has undergone as many changes as Cherry Creek North. Nancelia Elizabeth Scott-Jackson is such a person, and she has lived in the 300 block of Garfield since l926! However, that's just the beginning of what makes her special.

Her beautiful given name, pronounced Nan- seal' -ya, is unusual (although a current USA Olympian diver's name is almost the same), so in her warm and welcoming way she has encouraged many acquaintances to call her "Nancy." However, when it comes to historical accuracy and matters of the heart, she is unflinching in her honesty and in her commitment to the qualities instilled in her, her siblings, and her extended family by loving, hard-working, spiritually grounded ancestors.

Her family history reads like an epic novel of American History. Each of her grandfathers was born of mixed heritage, an American reality in the mid l860's. Her maternal grandparents came to Denver from Missouri to be near their oldest son who was recovering at Fitzsimmons Army Hospital from wounds sustained fighting the Germans in World War I. The son died, developing TB as a result of the gassing he received in France, but Nancelia's charismatic grandfather, a self-employed carpenter, decided to stay and became a land developer in what is now Cherry Creek North.

In those days, Denver's population was moving north/northeast and the City Dump was actually located where the Cherry Creek Shopping Mall is today. Most of what is now Cherry Creek was then vacant, tree-less prairie land considered to be on the "outskirts" of town. Her grandfather's first property was built on Harrison and sold for fifteen hundred dollars. He then bought six adjacent lots on the east side of Garfield.

In 1926, promising his two daughters (Nancelia's mother and her Aunt) new houses he would personally build for them, Grandpa lured both families from Chicago to Denver. Nancelia had the unique opportunity to grow up with siblings and cousins as playmates. A close-knit family would always be the cornerstone of her life. She has lived in the block of Garfield and Third almost her entire life since the age of two.

Nancelia can point out today the trees which were brought from the mountains to her block and planted, trees still thriving today. She remembers when Colorado Boulevard was a two-lane road and summer Soap Box Derby Races were held at Colorado and First. Detroit Street in Cherry Creek North was busy with Stobe's Department Store located at Third, and with Zimmer's, a popular local bar at Second. She remembers Victory Gardens on vacant lots and the Flood of 1933 when the water rose to First and Clayton. Her dad worked on FDR's WPA to secure the area and her mom made fried apple pies to sell to the workers.

In 1966, forty years after her grandfather's original home was built at Third and Garfield, the lot was bought and scraped, and became the new home of the Cherry Creek Community Church. Now, just recently, that structure has been removed to make way for soon-to-be constructed new residences. Nancelia still resides in the same block only in a newly constructed home designed by her son-in-law, the architect in the family. One of her sons, a prominent Denver attorney, is keeping up the family tradition by living next door. She didn't mind losing her old house for a new one because, she says, she will always have her memories. And photographs.

In her memoir, A Chronicle of Precious Memories (published in 2005 and available in area libraries) which she culled from her journals dating back to her childhood and compiled with the help of family members from several generations, she writes: "I am a cancer survivor but I am not the only survivor in our family. We are all survivors. ...businesses destroyed, marriages dissolved, the death of children, catastrophic illness, bankruptcy...you name it and someone in this family has endured it. That's Life. The things you have to remember are...believe in your God and have Faith...and how will our children know who they are if they don't know where they came from."

Her book is based in part on daily diaries she kept, from as early as age 12, so the details of her history are amazing. There are family stories of brave military service especially during World War II including that of one particular cousin; he was one of only three out of the 920 Tuskegee Airmen who received his CO commission at the age of 19. Many members of her family served in various branches of military service during WWII including the Army, Navy, and Coast Guard. She herself worked for the Air Force Finance Department and the Department of Defense at Lowry.

And she remembers the celebrations on VE and VJ Day when her loved ones could finally come home. She also remembers the day her brother shared breakfast with Secret Service agents escorting Mamie Eisenhower to visit friends in his duplex.

She remembers discrimination when, as a little girl, she couldn't sit at the counter where her father served up ice cream sodas. She remembers recreation in the mountains before roads to high country retreats were paved. Her grandfather, William Pitts helped develop a resort area in Lincoln Hills (near Netherland). "It was our country club," Nancelia says. Many celebrities stayed at Wink's Lodge.

There are personal memories and detailed stories of our neighborhood and environs that will surely resonate with long time residents and provide a unique perspective for newcomers to the area.

In her memoir, she also writes: "When you are young, everything is an adventure." Her children and extended family include lawyers, doctors, and one actor who has worked with Denzel Washington. In addition to her attorney son Gary, she has two other married children: Larry, Denver Campus President of National American University, and a psychologist daughter, Kimberly, who resides in Bellevue, WA, and who recently completed post graduate work at Harvard.

And, Nancelia is 83 years young and she still works as a receptionist for her sons when called. Although she has a new address,...in cyberspace!...she's still living her adventure on Garfield in Cherry Creek North!