By the time Whitman and House retired in 1994 the two had become well-known and revered individuals from Aspen to Marble, were involved in practically everything and their store was one of the most popular in the valley.

Deb Strom, who now lives near Redstone, recalls that when she worked at the Hotel Jerome in Aspen, she often “trekked to Redstone just to shop at Whitman House.” She said their merchandise was “top quality” and that they had items appealing to all. “They also had a lunch bar with patio seating on the riverside.”

The story of the two men began in Lawrence, Kansas, in 1953 when Dave and Bill out-bid several others for a house in which they discovered a box containing $19,000 in currency. Two months earlier they had opened an antique shop in Kansas City, Kansas. The house also contained many items which enhanced the Kansas City store’s inventory.

“To antique dealers such as House and Whitman the contents of the house have proved to be a virtual bonanza,” the story said.

The two men eventually built a beautiful home on Buttermilk Mountain with a pool which separated the main house from a guest house (which the men often used to house visiting members of the Aspen Music Festival).  They later moved to Redstone where they owned Whitman House Antiques.

The Glenwood Springs Sage-Reminder of June 27, 1974reported that “both men are active in Redstone affairs and House writes the weekly column “Crystallizing the Crystal River for the (Glenwood) Post.”

The columns are revealing about the Redstone area in many ways. In one column House reported “the Sacred Heart Chapel in Redstone will hold Mass each Sunday at ten thirty AM for the remainder of the summer season.” In another he wrote “the morning of June 8 (1974) campers reported two inches of snow on the ground at Bogan Flats near Marble. Where has spring gone?” And later he wrote “spending their annual vacation with Jo Gates on Redstone Blvd. are the Jim Arronales” of Moberly, Missouri.  And still later: “attendance at Marble Community Church last Sunday was 59.”

In the meantime, Whitman and House continued to operate a very successful antique store on Redstone Blvd. at the north end of the city park – an area that now houses the home of the Franke family who also have a home in Texas.

The lot just to the south of Whitman House (at the north end of the park) was owned by the parents of the author of this piece, Lawrence and Eva Meredith of Russell, Kansas, who became close friends of Whitman and House.   In fact, Greg Meredith, their grandson and the son of the author and his wife Ally, worked at Whitman House for several years and became acquainted with many of the notables of Redstone’s bygone days.  The photos accompanying this article were provided by him (Greg Meredith). 

Greg Meredith recalls, among other things that Bill House was the most fastidious of the two and that Dave Whitman was “much less” concerned with details.  He (Greg) also said the two men occasionally bought a new car but refused to purchase one that had been built on a Friday, assuming because of the looming weekend, the builders would be less careful in the construction process. Meredith also recalled many other stories about the two men – too many to retell here.

A story in The Glenwood Post of June 26, 1974, published a photo of the first store opened by the men and said that Saturday would mark its grand opening.

They operated the store for 20 years before retiring in 1994.

During those 20 years the men served the Redstone area in many ways and became friends of most of the area residents.

Their store was just across the street from Nancy and John Chromy’s house which, for 15 years from 1988 to 2003 (when they purchased it) housed Three Sisters Bookstore.

Whitman and House lived in the Chromy house during the construction of their antique store across the street.

Nancy Chromy’s bookstore was the Book Bistro located next to Nick’s antique shop and then later in the Whitman House Antique store from 2004 to 2008.

Many Redstone residents as well as many visitors to the village came to know Whitman and House and continue to own merchandise they purchased from Whitman House Antiques.

Much of the information for this article came from material given to the author by Peter Martin, a long-time Redstone resident who not long ago moved to the Front Range of  Colorado. Martin, an attorney, had long been involved in Kansas politics and served as mayor of an eastern Kansas town.

The photographs were provided by Greg Meredith, son of the author and his wife Ally. 

Larry K. Meredith, who lives near Redstone, is the author of “This Cursed Valley” (a novel of historical fiction including the history of the Crystal Valley); “Cast a Giant Shadow: Hollywood Movie Great Ted White and the Evolution of American Movies and TV in the 20^th Century” and the memoir “Real, Rural: Growing Up Rural in the 1950s.”