Frances Mildred Baer

 As an infant, Frances traveled with her mother in an armed convoy of ships near the end of World War II to Birmingham, England. After the war’s end, she returned to Canada with Mildred and Eric and her baby brother Colin in April 1947. She lived in various places in Canada for the next few years, including Vancouver, British Columbia, before her family immigrated to the United States in July 1950. The family of five lived in upstate New York and then moved along the East Coast and the South, ending up in Houston, Texas, in summer. To avoid the heat, they moved back to Toronto, Ontario, then spent the winter of 1951 in North Platte, Nebraska, where Frances started school. Frances and her family finally reached Colorado, the promised land, in 1952, moving to Pueblo and then Colorado Springs.

Frances attended public schools in Colorado Springs through the 1950s, graduating from Harrison High School in 1962. She always loved books and reading, and her first jobs were at the Colorado Springs Public Library (the Carnegie library), Levine’s Book and Toy Store, and the Unique Gift Shop. As a youth and young adult, she was a member of the Broadmoor Speed Skating Club, was an accomplished knitter, and loved architecture and art, particularly Marc Chagall and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Frances had a lifelong love for learning and exploring. Those familiar with Frances and her mental toughness will not be surprised to know she survived polio as an adolescent in 1956. 

In March 1967, she married Stuart Nicholls and moved to Tacoma, Washington, where she gave birth to a son, Keith. The family then moved to Hawaii, where Frances lived for eight years. After a divorce, Frances returned to Colorado Springs and worked for KKTV, producing a Colorado history show, and then headed for the hills, living in Aspen and Vail before moving to Telluride in 1984. 

Frances worked at many endeavors in Telluride during the 1980s, including as a court reporter for the local newspaper, selling real estate, shooting and selling photographs to local postcard publishers, working at a t-shirt shop and waiting tables at the trendiest restaurant in town.

After joining forces with Michael in the mid-1980s, she moved down valley to Placerville and eventually opened Bear Paw Books and Gifts in nearby Norwood. Later, Frances and Michael moved to a comfy little cabin at the edge of the trees above town. Frances and Michael were married in Norwood with Keith LaQuey officiating in 1993. 

Changing fortunes closed Bear Paw Books, and in 2001, Frances and Michael moved to Pea Green on the west side of the Uncompahgre Valley, where Frances opened Ivywild Gardens, a greenhouse business specializing in flowering plants, kitchen herbs, and succulents. She was a fixture at farmers markets in western Colorado, including the Montrose Farmers Market, which she managed for many years. 

Frances is survived by her best friend, husband, and lover Michael Baer; stepdaughter Fairlight Baer-Gutierrez and her husband Barry, and grandchildren Sol and Cal. Frances also is survived by her son, Keith, and two granddaughters, Jaymie and Veronica; four brothers and a sister—Colin, Mark, Stewart, Eric, and Janet (Smith); many nieces and nephews; and friends and relations scattered around the world. 

A springtime celebration of life for Frances is planned for 11:30 am Saturday, April 8, at Pea Green Community Hall, 3015 Highway 348, northwest of Olathe. Western Slope friends are asked to bring a favorite dish. In lieu of flowers, the family requests consideration of either planting a perennial flower in Frances’ memory or donating to Montrose Botanic Gardens or Disabled American Veterans (DAV). 

Rest in peace, dearest wife, sister, friend and mother. We will see you on the other side of the mountain.