In Memory

LOWELL M. HIGGINS

Colorado Rifle Club icon Lowell Higgins lost a long battle with the effects of age, fittingly on Memorial Day. He was 89. Many people can say they have touched people’s lives, but few can claim to have effected as many as Lowell did. It is no understatement to say that if it were not for Lowell the Colorado Rifle Club would have gone out of existence about 30 years ago, and we would not have a place to shoot. Every CRC member, as well as all organized shooters in Colorado, owe Lowell and his devoted wife Alice a debt of gratitude that we can only repay by our loyalty to our club and sport.

Lowell was a man of tremendous energy, and the embodiment of determination. He landed at Normandy on June 8, 1944 (D day + 2) and though he weighed only about 114 lbs. then, he lugged a Browning Automatic Rifle (20 + lbs.) around Europe for the next several months with the U. S. First Army. On returning to civilian life he took up smallbore shooting with equal energy. In 1959 he became Secretary - Treasurer of CRC and held that post for the next 42 years until 2001 when failing health forced him to give it up. Along the way he also served for fifteen years as an NRA Director, was President of the Colorado State Rifle & Pistol Association for six years, and found time to be a highly respected and active smallbore competitor as well as doing some high power and schuetzen shooting. He designed and supervised the construction of our present range. Lowell and Alice lived at the range all summer in 1990 while construction was going on.

In the late ‘70s after encroaching residential construction forced us out of our Morrison Road property there was a strong effort by half of the then 64 members to disband the club and distribute the money resulting from the very lucrative sale of our land. Lowell negotiated the sale, but his eyes were not on the money. Lowell opposed the liquidating the club, and was determined to hold CRC together and keep the money available to buy land and build ranges. Through sheer force of his will and personality, he did just that. But it was a bitter fight which broke some long friendships and left deep scars. At one point a special meeting deadlocked 32 to 32 on a vote to disband, but Colorado Law requires a 2/3 majority to disband a corporation and so Lowell prevailed. Ultimately, it took ten years to find the land and build the ranges we have now. During that time we had no home, but Lowell and Alice held the club together and through his personal connections to clubs in Cheyenne, Colorado Springs and others was even able to sponsor some of our traditional smallbore matches.

Lowell, Alice and sons Barney and Larry were fixtures at smallbore matches from Montana to New Mexico, from Camp Perry to the far west. Lowell was a smallbore competitor at Camp Perry for 29 consecutive years. Alice always helped the local club run the event, while Lowell and his sons were serious competition. And that activity brought shooters to our matches. It was not unusual to have capacity crowds (60 shooters) at our smallbore matches throughout the 1960's. We’d sure like to see that now! California smallbore shooters on the way to Camp Perry always made it a point to stop in Denver on the weekend before Perry started and we had some great times in those days with after match parties at the Redfield Ranch house on Bear Creek near the range.

In the early 1970’s eastern interests dominated the NRA. There were only a few Directors west of the Mississippi river and the west was pretty much ignored by the NRA. Lowell decided to do something about that, and after drawing on his circle of friends from smallbore shooting and two or three years of work, he was able to win nomination and election to the NRA Board of Directors. At a time, when the NRA Board was a sort of “Old Boys” club, this was a real accomplishment. If not the first director to win nomination by popular petition, Lowell was certainly one of the earliest to do so. He went on to serve for fifteen years and was a member of the smallbore and several other committees as well as a strong opponent of the group who would have got the NRA out of shooting altogether and made it a political operation.

At about the same time, the Colorado State Rifle & Pistol Association existed mostly on paper. Lowell became president and for as long as he was in charge, CSR&PA (now the Colorado State Shooting Association) was an active organization with a two day weekend annual meeting featuring prominent speakers, exhibits and a banquet.

When our new range opened in 1991 members recognized the contributions of Lowell and Alice Higgins by naming it “The Lowell and Alice Higgins Shooting Facility of the Colorado Rifle Club” and erecting a monument on his beloved smallbore range. While no longer able to shoot. Lowell visited the range for nearly every smallbore match until only a couple of years ago.

Lowell’s dedication to his family, his friends, his sport and himself is an example of how one person’s determination can have far-reaching impacts. We’re all lucky to have the benefits of his beliefs, and our best tribute to him can be to enjoy the range and club he built for us. Our love, support, and thanks go to Alice and the entire Higgins family. We hope your devotion will be returned in kind.

Alice Higgins sent the following message for the CRC members.

Thank You

Since it is impossible to contact all of you, the family of Lowell Higgins would like to thank you all and show our appreciation to the many CRC members who sent us cards, flowers and donations to Christopher House, where the staff gave Lowell such tender and loving care.

We also appreciated all the phone calls from members and were really pleased to see so many CRC members at the graveside services and the reception at our home. Thanks also to those contributing food for the occasion.

A special thanks to CRC for their donation to the NRA in Lowell’s memory. The tribute to Lowell given by President Dennis Reul at the graveside services was excellent. Our thanks and appreciation to all. Hope to see you all soon at the range.

Alice, Barney and family, Larry, Jackie and family.

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In Memory

Carol Scholl

CRC suffered another loss in June. Carol Scholl, wife of CRC Member Phil Scholl, passed away after a bout with cancer. Carol was a fixture at smallbore matches for many many years. Carol ran targets, assisted in the stat office, and made sure shooters had whatever they needed within reach. The competitors were always more than appreciative of her efforts, and her contributions played a big role in the success of the CRC Smallbore program. She and Phil celebrated their 25^th wedding anniversary last year with many CRC members present. Donations in her memory can be made to Brents Home at Children’s Hospital.

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Get Well soon Tony!

CRC sends quick recovery wishes to member Tony Stahl. Tony fell in a hiking accident and though he’s recovering now, he has a long rehabilitation ahead of him. Give him a call and help pass the time in physical therapy. Get well soon Tony!

Final Note

James Dale “J.D.” Tanner, owner of the Tanner Gun Show, passed away at his home in Blackhawk June 24. He was 80. Though not a CRC member, we honor his passing. Mr. Tanner created and ran the company that for 30 years has produced many many gun shows. Mr. Tanner was an ardent collector of firearms and antiques.

Coming Events

2008 CRC Fullbore Prone State Championship

August 28 – September 3, 2008

Colorado Rifle Club is proud to announce we will be hosting the 2008 Fullbore State Prone Championship match next year. It may seem early to mark your calendar now for an event 15 months away – but you will want to be on the range that weekend.

This event is a perfect warm up match prior to the America Match being held in Raton, New Mexico September 8-14, 2008. Top shooters from around the nation and around the world compete in the America Match. They come long distances from all over, so we can expect a fantastic turnout for this match.

Hosting tournaments of this magnitude is what we built the club to do, and they take planning and effort. Jim Adell and Lonnie Kuhns have done a lot of work with the NRA Highpower coordinators to organize this event. Give them a call if you can volunteer that weekend to ensure we host this match in style. Or call them to reserve your spot on the firing line because we’re limited to 80 competitors. Don’t miss this chance to shoot alongside of the nations top competitors and their teams as they prepare for competition, and show them our homegrown shooting skills. Contact Jim Adell at jim_adell@hotmail.com or 970-663-4779; or Lonnie Kuhns at lonnieekuhns@aol.com or 970-206-0394 for more information.

And speaking of hosting great competitions – prepare for a shootout!

Rocky Mountain Regional Raid

SASS High Plains Territorial Blackpowder Shootout

Hosted by CRC, July 26 – 29, 2007

Bring the family for this one. The Old West comes alive each year during the four-day Rocky Mountain Regional Raid. CRC members and the public are invited to watch the popular family sport of Cowboy Action Shooting, shop Vendor’s Row and visit the additional events going on the same weekend.

Cowboy Action Shooting is an amateur shooting sport with an emphasis on safety and fun where participants dress up in Old West or B Western clothing and choose an alias to go by. It’s just like when you used to play cowboys as a kid except you get to use real guns typical of those used in the Old West. Participants also choose a category to compete in such as Traditional, Duelist, Gunfighter, Frontier Cartridge, etc. Scenarios are engaged using reduced powder and lead bullets on steel targets. Scoring is based on speed and accuracy. Competitors as young as 11 and as old as 90 participate!

Visitors can watch these folks throw lead shooting stages derived from real or imagined Old West scenarios.

And shooting is just the start! Just a spell down the road that weekend the SASS Mounted High Plains Regional hosted by the Sand Creek Shadow Riders will be takin’ place. Folks are invited to stop by and watch cowboys and their horses work together with irons blazing at the Quint Valley Arena in Byers. Now if that ain’t enough, the Colorado State Cowboy Fast Draw Championship hosted by the Colorado Pistoleros will be going on at May Farms. This event will also include a Townfolk Alley where folks can skin that smoke wagon at Fast Draw stages.

The public is invited to join the Rocky Mountain Regional Raid participants at the Thursday evening Barn Dance and Friday evening Charity Casino Night at May Farms (mayfarms.com/shootout). Finely dressed gamblers will try their hand at Blackjack and Faro while soiled doves outdo one another with corsets and lace.

So hitch up the rig and head on out for some of the most fun you can have with your boots on!

Sand Creek Raiders Match Hours:

Thursday 8:30 – 3:30, Friday 8:30 – 4:30, Saturday 8:30 – 4, Sunday 8:30 – 12

Contact:

Bill “Sweetwater Bill” Hall, Match Director – 303-366-8827 – bhs50140@msn.com

Al “Dutch Al” Ashton, CRC Liaison – 303-798-0189 - kuylaars@msn.conm

Visit for more information:

www.sandcreekraiders.com

Jim Adell pointed out the June 2007 issue of Precision Shooting Magazine has a very complimentary article about CRC in it. John Gaines wrote about our Colorado State Fullbore Prone Championship, including a great description of our pits and Tony Stahl’s “delicious hamburger cook-out.” There is a particularly humorous story about the “blow-off” period for the first relay before firing commenced on the first day. Read all about it. Thanks for the heads up Jim!

BEWARE OF THE ROADS

We had a friendly conversation with one of our farm neighbors recently. He was concerned that some of our members are driving too fast on those unsurfaced roads around the range, 112th Avenue, Rector - Leader Road and the Calhoun - Byres Road. Those roads are unsurfaced so they are fairly smooth, but members need to know that they can be dangerously slick when they are wet. They can be four-wheel drive roads during a rain and dusty half a day later, and they can be very soft along the edges. Visibility over hills is not good, especially just west of the range entrance.

Area farmers often have to take wide equipment and cattle trucks on to those roads and with soft shoulders and narrow lanes, they have to be careful about getting too far over to let you by. If you hit one of them, you are likely to hurt yourself or your car a lot worse than their truck or tractor. Give them (and yourself) a break! If you come up behind slow down and give them a chance to move over. They might have to wait until they get to a wide spot, but they will see you and let you by ASAP. On approaching oncoming rigs, again, SLOW DOWN. It’s really easy to misjudge the edge and slip off into the ditch, and at best, you will have an expensive towing job if it happens to be muddy. TAKE IT EASY! We need you alive to pay your dues!

Wanted

Two (2) regular size innerspring mattress sets for the ranch house. Must be reasonably firm and clean with no torn fabric. Will arrange transport to the range and provide one (1) 2007 work bond credit for each. Contact Dave Paananen, (303)673-0106 or Ron Best, (303) 986-0836.

AR-15 Clinics

The Buffalo Creek Gun Club near Bailey is holding AR-15 service rifle clinics again this year. There will be four clinics, beginning in May. Rifles and ammunition are provided. Visit www.bcgc.com or call 303-588-6608 for more information.