Lucile Maxfield Bogue, college founder, award-winning author, educator and long-time resident of Steamboat Springs, passed away Jan. 25, 2005, in El Cerrito, Calif. She was 93.

Lucy was from a pioneer family in Northwest Colorado. Her father, Roy D. Maxfield, was the first non-native child born in Ute territory in what now is the town of Rifle. Her maternal grandfather, William R. Callicotte, was the first school superintendent in Leadville and Aspen. Born in Salt Lake City, Lucy was raised from the age of 6 months on a homestead on Cattle Creek, near Carbondale.

Lucy is best known in Colorado for founding Yampa Valley College in Steamboat in 1962. The college, which began as a private, four-year college with an emphasis on international relations, was the seed for the present Colorado Mountain College. Lucy served as Yampa Valley College president for four years. Lucy later wrote a book, “Miracle on a Mountain” that recounted the challenge of starting the private college.

In 1993, Lucy was awarded the Hazie Werner Award for Excellence, which is presented to a local woman who, through the pursuit of personal goals, has achieved excellence in her field. Lucy was Buddy Werner’s fourth-grade teacher.

Well-known for her poetry and prose writing, Lucy’s published works include “Blood on the Wind,” a novel about the uprooting of the Utes from their native lands in the Steamboat and Meeker areas, “Salt Lake,” which chronicles the Mormon trek to Utah, “Blood Stones/Lines from a Marriage,” “Windbells on the Bay,” “Typhoon! Typhoon!” “Eye of the Condor/Ojo del Condor,” the autobiographical “One Woman, One Ranch, One Summer,” “Smoke from Nine Lives” and “How To Stay Young Forever.”

Among the many awards Lucy was given for her writing include the Colorado Poet of the Year award (1942), the Browning Society’s Poetry Prize for dramatic monologue and the World of Poets grand prize for her poem “Malinche.” She was named Woman of the Year by the National League of American Pen Women in 1983 and was the first writer to win four consecutive national prizes from the National Writers Club.

Lucy wrote many plays, including the musical “Freedom Trail,” for which she also composed the music. It premiered at the Whiteman School in Strawberry Park and then was produced in Denver for the Colorado Centennial in 1959 with the original Whiteman School cast. She received the Colorado Governor’s Award (1959) for this achievement. Two of her one-act plays, “Bon Voyage” and “I … As in Identity” won first prize in the Love Creek Play Festival and were produced in New York City.

“Dancers on Horseback; The Perry-Mansfield Story” is her nonfiction account of the renowned theater and dance camp at Steamboat Springs. Lucy was a close friend of Charlotte Perry and Portia Mansfield and gained her playwriting inspiration by working and studying at the camp during many summers

As a committed educator and much-loved teacher, Lucy began her teaching career in one-room country schools, including the Mesa school, then taught in the elementary and high school in Steamboat Springs for more than 20 years. She worked with Lowell Whiteman in the founding of The Lowell Whiteman School in the 1950s and was one of its original faculty members.

A world traveler, Lucy lived in Japan for two years, where she taught at The American School in Tokyo.

After graduating from Glenwood Springs High School, Lucy received an associate’s degree from Colorado College, a bachelor’s degree from the University of Northern Colorado, which in 1994 awarded her the distinction of Honored Alumnus, and a master’s degree in creative writing from San Francisco State University. Lucy remained in the San Francisco Bay area, focusing on her writing career for the last 35 years of her life. She returned to Steamboat each year and celebrated her 90th birthday here in 1991.

Lucy married Art Bogue on Dec. 25, 1935, and they moved to Steamboat in 1944 when Art became the principal of the elementary school. Art was manager of the Federal Land Bank office in Steamboat for more than two decades.

Lucy is survived by two daughters, Sharon Young of Tucson, Ariz., and Bonnie Bogue of Albany, Calif.; foster-daughter Liz Starffin Kurz of Tucson; foster-son Crosby Perry-Smith of Ouray; son-in-law Tom Young; niece Glende Martin of Denver; and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Lucy will indeed be remembered as a remarkable woman of her time who was greatly loved. A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. July 2 at CMC’s Alpine Campus in Steamboat. Another memorial will be held April 9 at the Unitarian Church in Kensington, Calif.

The Lucile Bogue Scholarship Fund for CMC’s Alpine Campus has been established in her honor. Donations can be made to the Colorado Mountain College Foundation and sent to Dean Robert Ritschel, 1330 Bob Adams Drive, Steamboat Springs, CO 80487.