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Show The Park Record Section B Thursday, September 1 5, 1 994 D Page B16 judge James Kilby reminisces about the good old days but likes the new times too by NAN CIIALAT-NOAKER Record start writer Those who have only known James Kilby as the dark-robed judge at the other end of a gavel probably aren't aware of his colorful past. In fact, Judge Kilby served as Park City's Justice of the Peace for so long that it is hard to imagine him wielding a jack hammer in the old Silver King Mine, tending bar at the Well Come Inn Cafe on the old U.S. 40 (before it became 1-80) or building one of the state's first chairlifts at the Rasmussen Ranch ski hill. These days the 73-year-old retired judge still does an occasional wedding but likes to spend most of his energy on the golf course. As to the 'For Sale' sign in front of the house where he and his wife, Selma, have lived for over 50 years, Kilby says "we are just testing the waters." Rather than resenting the titanic wave of development 1, i A " w. 7 - i V photo by Nan Chalat-Noaker Selma and James Kilby have earned their stake in the community after more than 50 years of living out at the junction. rrn HE oter Plan As of today, Jim Soter is the only candidate for Summit County Commissioner who has put on the table a tangible program for managing growth and preserving open space. The Soter Plan will: Provide funds necessary to acquire land for public use. Involve Summit county residents in open space decisions. Reduce the amount of land available for development Compensate landowners and avoid costly legal battles. If you like the plan, and we are sure you will9 Vote for Jim Soter County Commission Paid for by Al Cooper, Chairman of Committee to Elect Jim Soter. which has surrounded them, the Kilbys say they have enjoyed the changes. "We needed it," said Selma Kilby whose family, the Rasmusscns, were among the first homesteaders at Kimball Junction. "I don't dislike it. A lot of fine people have come up here. I'm not a member of the drawbridge group that wants to pull the bridge up as soon as they get here," the Judge adds. In fact, Selma precisely remembers. Kilby was stationed stateside for most of the war and was headed home on VJ (Victory Over Japan) Day, Aug. 15, 1945. "I was on the train on Berthoud Pass when a woman came through waving the newspaper. We all shouted hurray!" But there wasn't much time to relax and celebrate, with a young family to support Kilby went straight to work. He bought the cafe from Marie and he and Park City Profile below the robe, Kilby often sports a pair of Nikes, purchased at one of the Factory Stores and says he enjoys shopping at Wal-Mart and Kmart. It is a far different scene from the big ranches and little cafes which clustered around the junction when the Kilbys were first married in 1941. James Kilby had first come to Park City in 1939 to work in the mines. It was a summer job to help pay for college, one he took against his father's wishes. Kilby's dad had been a hardrock miner in Butte, Mont, and moved his family to Utah in 1924 in search of a job. He had worked at the Lark quartz mine and then at the Bingham copper mine and he didn't want his son working underground. "But jobs were hard to get. You had to look at what you had a chance to do and that was . considered one of the better high paying jobs. I ran jack hammers and liners, the big drills for the Silver King Mining Company." According to Kilby, in those days Park City was thriving. "It was a bustling mining town. I'd guess 10,000 people lived there." Aside from a paycheck, the job in Park City had another bonus. James Kilby met his future wife whose mother, Marie, ran the Well Come Inn Cafe and service station on the highway. The romance was underway when, on Dec. 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Dec. 8, James and Selma were married and on the 9th he enlisted in the Air Force. "He was gone for three years, nine months and 1 1 days," Selma kept busy cooking, selling souvenirs, pumping gas and running the ranch. The couple also kept skiing tradition alive at Rasmussen Hill. As a child Selma remembers all the excitement surrounding the nearby world class ski jump at Ecker Hill. In fact the Engen brothers were close friends and Selma remembers flying down the hill in Sverre Engen's arms. After the competitions the ski jumpers warmed up with Marie's hot cocoa and skied up and down the hill behind the cafe. Although Ecker Hill had closed down, in 1948 Kilby replaced the old rope tow at Rasmussen Hill with a home made chairlift, one of the first in the state. "When I first turned it on and it worked I was surprised," Kilby remembers with a chuckle. They charged $1 a day to ride the 1,500-foot lift. The couple ended up refueling tourists and cross country travelers for 27 years, until 1971 when the property was bought out to make room for expansion of the interstate. In the meantime, Park City's heydav had ground to a halt. By the early 1960s Kilby said, "Park City went down to nothing. When the Kilbys' daughter graduated in 1960 there were only 34 in her class and when their son graduated in 1966 there were only 23 seniors. "They joked that everyone had to go around twice to get through one verse of 'Pomp and Circumstance'," he said. During those hard times Kilby, like many of those who decided to stay, wore several community . hats. As a member of the school board he remembers, "the budget was so tight, we chipped in our , salaries to help buy textbooks for the kids." He also served as county chairman of the Democratic party and was a charter member of the county's first planning and zoning commission. "The big issue was whether we should require developers to prove they had wet water on the premises and today you've got to have a big study to show the same thing. It's almost scary to go back and read about it. The only thing that is different now is that people have a voracious need for services and local governments have a voracious appetite for taxes." While times were tight Kilby also accepted the county's plea to serve as Justice of the Peace. Throughout the 1960s he held court in a room at the cafe. "I was the coroner, J.P., and heard all the preliminary hearings for felonies, murders, burglaries and auto homicides. It was all kind of exciting." When pressed to recount at least one memorable case, Kilby ' remembers the night Park City's famous "exotic dancer," Shirley Price, was arrested and brought before him. "Her costume was in the officer's hand!" Another time the Judge's sleep was interrupted when a young couple, on the way" to the hospital to have a baby, wanted to be married first. According to Selma Kilby, "He was available 25 hours a day for things like setting bail." And according to the Judge, "It wasn't easy punishing people, especially when you knew the families." In the 1970s when Park City's economy began to turn the corner, the Kilbys sold part of the ranch to the developers of Pinebrook. These days they say they are considering "riding the wave" of rising real estate prices. "A warmer climate would be nice," he says. But, it is likely wherever the Kilbys go, they will run into someone who remembers their famous "Kilby Burgers" or who will say to the Judge, "Hey, you are the one who performed our wedding ceremony!" 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