Support Walt's Recovery and Accessibility Needs

Hello Friends,

Our friend Walt Geister is experiencing a seriously bad patch that began with his admittance to Valley View Hospital with a critical staph infection. This was the third week of March. Walt remains in the acute care unit and, thus far, is not ambulatory. His spirits remain high most of the time and he really enjoys visitors. We are starting this GoFundMe page to help with future expenses which may include improvements to his home to make it more accessible.

For those not familiar with Walt’s history, he moved to Aspen in 1970 from California where he worked as an insurance adjuster and volunteered for the VISTA program started by Lyndon Johnson. Upon arrival in Aspen he had “lots of funky jobs,” to quote the man himself. He was a dishwasher, salad prep dude, and a waiter. He worked at the Village Pantry, Jakes Abbey and the Chart House. Around 1974, Walt got into the rafting business with River Rats. He guided raft trips in the summers and worked at the Chart House year round.

In 1988 Sheriff Bob Braudis and Jail Administrator Don Bird recruited him to be a Detention Officer for the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office. Walt held that job until his retirement in 2015.

In 1997 he bought his house in Silt where he has had countless rescue cats. Currently he is Dad to Huey, Daisy, Connie and Hobo. Walt’s passion has always been fly fishing and most recently working for the Pauline S. Schneegas Wildlife Foundation (PSSWF). Walt is a member of the Board of Directors and is on call 24/7 to transport injured wildlife to the Foundation and to transport them for release back into the wild. The mission of the PSSWF is to provide quality, professional care to injured and orphaned wildlife in conjunction with educational programs on wildlife and the environment.

A donation of any amount to this GoFundMe will be welcomed by Walt.

Thank you so much for your consideration. Please keep the big guy in your thoughts!

Ann Stephenson