The late Alex Pappas, who died at his countryside home outside Ignacio in August, was known as a business owner, a barterer and a collector. He was also known especially as an expert saddler and leathercrafter.
The Pappas family held an estate sale and auction on Saturday at Alex’s homestead, “Rancho Notso Grande,” about 4 miles northwest of Ignacio. At least 100 members of the general public and friends attended, despite the cold rains that pelted La Plata County throughout the morning.
Steer skull hood ornaments, bows and arrows, surfboards, collector’s mugs, golf kits, industrial chains, rows and rows of saddles, small tractors, belt sanders, table saws, a 2000 Toyota Land Cruiser and other items were on auction and on display around the property.
Sarah Bellamy, Alex's niece, said most of the saddlery and leatherwork available for purchase weren’t actually made by Alex, who was “a big auctiongoer himself.” Being a business owner, he tended to sell his crafts as quickly as he made them.
Phil Pappas, Alex’s nephew, said his uncle built most of the outbuildings around the property, which housed assortments of handiware, tools, sports gear and miscellaneous items.
Alex loved his home and La Plata County, said his brother, Peter Pappas, who had holed up inside Alex’s home away from the rain on Saturday.
In the 1980s, his homestead burned down, and he rebuilt it almost single-handedly, according to his obituary, written by Bellamy.
He wasn’t always a cowboy. He graduated from Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, with a bachelor’s degree and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree with a concentration in photography from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, his obituary said.
He later became a photographer for Life Magazine, where he went out to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota in the early 1970s where there were “a bunch of protests,” Bellamy said.
In 1973, the American Indian Movement occupied the town of Wounded Knee, according to the United States Marshals Service.
“It was extremely dangerous, and he realized that it was really not a safe place for him to be … on assignment,” Bellamy said. “So he ended up going and working on a cattle ranch in South Dakota … and just sort of learned on his way.”
From there, he made his way down to another ranch in Arizona, met some friends from Bayfield and decided to move to La Plata County, she said.
Alex enjoyed fly fishing, surfing, automotive work, backpacking, meeting people and telling stories, Phil Pappas said. When it came to automobile work, he could take a wrench to a vehicle, but his real specialty was interior upholstery and bodywork.
He ran a ski lift in Bayfield with Bud Collins for years, friend Glenn Miles said.
“He was a kick in the butt and a pain in the ass,” he said. “He was also … one of the few people I know of that could hitch horsehairs that hadn’t been incarcerated. Most people can’t … because they don’t have the patience without being locked up.”
Miles said Alex was quite the craftsman who, in addition to horsehair hitching, was talented at silver work on buckle castings. He was also a fair horse rider.
One story the Pappas family reiterated was a time when Alex was offered to have his work featured in the Smithsonian Institution, the world’s largest museum and research complex.
“The Smithsonian offered to put his work in the Smithsonian (museum), and he said, ‘How much are you going to pay me?’” Phil Pappas said. “And they said, ‘Nothing.’ It’s an honor, right? And he said, ‘I don’t do work for free.’”
When Alex and Peter Pappas were growing up near Boston, Alex visited the various dumps and landfills to search for items to collect. He found himself a Royal brand typewriter he put to use writing “The Dump Pickers Guide,” Peter Pappas said.
“He used to type off for people, ‘If you want to get refrigerators, you go to Brookline on Thursdays. If you want (something else), you go over to Melrose those days,’” he said.
Phil Pappas said his uncle was a “friendly dude” with a dry, sarcastic sense of humor and a laid-back approach to life.
cburney@durangoherald.com
