What Greg Ryder means to us (“
His absolute love and adoration of his wife Julie. His love of his kitty cats. Being one of the best skiers on the mountain. Golf. Music.
We live in Dallas in the summer and in Durango in the winter for two months. We have gone to the Diamond Belle for close to 30 years, every Wednesday, to see, absorb and enjoy Greg’s gift. He takes you back to a time that doesn’t exist anymore with his roots in old Western songs. Not only does he sing them in his style, he tells you the history of who wrote it and who sang it and the entire history of those wonderful songs.
He sings all the songs he wrote, many, many of them about his beloved Julie. Other originals, like “Winter Snow,” Greg sang every time we came because he knew it was our favorite, and “Red Dog,” about a friend’s dog who passed away, and “On the Streets of Durango.” This year, he wrote maybe his last song, “Esther Mae Peck”, about Pat’s mom. We both cried when we heard him sing her name and realized he wrote it for her. He met her here in the Diamond Belle when she was 98; she fell in love with Greg and invited him to come to Dallas for her 100th birthday party – which he did.
Greg was a diamond in the rough in that he was sweet, loving and caring, though he had a rough bark. Durango will never be the same!
I will repeat something Greg always said to Pat and I when we parted, “Love you Guys!”
Love you, Greg.
Pat and Don Stixrood
Dallas
