Most souvenir-seeking foreigners who visit our fair city depart with something that has a Southwestern flair, or as likely as not, some ubiquitous knickknack with Durango emblazoned on it – but such was not the case for Brit Graham Langer, who humbly returned a stowaway he absconded with 46 years ago.
“We were lucky enough to meet the Langer family from the UK this week,” read a post on the Strater Hotel Facebook page. “Mr. Langer approached us to return a key he had mistakenly taken in 1977.”
The staff treated the Langer family to drinks and asked Graham if he would write a little story about the red-tagged key that traveled nearly 10,000 miles from the Rocky Mountains to Jolly Old England and back.
Langer obliged with this tale.
“I first visited Durango (from the UK) in 1977 as a guest of some friends from Denver who had booked rooms at The Strater Hotel. We had planned to ride the Silverton train and were staying in Durango for a couple of days. After a pleasant time we returned to Denver whence I flew home and it was only when I unpacked that I discovered that I had accidentally purloined the room key from The Strater. I felt somewhat guilty about this but never got around to sending it back and the key remained in my desk drawer for the next 45 years ...
“Scroll forward to 2023 and my wife and I planned a road trip through Colorado and Utah, including a repeat trip on the D&SRR. Naturally, for sentimental reasons, I booked to stay at The Strater again and thought it was high time that I listened to my conscience and returned the key I had inadvertently pinched all those years before. I duly handed the key back but was somewhat disappointed to discover that the hotel had converted to key-card entry (possibly because British guests kept half-inching the room keys!).
“Thanks for another memorable stay and I promise to hand in my key-card this time!
“Best wishes, Graham Langer”
“We just fell in love with the story,” said Slater Hotel General Manager Tori Ossola, “And so basically we congratulated them for returning the key and we bought them a couple of drinks.”
While the Langers no doubt made good on relinquishing their key-cards – one could not disparage the hotel proprietor for considering a discreet towel count.
Langer’s letter and key are now under lock and key and available for public viewing in a shadowbox along the wall of the hotel’s Office Spiritorium.
gjaros@durangoherald.com
