Bobbie V. Petersen

… Texas native and fire district benefactor, 93, revered oldtime residents of Lake City.

Dating back to her first visits to Lake City in the late 1960s and early ‘70s, Texas native Bobbie Vogel Davis felt a kindred spirit with the rugged mountain outdoors, its wildlife and, especially, Lake City long-time oldtimers.
Referring to the special attraction, Bobbie recalled “there was just something about them, I loved each and every one of them.”
Among her favorites were Edna Winblood and Katie Ronk, Dan and Mary Colopy, Thelbert Hammond, Malcolm Carey, Troy Weeks, Brice Pavich, Pat White, Leo Coniglio, and Billy Burke, all now deceased. Other close friends included the local country/western musicians Mike and Leona Smith, who Bobbie knew from her bar manager days, Bobbie initially encouraging the Smiths to record their popular 45 RPM single appropriately entitled “Lake City, Colorado.”
Bobbie deeply lamented the passing of each oldtimers, often expressing regret on the passing of a colorful chapter in Lake City history.
At her death, which occurred at Warren, Pennsylvania, age 93, on December 20, 2023, Bobbie Petersen retained cherished memories of her days in Lake City and the many friends she made here.
Born September 2, 1930, in San Angelo, Texas, Bobbie Zane Vogel was the daughter of Frank and Alice Vogel.

She attended local schools and was briefly married to Texas businessman Bill Davis who owned several Texas restaurants. It was with Bill, Sr., and accompanied by their children, a son, Bill, Davis, Jr., and daughter, Sandy Davis, that Bobbie made her initial vacation forrays to Lake City.
She loved to hunt and fish, although her biggest passion was cooking. According to her children, Bobbie was a fantastic cook… “everything she made was fantastic and no one ever complained about her food.”
In Texas, Bobbie had a fondness for horses and the rodeo life, local friend Robyn Hudgeons possessing one of Bobbie’s championship barrel racing belt buckles.
In the early 1970s, Robert Hurd bunked at the Ute-Ulay Mine while working for Ed Hughes and became close friends with Bobbie’s son and daughter. A side benefit of the friendship was superbly prepared prime rib and steak dinners which Bobbie gleefully served up during Robert’s lean, bachelor days.
Following her divorce, and as a single mother, Bobbie made the decision to move to Lake City on a full-time basis. Her daughter, Sandy, was among the Lake City students who were bused to Gunnison for classes.
As a creative cook and with a strong business sense, Bobbie managed a number of local restaurants and watering holes, starting with the Elkhorn, now Community Banks of Colorado, which she leased from Jim and Therese Ryan in 1973.
Among Bobbie’s loyal employees at the Elkhorn was Katie Ronk who later went on to own and

operate the Log Cabin Inn, now The Wrangler, from 1980 to its sale to Booey Bolger in 1991. According to Bobbie, Katie, who was among her cadre of local friends, was an extremely hard worker who received on-the-job training at the Elkhorn — scrubbing floors, cooking, tending bar, washing dishes and cleaning rooms — as requisite experience for own business.
In addition to her work at the Elkhorn and later Broad Axe, Bobbie also found time to assist her friend, Katie, at the Log Cabin Inn’s reincarnation as Katy’s Inn, Bobbie also briefly managing Silver Street Saloon in 1982 where, as proprietress, she invited patrons to “enjoy the legend of the Ole Yankee Miner who still haunts the Silver Street Saloon and listen to country music of Mike and Leona at its best.”
In hunting season, 1976, Bobbie was managing the dining room at the Broad Ax Restaurant — now P. David and Jan Smith’s residence and Western Reflections building — when she fortuitously met a party of visiting hunters from Pennsylvania. Among the group was a returning hunter from Warren, Pennsylvania, H. Allen “Pete” Petersen, co-owner of the Warren-based oil company PAPCO, Inc.
The couple married at Warren in 1979
Pete and Bobbie’s longtime home in Lake City was a squared-long cabin with unique vertical log partitions on Water Street overlooking the Lake Fork which Bobbie acquired from Joel and Celia Swank prior to her second marriage.
The home was later enlarged, a notable feature of the landscape — and indicative of the Petersens’ love of entertaining — was a spacious outdoor pavillion with fireplace which was built by Michael Glasscock and Joe Marshall.

Pete Petersen, who Bobbie described as the “love of her life,” had a similar reverence for the oldtimers of Lake City. Initially a hunter and thanks in part to Bobbie’s influence, Pete later gave up hunting and instead took up wildlife photography.
As an example of Pete and Bobbie’s open door policy and love of local wildlife, deer would regularly meander up to the Petersons’ porch, one buck making himself at home while sipping from Pete’s toddy and, on occasion — antlers and all — making its way through the front door and into their living room.
The Petersens are perhaps best known for their generosity, highlights including their loyalty to Lake City Area Fire Protection District. Pete and Bobbie donated 11 vacant town lots at the southwest corner of Henson and 2nd Street to the fire district in 1991. As landowners, fire district directors and their secretary, Michelle Pierce, proceeded with funding and grant writing, and built the 3,542-s.f. fire station for $231,645. Bobbie Petersen took part in ground breaking ceremonies for the new fire station in 1991 and returned with Pete in July, 1993, for a formal ribbon cutting at the completed fire station.
Asked about the impetus for the land donation, Bobbie credited her husband, “Pete just liked everything about Lake City, he loved its laid back atmosphere and remote location.”
An embossed plaque near the fire station’s front door states “Lake City Fire Station – Our Sincere Appreciation to H. Allen and Bobbie V. Petersen whose generosity made this project possible July 1993.”
Following their marriage, the Petersens divided their time between Lake City and Warren.
They continued in Lake City until increasing ill health in the early 2010s when they relocated to Warren on a year-round bases. Their former Water Street home was sold to its present owner, Joe Maddry, in 2015.
Bobbie is survived by her children, Bill Davis, Jr., and Sandy Davis McLaurin, both of San Angelo, Texas; three grandchildren and their spouses, Will and Brittany Davis, Cole and Shanna McLaurin, and Taylor and Montanah McLaurin; and four great grandchildren, Rhett McLaurin, Justice and Jade McLaurin, and Hudson Davis, all San Angelo.
She was predeceased by her husband, H. Allen “Pete” Petersen, who died December 6, 2021.
Peterson-Blick Funeral Home in Warren was in charge of arrangements, online condolences to http://www.petersonblickfuneralhome.com/