Elbert Houghton Redford

Elbert (Eb) Houghton Redford

Elbert (Eb) H. Redford passed away on June 14, 2024, after a long battle with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP). He died peacefully at home in Durango, Colorado, surrounded by family. Eb was born July 3, 1940, in Grass Valley, California. He was with his parents, Milton and Gwen (Houghton) Redford in Honolulu when Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941. After the war, the family lived in Ogden, Utah, where Eb and his younger brother Dan grew up. After he graduated from high school, Eb earned a two-year degree in Electronics from Weber College. In 1963, Eb transferred to New Mexico State University and worked the graveyard shift at White Sands Missile Range. 

Eb and Kathy (K) Barlow met in a mathematics class in 1964 and were married on June 5, 1965, in Taos, New Mexico. After they both graduated with a BS degree in Mathematics, they moved to New Jersey where Eb started working at Bell Labs while attending New York University in Manhattan. Their son Michael was born in December 1967. In June 1970, daughter Lisa was born shortly before Eb completed his Master’s Degree in Computer Science. 

In 1971 they purchased an 1890’s fixer-upper farm house in Shrewsbury, New Jersey. Both children grew up amid the chaos of major remodels. Eb did most of the work: plumbing, wiring, hanging sheetrock, etc. Everything done with a joy of using power tools and the occasional tractor rental for landscaping the large lot. Eb served on the Monmouth County Shade Tree Commission for 27 years, as a member and then as Chairman. Somehow time was found for family travel in the Northeast, West Coast, Southwest and in Europe. There are many fond memories of canoeing in the Jersey Pine Barrens, backpacking and cross-country skiing in the Adirondacks, long drives to visit relatives in New Mexico, and hiking hut-to-hut in the Alps.

Eb loved the outdoors and began hiking and rock climbing in high school. During college, he did technical climbs in Mexico, Canada and the Tetons. Eb was one of five Americans selected to join an equal number of Soviet and Chinese climbers to take part in the Mt Everest International Peace Climb in 1990. His group was not expected to summit, but Eb reached base camp 3 at 21,000 feet.

During his career of over 50 years, Eb worked with everything from mainframes to PCs. He worked as an IT engineer, managed the IT department of a major corporation, designed, sourced materials, and monitored the construction of several data centers, and ran his own consulting company. 

Back in the Southwest after more than 30 years, all of Eb’s passions came together. He and K built their dream home, he took up skiing again, and used his IT and construction experience to support both their local community of Falls Creek Ranch and the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Durango.

Eb is survived by his wife K, his children Michael Redford (Christine), daughter Lisa Cartolano (Charlie); grandchildren Elizabeth, Lawrence, Alex, Sam and Helena; his brother Dan Redford (Rosemarie) and nieces Jennifer (Esquieres) and Kristi (Koos).

A celebration of life will be held at a future date.