Gordon Maisch

Silverton resident Gordon Richard Maisch died of liver cancer as a complication of Hepatitis C on Saturday, June 11, 2011, at his home by the banks of the Animas River in Silverton. He was 60.

Known as “Flash,” he was born to Robert and Marguerite Maisch on March 8, 1951, in New York City. He grew up in Ridgewood, N.J., and graduated from Ridgewood High School in 1970.

Throughout his life, Mr. Maisch was an avid Harley-Davidson motorcycle rider.

He left the city for the mountains of Colorado on a 1949 Panhead Harley-Davidson when he was 19.

He moved to Silverton in 1975. In 1976, Mr. Maisch bought his house, which his wife, Carrie Cline, said was “a little shack next to the river that others couldn’t believe could become a warm and loving home for a family. He worked on the house always, fixing, adding on, fixing, until his illness in February 2011.”

On Halloween 1978, he married Barbara Lynn Wetzel at the Avon Hotel in Silverton. They had two children.

Mr. Maisch, a longtime resident of Silverton, worked a variety of jobs to make ends meet, including plumbing, carpentry and firewood harvesting. He served two terms on the Silverton Town Council.

“He was known across Colorado as a unique and generous person,” Ms. Cline said. “Flash was an anomaly. He had a tough biker façade but a gentle heart. He had deep sentiment for children and animals and a true love for nature and the mountains. He wore many hats. He rode his shovelhead (motorcycle) to Sturgis (S.D.) every year, attended all the school programs, where he would often choke up in tears. He was a master at mediation of opposing parties and a true leader of men.”

Mr. Maisch was known for his 27-year tradition of Fourth of July parties in Silverton, which would attract hundreds of fellow motorcycle aficionados. Ms. Cline said he led the parade in a thunder of Harleys so “well-orchestrated and exciting” it prompted a full center-spread article in Easy Rider Magazine in 1995.

Mr. Maisch was preceded in death by his wife, Barbara Wetzel Maisch.

He is survived by his children, Heather Rose Jaramillo of Grand Junction and Aaron David Maisch of Cheyenne, Wyo.; brother Rodger Maisch of Fort Myers Beach, Fla.; and wife and companion of 10 years, Carrie Cline, of Purgatory.

A memorial reception will be held on the weekend of Saturday, Sunday and Monday, July 2-4, 2011, at Mr. Maisch’s home in Silverton. Camping is available across the river at Kendall Mountain Recreation Area.

Mr. Maisch’s “Madness by the Animas: The Final Chapter,” a graveside ceremony, will take place at noon Sunday, July 3, 2011, at Hillside Cemetery in Silverton.



Reprinted from the Durango Herald.