Stanley Boucher

Stanley Boucher passed away on September 30, 2013. He was born to a Colorado College physics professor and his wife, Paul and Edythe Boucher, in Colorado Springs on October 19, 1927. He graduated from Colorado Springs High School and went on to Colorado College in Colorado Springs where he majored in English and history, graduating with honors in 1949. Drafted into the army during the Korean conflict, he worked as a social work technician in an experimental psychiatric unit serving all of the Eighth Army located north of Seoul, Korea. Following discharge, he earned a Master of Social Work degree from the School of Social Welfare, University of California, Berkeley, 1957. His career as a psychiatric social worker covered years with the Mental Health Division of the Colorado Dept. of Public Health, later time with the Colorado Dept. of Institutions, and finally as the Director of Mental Health Continuing Education for the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, a 13-state organization based in Boulder. He maintained a lifelong interest in mountains, especially those in Colorado. He was a life member of both the Colorado Mountain Club and the American Alpine Club. He frequently led hiking, climbing, and cross-country ski trips for the Boulder Group of the Colorado Mountain Club. He is remembered for giving the annual safety lecture for the mountaineering school, and serving a term as President of the Boulder Group. He wrote an unpublished mountaineering book in his twenties, when not many had taken to the mountains or knew what they were doing. He composed poems throughout his life. A compilation of his poems will soon be printed. He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Virginia; his son, Eric; and his younger brother, Gary. He was predeceased by his daughter, Julie and her husband, Clive Baillie who died in a mountaineering accident in 1996, and his brother Wesley Boucher. A celebration of his life will be held at a later date. Please mail memorial contributions to the American Alpine Club, 710 10th Street, Suite 100, Golden, CO, 80401, attention Stanley Boucher Memorial Fund. Contributions will support the digitization and online accessibility of Stanley's unpublished manuscript, The World at Our Feet, via the American Alpine Club Library's website.