Starting around the late 1960's or early 1970's William Beach (see photo of William below) started having "Beach Benches" created and installed.  At one time there were six Beach Benches, but as of this writing in April of 2020 only four of them are still in existence:

1.  There used to be 3 benches on Snowmass, but a snowcat destroyed one of them.  The other two are still in existence.  See more information about, and photos of, these two benches below.

2.  There used to be a bench on Aspen Mountain, but a snowcat destroyed it.

3.  There is a bench on the Cooper St. walking mall in the town of Aspen.  See more information about, and photos of, this bench below.

4.  There is a bench on the grounds of the Aspen Historical Society at 620 W. Bleeker St. in Aspen.  See more information about, and photos of, this bench below.

 

Snowmass:

At one time there was a "Beach Bench I" but it was destroyed by a snowcat.

"Beach Bench II" is located on the Naked Lady run at Snowmass.  Carved into the back of the bench is the following:

"Tomorrow is a dream--Yesterday is a memory--Seize the moment

Beach Bench II--Bil & JoAnna--Oct. 99" 

(JoAnna is William's wife.)

 

"Beach Bench III" is near the Turkey Trot run at Snowmass, and has this inscribed on the seatback of the bench:

"Appreciate life—it’s a wonderful journey
K.W. & Dorothy Beach"

Below that, it also says “Beach Bench III.”  

(K.W. and Dorothy Beach are William's parents.)

 

Aspen

Although benches within the town of Aspen are beyond the scope of this site, the following two bench are included here because they are closely associated with the two on Snowmass that are mentioned above. 

There is a Beach Bench on the Cooper St. walking mall in downtown Aspen; it was installed in 1972 (and then rebuilt in 2014) and has this inscribed on the seatback of the bench:

"The Beach Bench
 Life is one big memory."

It also says "1972" on it and also "William R. & JoAnna" and "Bret L."  (Bret L. is William's brother.)  When the bench was rebuilt in 2014 JoAnna's name was added and the spelling of Bret's name was corrected from "Brett L" to "Bret L." 

 

There is a Beach Bench on the grounds of the Aspen Historical Society at 620 W. Bleeker St. in Aspen.  Inscribed on the seatback of this bench is this:

"William R. Beach Family

Beach Bench

Each Moment -- Only Once"

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(William Beach contacted the author in July 2014 and said he had been a part-time resident of Aspen for almost 50 years.)

Photos of all four benches are below.  For even more photos, see this Facebook photo album (you do not need a Facebook account in order to view this album):  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.689680337770600.1073741960.100001859201674&type=1&l=ec27beba48.

If you have any photos of or information about this item that you would like to share for use on this page, please send to the author at AspenShrines@aol.com.

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Click on images to enlarge.