Summer hangs up hard hat after four decades

The City of Gunnison hired Greg Summer on May 11, 1981, back when diesel cost roughly 99 cents a gallon, and a loaf of bread, 50 cents. After four decades of service in the Public Works Department, he finally retired late this summer. 

During his 43-year tenure, Summer worked under seven different city managers and seven public works directors. According to Public Works Director David Gardner, he loaded approximately 86,000 dump trucks with snow and plowed over 10,000 miles of streets.

“He is the myth, the man, the legend in the cowboy hat,” Gardner said at a city council meeting in August. Streets and refuse superintendent Jason Kibler presented Summer with an award celebrating his service. Summer retired just a few days later. 

Although Summer was born in Colorado Springs, he grew up on a cattle ranch just east of Gunnison. He worked on the ranch until he graduated from high school. Shortly afterward, Summer took a job with the city in 1981 running heavy equipment. 

“Told him I’d do it for about two years, and I'd be gone somewhere else,” Summer said. “Ended up 43 instead.” 

At the start of his career, the Public Works Department was responsible for building Gunnison’s growing network of roads. At the time, much of the land north of Denver Avenue was still empty and many of the streets were still dirt. The Palisades neighborhood had yet to be built and ranchland dominated the south. Summer and the crew added miles of roadway as the footprint of the small town expanded. 

The winters at the start of his career brought temperatures that frequently dropped to 30 degrees below zero and it was not uncommon for heavy snows to blanket the South Valley. Because the city’s snow plows didn’t have heaters, crew members sought refuge at the post office to remedy numb hands and feet. It was often the only place open in town during their odd work hours. The plowing continued once they warmed up. Some shifts could last more than 30 hours during a large snow storm. One winter, the plow team went almost three months without a day off, Summer said. 

The neverending work on the ranch and the wide open lands of the Gunnison Country have kept Summer in the valley. In his retirement, he first headed down to the remote timbered mountains of Arizona to build fencing for the U.S. Forest Service. He will pack in on horseback, and supplies will be dropped in by helicopter. It’s land that will remind him of home while he’s temporarily away, Summer said. 

“There's still a lot I haven't seen yet,” he said of the Gunnison Valley. “When I get a chance, I'll grab a horse, [and] go to the mountains.” 

(Bella Biondini can be contacted at 970.641.1414 or bella@gunnisontimes.com.)