| Biographical Sketch
of Wayne N. Aspinall
Wayne N. Aspinall was born in Middleburg, Ohio on April 3, 1896.
He was the oldest child of Mack Aspinall and Jessie Edna Norviel
Aspinall. The family moved to Colorado in 1904 in order to improve
the health of Aspinall’s mother. They located in Palisade, Colorado,
where his father became a fruit grower. Aspinall was educated at
Mt. Lincoln Public School in Palisade. His college education at
the University of Denver was interrupted by World War I, in which
he served in the air service of the Signal Corps as a corporal and
staff sergeant. After the armistice, he returned to DU and received
a Bachelors of Arts degree in 1919. After college he returned to
Palisade where he taught, served on the school board and helped
operate the family orchard for several years before returning to
DU and earning a law degree in 1925.
Aspinall passed the Colorado Bar in 1925, returned to the Western
Slope, and opened a law practice. In addition to his law practice
and a continued interest in the family orchard, Aspinall was a member
of the Board of Trustees of the Town of Palisade from 1926-34. He
was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives in 1931 and
served as Democratic Party Whip in 1931 and 1933 and as Speaker
in 1937 and 1938. He advanced to the Colorado Senate in 1939, serving
as Democratic Whip in 1939, Majority Floor Leader in 1941 and Minority
Floor Leader in 1943, 1945 and 1947.
During World War II, Aspinall served as a captain in the Military
Government as a legal expert, and participated in the Normandy drive
as an American officer assigned to the English Second Army. In 1948
he was elected to the United States House of Representatives, where
he served until 1972. His tenure in the House was devoted to representing
his district especially in areas of natural resources and water
issues. He was chairman of the House Committee on Interior and Insular
Affairs, and ex officio member of Subcommittees on Territorial and
Insular Affairs, Irrigation and Reclamation, Public Lands, Indian
Affairs, Mines and Mining and National Parks. He was a member of
the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy and chairman of the Subcommittee
on Raw Materials. He was also a member of the Committee on Standards
of Official Conduct and chairman of the Public Land Law Review Committee.
He wrote or sponsored a great deal of crucial legislation on the
development of water resources in Colorado and the west.
Aspinall lost his bid for reelection in 1972, a defeat he believed
was due to the redistricting accomplished by the Republican dominated
Colorado Legislature. He returned to Palisade and joined his son,
Owen, in the law firm of Aspinall and Aspinall. He also served as
consultant to several companies involved in natural resources.
Aspinall married Julia Edith Kuns of Lincoln, Nebraska, on January
27, 1920. They had four children, Wayne Norviel II, Owen Stewart,
Richard Daniel, and Ruth JoAnne Flora. Julia Aspinall died in 1969.
In 1970, Aspinall married Essie Jeffers Best of Grand Junction,
whom he had known since 1910 and dated in high school. She died
on August 5, 1983, just months before Aspinall’s own death on October
9, 1983 at the age of 87. He was survived by three of his four children,
Owen Stewart, Richard Daniel and Ruth JoAnne Flora.
Aspinall was a member of Beta Theta Pi, legal fraternity Phi Delta
Phi, and honorary biology fraternity of Phi Sigma. He was a member
of Blue Lodge Masonic Fraternity, Scottish Rite 33°, Knights Templar,
A.A.O.N.M.S., International Order of Odd Fellows, American Legion,
Forty and Eight, Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Elks, Lions International,
Order of the Moose, and Mesa and Colorado Bar Associations. He received
honorary degrees from University of Alaska in 1962, the University
of Denver in 1963, Colorado State University in 1963, and the Colorado
School of Mines in 1965. He was recipient of many honors, including
the 1965 “Outstanding Citizen of the Year” from Palisade Chamber
of Commerce, and Club 20’s “Man of the Year” in 1979 for his work
on water and energy projects. He was named the man who had done
most to support the mining industry in the United States by the
American Institute of Mining, Petroleum and Metallurgical Engineers
in 1977.
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