Belle Stowell Kauffman

    
Katie Gailey as Belle Stowell Kauffman

born: 3 Oct. 1879 in Briggenville, Wisconsin;
died: 28 Nov. 1972 in Denver, Colorado;

Belle Kauffman was a school teacher who married Ezra Kauffman, the man who built the Kauffman House hotel in Grand Lake, Colorado on 22 Oct. 1907. She ran the hotel from 1907 to 1946 and raised three daughters, Ruth, Rosemary, and Margaret after Ezra died in 1920. She set up tents outside as well as the six bedrooms in the hotel and could feed thirty guests per meal. It cost $12 a week to stay and she also did their laundry. The Kauffman House is a museum today on the banks of beautiful Grand Lake.