The Colorado Transcript, Number 36, July 8, 1937 page 1

Nels Rudin, 89, Dies In Mountain Home He Occupied for 58 Years

Nels Rudin, a true pioneer of the Great West, died Tuesday at his ranch home in Bergen park—the same ranch on which he had made his home for over 58 years. As an immigrant, fresh from his native Sweden, where he was born in 1848, he determined to dig in and become a part and parcel of his adopted land. He homesteaded the ranch on which he lived for over half a century and from which he sent forth three sons and four daughters. A heart attack was the cause of his death. During his 89 vigorous years he had witnessed his adopted land pass from the frontier stage to its present development and it was his proud boast that he had been an integral part in bringing about many of the improvements which we now take for granted. In 1873, fresh from Sweden, he worked on the construction of the Golden Blackhawk branch of the Colorado Central railroad and many of the bridges on this line bear the mark of his handiwork. He often said that he was largely responsible for the establishment of the Coors brewery in Golden. As an early employee of Adolph Coors Sr. in the Coors' tannery, he was struck with the splendid flow of pure water from the spring which is now such an important asset of the Coors company. "With that fine water, Mr. Coors, you should start a brewery," Mr. Rudin told his employer. From this beginning has arisen the great Coors industries, which still use in their advertising "brewed from pure mountain spring water." The young Swedish immigrant was married, in 1878 to Christina Bengson at the old Swedish Lutheran church, formerly located on north Washington avenue in Golden and recently demolished. This wedding was one of the social events of the frontier city, for it was a double wedding, with Nels Bengson, brother of the bride, taking in wedlock Miss Anna Tallman. After the ceremony the Rudins left for their homestead in Bergen park, never to leave it permanently until called by death. Mrs. Rudin died March 8, 1918. Of the ten children born to Mr. and Mrs. Rudin, seven survive. They are Mrs. Ellen Dietrich of Wilson, Wyo., Mrs. Hilma Ratcliff and Miss Ellvena Rudin of Evergreen, Mrs. F. T. Schultz of Stanfordville, N. Y., Emil Rudin of Stuarts Draft, Ya., Elmer Rudin of Watsonville, Calif, and Albert Rudin, who makes his home on the family homestead. The funeral will be held at Woods mortuary, Golden, Saturday afternoon at one o'clock, with the Rev. G. S. Tamminga officiating. Burial will be in the Golden cemetery.