Art VanSant, a Falcon business owner, died Sept. 3 while visiting his son and daughter-in-law in Leadville, Colo. The cause of death was acute heart failure.VanSant was well known as a community activist in Colorado Springs and on the plains.In 1988, VanSant organized the Falcon Days Centennial Celebration, starting with a parade and serving as the parade marshal. He also donated land, where he created a small park to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of Falcon. VanSant bought a large boulder and had a plaque engraved and placed on the boulder to permanently identify the area and the centennial celebration.His interest in Falcon began when he married his second wife, Ann.VanSant’s first wife, after 26 years of marriage and three sons and a daughter, died of heart failure. In 1978, he married Ann Miller of Colorado Springs, and in 1987, Art and Ann VanSant and their two daughters together moved to The Trails, near Falcon.Ann VanSant said that her husband became interested in Falcon and its future. He bought more property in Falcon, built the Falcon Retail Center and remodeled the buildings next door to the center (now Farmer Jim’s Feed and Re/Max Realty). The VanSants opened Families Sub Shop in the retail center and operated it for 13 years. Ann VanSant said the Sub Shop became a popular hangout for locals, stray animals and small children, and her husband embraced them all, she added.VanSant was interested in Colorado issues, water especially, Ann VanSant said. He ran for the Colorado Springs City Council in 2003, but was unsuccessful in his bid.In the last year or so, he co-led the Falcon incorporation efforts. Ann VanSant said he strongly believed Falcon should have control over growth and water issues.Perhaps VanSant was endeared by Falcon’s railroad history. As a child and young adult living in the Chicago area, he loved railroads and began working in the industry when he was 16 years old.VanSant attended the University of Illinois and the Illinois Institute of Technology, where he graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering. Ann VanSant said he spent the majority of his working years in the railroad industry. He even invented and patented a rail anchor, she said.When VanSant and his first wife moved to Colorado Springs in 1972, he worked at CF & I in Pueblo as the company’s first manager of energy resources.Ann VanSant said her husband had a limitless imagination and a mind like a steel trap, with an ability to handle several things at once. He loved sports, especially football and baseball, and always remembered the detailed histories and records of players, she said.Friendship drove him, she said.”Art always gave people the benefit of the doubt and operated his business on a handshake.””It’s hard to put something about a man into a few words – a man I could write a book about,” said Don Cronkhite, owner of Prairie Jewel and long-time friend of VanSant. He described VanSant as family oriented, concerned about the community and a “modern day pioneer.”Art VanSant: celebrating life from1928 to 2005
