Susan and Alex Lidback are relatively new full-time residents to Singletree having just moved into their home in October 2023, after completing an extensive remodel that began in early 2022. They were born in two different countries, lived near one another in one state but never met, met in our nation’s capital, have been married thirty-one years, raised two kids, rescued a British cat, lived as expats in the UK twice, and through it all, are still best friends for the long haul. They both loved and experienced the mountains as children and believe their long journey to their “Sweet Spot” in Singletree was no means by chance.

It was in Lima, Peru, following WWII when Alex’s parents met on a golf course. (See “Italian Roots” for an interesting history about Alex’s Italian family). Alex’s paternal grandfather, Percival Lidback, was serving as Swedish diplomat in Peru and following the war, Percival sent his son, Arne Lidback, back to Sweden to attend Sigtunaslolan Humanistska Laroverket, the historic boarding school in Sigtuna, Sweden. After his graduation, Arne returned to Peru and met Alex’s mother, Franca Carbone, at Lima Golf Club. The Lidbacks and Carbones united and not long after they wed, they began their family of twins, a daughter and Alex, all raised with a native tongue of Spanish. Unfortunately, after ten years of marriage, the avid golfers and close-knit family would be forced to part ways with their beloved relatives and flee their home of Peru.

On October 3, 1968, General Juan Velasco led a bloodless military coup that overthrew the then elected president, Fernando Belauned. Velasco ushered in a military dictatorship bent on controlling every facet of Peruvian life. This oppressive political situation forced Alex’s family, including Alex, to leave Peru for the United States. It was a harrowing journey for all those who made it. The Lidbacks were forced to smuggle as much of the family’s accumulated wealth and valuables with them without it being found and confiscated by agents of the Velasco government. They accomplished this by sewing both cash, jewelry, and other valuables and mementos into their clothes to get it past the border patrols. 

Alex, having been born in Peru, and now at the age of four, settled with his family in Connecticut. His father took a job in New York City with Ethyl Corporation and in less than two years the family found themselves packing up again for South America. This time it would be as expatriates living in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. They remained there for four years where Alex picked up a good understanding of Portuguese and learned English at the Escola Americana. Following their expatriate stint in Brazil, Alex’s family returned to the United States and landed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It’s here where Alex learned the American way of life. The Lidback family planted big roots in Louisiana. His parents continued sharing their passion for golf with their children, his mother the club champ of every golf club they ever joined and his sister a successful collegiate and eventual LPGA player. Alex, who could usually be found on the course practicing or competing, played for the Baton Rouge Magnet School and eventually the Louisiana State University team while earning a degree in economics.

Susan’s maternal family, the Walkers, moved to Louisiana from Iowa and started a timber business and her paternal family, the Parkers, landed in Louisiana after originally being Oklahoma Sooners. The Walker/Parker families united in marriage in Louisiana and Susan went on her first camping trip at the young age of six months. She and her brother were taken each summer on family trips to the beaches of Florida and the mountains of Tennessee. She grew up loving the outdoors and when she heard the local church bells chime five pm, she knew it was time to go home for supper. Their family established deep roots in Ponchatoula, Louisiana, the “Strawberry Capital of the World”. Susan was not only Strawberry Junior Miss at age 7 but also represented her town in the Aloha Bowl and the scholastic Louisiana Junior Miss. She developed a keen palette for creating fabulous Cajun food from her relatives and is still known for her hospitality, congeniality, and event planning.

While Alex was attending LSU, little did he know that right down the road from Baton Rouge, his future wife was living and now earning her degree in Political Science at Southeastern Louisiana University. They never did meet in Louisiana but eventually met after university, while they were both living and working in Washington, DC. Alex was in sales working for a Spanish import company, and Susan was a Trial Clerk for the US Tax Court. They met in perhaps, the most American way possible and as many twenty somethings in DC do. They were both attending dollar Rolling Rock night at Bullfeather’s, a popular saloon in Old Town Alexandria, just outside Washington. They shared stories about Louisiana, figured out that they had been at the same U2 and Madonna concerts at the same time without meeting, and that they knew many of the same people. He charmed her into dancing and spoiler alert, it all went well. Their adventures together of hiking, traveling, cooking, and cycling began in Virginia but soon his career took him to Texas. Long distance dating, they decided, was for the birds, and Susan eventually made the move to Texas as well, about nine months later.

In 1993, Susan and Alex were married and settled in Houston, Texas. Alex was now working for an economic consulting firm specializing in issues affecting the chemical industry and Susan was an intellectual property litigation paralegal for a big Houston law firm. While they were both very dedicated hard workers in their fields, in their spare time, Alex remained an avid golfer and took up triathlon while Susan became an enthusiastic gardener. Together they joined a triathlon and cycling club and enjoyed hundreds of miles of cycling centuries and sprints across Texas. In 1997, the young Lidback family grew with the addition of their first child, Arne and Susan traded in her business suits and pumps for cargos and tennis shoes. She found herself volunteering for everything from PTO and Sunday School to fundraising and charity work.

On a tiny budget, and the USA/Canada dollar 2/1, the first family mountain vacation was to Jasper, Canada where they hiked with Arne on dad’s back. Andrew was added in 2000 and the trek to Jasper became an annual event, first with Andrew on mom’s back to eventually both kids leading the way to scaling boulders, rafting the rapids, tackling the scenic trails and skipping stones on the many lakes and rivers they encountered. They eventually expanded their mountain trips to include Yosemite, California, Wyoming and Costa Rica for more hikes, bouldering and new repelling adventures.

In 2007, Alex’s firm transferred the family to London, England. They lived and worked there until 2009, and the kids attended TASIS England, located in Virginia Water, Surrey. While there, the family explored the mountains of Europe whenever the kids had school breaks. Zermatt was a favorite for both skiing in the winter and hiking amongst the edelweiss and cows in the summer. They left London in December 2009 when Alex’s firm moved him back to Houston from whence they had come, and, Houston being Houston, mountains were few and far between. 

They spent the next three years in Houston until, once again, they were transferred back to the UK in 2013.  Alex had changed employers, but his expertise in all things English and the global chemical industry led to them being sent back to London. Prior to agreeing to the transfer, they held a family meeting and the quick decision was unanimous that back to Europe they would go. It was during this expatriate residency that the Lidbacks really deepened their love of the mountains. The Swiss and French Alps provided picturesque miles of peaks and valleys to hike and pistes to ski. New favorite discoveries included Grindelwald and Wengen and there were repeat trips to Zermatt.

In 2018, their second European stint ended and it was back to Houston for Susan and Alex. Arne was now finishing up a Mechanical Engineering degree at Purdue University and Andrew was starting a Computer Science degree at Arizona State University. For Susan and Alex, the mountains still inexorably drew them in. In the summer of 2019, the family decided to explore more of Colorado and came to the Vail Valley. They were here for two weeks and loved every minute of it. In 2020, the pandemic struck and resulted in Alex’s corporate office shutting down for the duration. That was the bad news. The good news was that all he needed to continue his job off site was a laptop and a strong internet connection. With Alex’s laptop and a West Vail Airbnb bandwidth, the couple had the chance to fully embrace the mountain lifestyle. The family visited during every season and found a love for the Valley. The snow, the sunshine, the mountains, the hiking, the Aspens and the people; they fell in love with it all.

It was in 2022 when Susan and Alex finally decided to end the commuting and begin to live the dream they had harbored for many years. They contracted a fabulous Valley real estate professional and made it happen by buying their current (and, hopefully, final) home in Singletree. Although it was their love for the mountains that finally prompted their desire to become full time residents, the move to the Valley also brought them closer to their now-grown children, Arne now living in Santa Fe and Andrew in Scottsdale.

As both a neighbor and a friend, I cannot tell you what a great addition to our community the Lidbacks are. Alex, who works at home, skis, hikes or rides in his free time and continues to travel the world as a consultant to the chemical industry. Susan, a fashion consultant for Cabi Clothing, serving a loyal list of clientele from both the UK and the USA, can be found hiking, skiing, or gardening in our valley. They enjoy skiing the slopes of Vail, Beaver Creek, and Arrowhead, and hiking on the Singletree BLM and Eagle County Trails. They even recently completed their first 14er by summiting Quandary Peak at 14,275 feet. They continue to travel near and far and just this year went to London, Hawaii, Sweden, Germany, Denmark and Norway. They also continue to entertain and invite friends, family, and neighbors for gumbo traditions and block parties.

 

One thing, however, faithfully keeps their memories of living in England alive. During their second tour in London a forlorn feline wandered into their orbit. They immediately took the sad creature in, named her Pat the Cat, and she remains a vital part of their household to this day.

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We need to go back to the tragic days before and during World War II, a much untold history and the journey that brought Alex’s mother’s family to Peru where he was born. In the 1930s, Alex’s maternal grandparents, Franco and Elena Carbone, emigrated from Genoa, Italy, to Peru. Peru was viewed as a land of opportunity at that time, and the political situation in Germany and Italy did not bode well for the future. Another Italian family of the man who would eventually become Alex’s uncle and Godfather, Manlio Pocari, was also living in Genoa, but elected to stay. 

The Nazis had unleashed a reign of terror in Italy to punish the surrendered Italian army. In the next few months, over 14,000 mostly non-Jewish civilians and disarmed Italian soldiers were murdered, many times publicly. Manlio and his family had hidden in the hills surrounding Genoa for months to avoid the Nazi wrath. It wasn’t until after the Italian Army surrendered to the allies on September 8, 1943, that they also fled to the safety of Peru. It was there where Alex’s mother, Franca, and her siblings were born, the Carbones met the Porcaris and his Italian family put down their roots.