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Jeannie Ritter, Colorado's First Lady


The kettle is always on at the Governor’s Residence, and Jeannie Ritter is rarely without a cup of tea in her hand. Her collection of mismatched cups reminds her that “not everything has to be perfect.”


This great cut-crystal chandelier originally graced the ballroom of President Ulysses S. Grant’s White House. It was purchased by Mrs. Boettcher in the 1920s and hangs in the mansion’s formal drawing room.

The year was 1908. The Democratic Convention was held in Denver and the Boettcher Mansion (now the Governor’s Residence) was newly built. One hundred years have passed, the Democrats are once again convening in Denver and Jeannie Ritter is celebrating the Boettcher Mansion’s centennial by establishing The Governor’s Residence Preservation Fund. “We would like the residence to be more inclusive—open for educational programming and accessible to all Coloradans,” she says.

To make the mansion more eco-friendly, the Ritters have installed solar panels to provide additional electricity (you can see them just over the First Lady’s left shoulder) and a geothermal system to heat and cool the home more efficiently. “I wanted to make this historic property more relevant to today,” the First Lady says. For more information about the Governor’s Residence Preservation Fund or to donate, go to coloradoshome.org.