Max and Elaine Appel have been partners since the moment they met.
Max was an upper classman at CU in 1956 and Elaine was a freshman. Max, a campus activist, was putting up posters for a school event. I ran into him in the hall and he kind of dared me to put up a poster in the mens room. I realized it was the end of the day and there wouldnt be anyone in there, so I did it.
To this day, Max and Elaine Appel are true life partners in marriage, business and tikkun olam, repairing the world.
Since that serendipitous first meeting, the Appels have raised four children, built and sold a business empire and enriched the lives of countless people along the way.
Sitting for an interview, they each answer a question, then politely ask the other to answer the same question in his or her own way, all the while gazing into each others eyes. They do everything together.
Elaine was born in Pueblo Im a home state girl to Charles and Isabel Monderer. Her father was from Poland, her mother from Winnipeg.
Elaines father, who had come to Colorado as a patient at JCRS, had an insurance office in Pueblo on 7th Street. He was an active member of the community from his marriage in 1937 until he died in 1976.
Elaine went to Centennial High School in Pueblo, a magnificent, old sandstone building, named Centennial because it was built in 1876. Theyve since torn it down, built a new school in another location but gave it the same name. Its not the same . . . I loved high school. It was fun.
Elaine was a good student and belonged to the debate team.
Max was born in Denver to William and Gladys Appel. He grew up on the West Side where he went to Cheltenham and still sees he fellow classmates at periodic Cheltenham kindergarten reunions.
The Appel family started out on Hooker Street. Then we became very rich, he jokes, meaning going from $100 in the bank to $200, and we moved up to Perry St.
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