{"id":1317459,"date":"2019-12-30T18:38:09","date_gmt":"2019-12-31T01:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=992174"},"modified":"2019-12-31T08:19:22","modified_gmt":"2019-12-31T15:19:22","slug":"glenwoods-life-saving-pizza-man-continues-to-grow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/glenwoods-life-saving-pizza-man-continues-to-grow\/","title":{"rendered":"Glenwood\u2019s life-saving \u2018Pizza man\u2019 continues to grow"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
In this Post Independent file photo, Anson Lemmer, right, receives the American Red Cross Lifesaver Award from Eric Meyers.<\/strong>
Colleen O\u2019Neil \/ Post Independent |<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

The Glenwood Springs checks in with the subject of our most-read story of the past decade, which received more than 300,000 page views since it was published in 2015.<\/em><\/p>\n

On June 15, 2015, Anson Lemmer departed from Uncle Pizza in his 1998 Plymouth Breeze for his final delivery of the night. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think one of them was the Italian sausage,\u201d Lemmer said.  <\/p>\n

However, upon pulling up to the Glenwood Springs residence on Valley View Road, Lemmer was greeted by a life-or-death situation: an unconscious man lying in the gutter as others stood around, evidently not knowing what to do.  <\/p>\n

Luckily, the 19-year-old \u201cpizza boy\u201d <\/a>knew exactly what to do. <\/p>\n

\u201cI threw the pizzas on top of the car, ran over and helped,\u201d Lemmer said.  <\/p>\n

After instructing a specific bystander to immediately call 911, Lemmer searched for the man\u2019s pulse, which he could not find. Remaining calm and collected, the young man began administering CPR to the unresponsive and blue in the face man. <\/p>\n

\u201cI lost track of time, but it wasn\u2019t very long that I was doing chest compressions before the first responders showed up,\u201d Lemmer said. \u201cThe man in the gutter was starting to regain consciousness a little bit. He was breathing again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lemmer does not exactly know how the man ended up in the gutter in the first place. Nor has he ever spoken to the man, who he believed was in his mid-40s at the time.  <\/p>\n

What Lemmer does recall about that fateful night, though \u2013 \u201cI left a pizza boy and came back a pizza man.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coincidentally, it would not be the last time Lemmer helped out during a potentially, life-threatening situation. <\/p>\n

A few years ago, while on a hiking trip, Lemmer performed the Heimlich maneuver on his friend who was choking on a piece of candy. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe just started smacking me on the back,\u201d Lemmer said. \u201cI turned around and he was holding his throat.\u201d<\/p>\n

After administering abdominal thrusts, his friend expelled the chunk of candy blocking his airway and was OK. <\/p>\n

FROM PIZZA MAN TO CANNABIS CULTIVATOR<\/strong><\/p>\n

Today, the 23-year-old Lemmer cultivates cannabis for Roots RX in the highest incorporated city in North America, Leadville. <\/p>\n

\u201cI really love the properties of medicinal plants,\u201d Lemmer said. \u201cI\u2019ve always enjoyed and appreciated the aspects of cannabis that are relaxing.\u201d <\/p>\n

A self-taught grower, Lemmer hopes to continue studying horticulture in a university setting one day.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
Anson Lemmer next to one of his cannabis plants in Leadville. Photo courtesy of Avery Lemmer <\/strong>
20191227_1733592<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Lemmer\u2019s love for plants does not end with Indica, Sativa and cannabis strains, either.<\/p>\n

When not cultivating cannabis for work, Lemmer grows an assortment of leafy greens out of his own living room. <\/p>\n

\u201cI really like sugar snap peas, they\u2019re fun,\u201d Lemmer said. \u201cI like the way that they grow, too. They need a little bit of encouragement and help along the way.\u201d <\/p>\n

A HUMBLE AND HOPEFUL HERO<\/strong><\/p>\n

During the last 10 years, the Glenwood Springs Post Independent has reported on countless issues ranging from the Grand Avenue Bridge project to Rocky Mountain Resources\u2019 proposal to drastically increase its Transfer Trail mining operation just north of town.<\/p>\n

However, coverage of the largest infrastructure project on the Western Slope in 25 years was not the local newspaper\u2019s most read story of the decade.<\/p>\n

That honor belongs to the tale of Lemmer administering CPR while enroute to deliver a few sausage pizzas.<\/p>\n

In fact, Lemmer\u2019s heroics led to 360,880 people reading the Post Independent\u2019s original story<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWow.\u201d Lemmer said when told about the article\u2019s popularity. <\/p>\n

The story went viral and Lemmer\u2019s face found its way onto \u2018pizza boy becomes pizza man\u2019 memes all across the Internet.<\/p>\n

Lemmer, who hadn\u2019t given the incident too much thought after the fact, simply hoped the story would inspire more people to learn CPR. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had people come up to me because of the memes,\u201d Lemmer said. \u201cBut, I\u2019ve also had people come up to me telling me that the story actually touched their life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Without question, on June 15, 2015, Lemmer, as a result of being trained in CPR, saved a life. <\/p>\n

Go to https:\/\/www.redcross.org\/take-a-class\/cpr<\/a> to find a nearby CPR certification class.<\/p>\n

mabennett@postindependent.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Ten most-read stories on the PI website from 2010-2019<\/h2>\n
    \n
  1. CPR delivered: \u2018I left a pizza boy and came back a pizza man\u2019<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. Ruibal column: My high school classmate Otto Warmbier \u2013 charming and deeply caring<\/a><\/li>\n
  3. Sportswear company faces investigation for photos in Hanging Lake waters<\/a><\/li>\n
  4. Shooters in Rifle serves a big helping of Second Amendment<\/a><\/li>\n
  5. Rockslide closes Glenwood Canyon; snowstorm causes I-70 closures, hazardous driving conditions in high country<\/a><\/li>\n
  6. 101 mph through Glenwood Canyon??<\/a><\/li>\n
  7. Photos of Ted Bundy found in cracked Glenwood Post safe<\/a><\/li>\n
  8. Doc Holliday\u2019s gun returning to Glenwood; museum buys derringer that was in his room when he died<\/a><\/li>\n
  9. Three die after hitting bear on I-70 near Rifle<\/a><\/li>\n
  10. Man arrested after claiming to be former NFL player<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    In this Post Independent file photo, Anson Lemmer, right, receives the American Red Cross Lifesaver Award from Eric Meyers.Colleen O\u2019Neil \/ Post Independent | The Glenwood Springs checks in with the subject of our most-read story of the past decade, which received more than 300,000 page views since it was published in 2015. On June […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1317459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-06 07:07:31","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1317459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1317459"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1317459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1317469,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1317459\/revisions\/1317469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1317459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1317459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1317459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}