75 Years Later, a Casper Woman’s Fridge Is Still Running, Cold Schlitz Inside

More than a year after Gloria Fuller’s death, her daughters have begun dismantling a world she spent nearly 80 years building. Down in their mother’s basement, beneath exposed studs, cobwebs, and insulation, they found a vintage 1950s Coldspot refrigerator still humming with life. Glowing softly in the dim light like a mirage of mid-century America, the old appliance not only was still running but still held 30-year-old cans of Schlitz—cold to the touch.

In another life, the refrigerator held grenadine, soda bottles, and trays of hors d’oeuvres for the cocktail gatherings Fuller hosted downstairs. Angie Hoven, one of Fuller’s daughters, remembers her mother as a meticulous hostess. “She was well-known,” Hoven said with a chuckle, tears welling in her eyes. If refrigerators could talk, this one would recall laughter rising through smoke, the crack of ice trays, and somebody asking Gloria for “just one more” drink before heading home.