Sandy s father was in the oil business, and he settled his family into a nice suburban house in Lakewood, on South Wadsworth Boulevard. It was there that Sandy s older brother, Eric, came up with the idea of making bumperstickers in the classic green-and-white Colorado license-plate design, with a silhouette of the mountains and the word Native in the center. By then, the family had lived in Colorado about a decade, which in the late ’70s certainly qualified you as a longtimer, if not a native.
Although there was some short-lived competition from the now-defunct Colorado Native Society, which was putting out similar stickers for members, Eric s model took off. Working off the success of Native, he designed a number of related versions, then expanded the business, trademarking the concept in six states, including Colorado.