Monsoon season has rolled into western Colorado. Luckily for us, the late afternoon thunderstorms clear up as quickly as they arrive, leaving plenty of time to enjoy the August evenings, relaxing in our backyards or listening to bluegrass music in Paonia’s town park.
Late July brought a steady stream of visitors. Wesley Horner and Mary Hamlin from Boulder, Colorado, were looking for fruit, so we sent them to the nearest cherry orchards. Danville, California, resident John Gallagher visited while in town for the Top O’ the Rockies BMW motorcycle rally with his wife.
We also welcomed Jerry and Melinda Van Gasse of Phoenix, subscribers since the early 1980s. Raleigh Burleigh, the news director for Carbondale, Colorado’s community radio station, KDNK, dropped in on his way to a film screening. Abby Quillen and Aaron Thomas from Eugene, Oregon, stopped by. Abby’s father, the late Ed Quillen, was a legendary HCN contributor, and Abby last visited when she was 7. Things have changed since then, she says — we hope for the better!
Emily Matyas and Mark Klett, whom we profiled as an Uncommon Westerner in 2005, visited from Tempe, Arizona, after camping in Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. Campers Lauren Parker and Kristen Trout also came by — they said they read “bedtime stories” from a recent issue in their tent. Sounds like a great night to us!
Carl Lincoln, a subscriber for more than 35 years, and Jack Walker toured the office during a pit stop on their motorcycle trip from Enterprise, Oregon, to Pikes Peak, Colorado. Valerie Kurth of Montana, Joyce Kurth of Wisconsin and Bing Reynolds from Boulder, Colorado, dropped by after visiting family. Bing used to sit way up on his ’dozer and read HCN during his breaks while working at a mine in the 1970s; he’s been a subscriber (on and off) ever since.
Carmen (“Car”) Jorgensen, in town for a month-long artist residency, said hello. Subscribers Manda and James Salladay and their dog CoCo, of Glenwood Springs, dropped by with James’ parents, Ron and Annell, from Texas, on the last day of July. Ron’s father, James H. Salladay, was also a subscriber, so their visit represented three generations of HCN readers (four if you count CoCo, who probably reads us when nobody’s looking). Thank you for your loyalty, Salladays!
We’re thrilled to welcome Erica Howard as our new accountant and human resources assistant. A native of England’s Isle of Wight, Erica and her husband moved to western Colorado a year and a half ago. She’s excited about her new home: “It’s a very beautiful place and it’s a very creative community,” she says. And we managed to talk Tammy York into rejoining our circulation staff after a five-month break. “I’m glad to be back helping our subscribers,” she says. Not as glad as we are, Tammy!
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Welcome (back) to new and returning staff.
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