I grew up in Connecticut and New York and was always into the environment, like roadside clean-ups and that kind of thing. I came to college at CU, and went on to CSU and got a master’s in politics and administration of natural resources. When I graduated and moved to Golden, I worked for the City of Lakewood for about six years at historical Belmar Village, running the volunteer program. In 1990, I collaborated with a group of other concerned citizen activists to start Golden Earth Days. We decided to clean Clear Creek Canyon by removing all the cars that had fallen off Lookout Mountain Road into the canyon since the ‘50s. There were probably 70 of them! It turned into a huge project that saw helicopters airlifting the cars to flatbed trucks waiting on Highway 6, rafters recovering tires, and 460 people cleaning up the roadside. Golden Earth Days changed its name to New Energy Colorado. Today, this group organizes the Metro Denver Green Homes Tour and other educational activities in the area. We also clean the canyon a couple of times per year. Anyone, including kids, is welcome!
Q: Please tell us about your current, past, or future career/accomplishments. What do you love most about what you do?
One accomplishment is my 23 years of educating about green home practices, and another is cleaning up that canyon. I enjoy the Green Homes Tour I help organize and run as part of my work with New Energy Colorado. https://www.newenergycolorado.org/home-tour
Q: What are a couple of your favorite restaurants or breweries in our community?
My favorite brewery is Barrels & Bottles. I miss the downtown location, which really felt like a small-town bar. You would always run into people that you know. For restaurants, I like Bella Colibri. I also like Table Mountain Inn. It’s kind of an old standby and is always a good place to take people from out of town.
Q: How long have you lived or worked in our community?
Since December 1988
Q: What is one of your favorite hiking or biking trails?
Probably the Gateway Trail, just because of my connection to Clear Creek Canyon. They have done such a beautiful job with all aspects of that trail. We always see interesting birds and sometimes bighorn sheep. I belong to a dog-walking group, and we walk every day at 7 a.m. We often do that trail—it is one of our favorites.
Q: What advice would you give to yourself 10 years ago?
Be patient and find what inspires you. Stay true to your environmental focus.
Q: What current or former local business makes you the most nostalgic about our community?
The Golden Mill because I remember going and getting bags of dog food there and bringing the kids to look at the chicks. I liked the old feed store, so it’s a little sad. But I really like the new set-up, and I was really pleased to see that the new owners supported the Colorado Environmental Film Festival. I think it’s a good addition.
Q: What is your favorite thing or something unique about our community?
The proximity to the foothills and all the open space trails that are so close to town. I love Clear Creek flowing right through Golden, which still has sort of a small-town feel, even though it’s gotten a lot bigger.
Q: What is something interesting that most people don’t know about you?
I’m very involved in the animal rescue community. After volunteering for more than 20 years at Foothills Animal Shelter, I now partner with them with a team of volunteers. When the animal shelter has excess donations, like beds, dog food, toys, blankets, and other pet-related goods, the team of volunteers brings them to my garage and then we distribute them out to smaller animal rescues, including some in New Mexico and Texas. It’s actually very time consuming trying to coordinate who’s picking up what and when it’s going to go. After learning of the success of what we do with Foothills Animal Shelter’s excess donations, Denver Animal Shelter asked if they could start bringing us donations as well. We are now coordinating donations from two major metro shelters, with donations coming into my garage up to four times a week. I also help a lot of people with their animals, specifically the homeless and their animals. A couple of friends and I help them with food or connect them to veterinary care, or I have another friend who goes out in the winter with blankets and camping materials.
Q: Who inspires you to be better?
My daughters certainly inspire me to be better because they’re amazing and they want to do things to change the world. They both have or are working on their PhDs in chemistry. Claire helps me with the animal rescue donations, and Danika is getting her PhD but still finds time for animals and the environment. They both have rescue dogs. A famous person who inspires me a lot is Jane Goodall. She’s just a really amazing human being and keeps hopeful in spite of everything going on in the world. She’s always inspired me.
Q: Finally, what 3 words or phrases come to mind when you think of the word HOME?
Birds. Wildlife. Views. Solitude.
