Professional Documents
Culture Documents
U N I V E R S I T Y O F
MAGAZINE
N I V E R S I T Y O F
A G A Z I N E
UN I V ER S I T Y O F
MAGAZINE
UNIVERSITY O
MAGAZINE
R e f l e c t. D i s c ov e R . l e a R n.
“ i f theRe is one thing that characterizes DU’s diverse alumni population,
it’s a passion for learning. Please join us for the third annual alumni symposium,
where your classmates and some of the University’s most distinguished scholars
gather to share ideas and discuss some of the great issues of the day.”
www.du.edu/alumnisymposium
30 Moonrock Madness
Western original Terri “t.” Stardust (BFA ’91) had a zany idea.
Now, every June, riders from around the country join her in
Wyoming for a Wild West version of equestrian competition.
By Jack Sommars
36 Mystery Man
An authentic Western character himself, bestselling novelist
C.J. Box (BA ’81) knows how to turn a tale.
By Tamara Chapman
Departments
44 Editor’s Note
45 Letters
47 DU Update
08 News Groff goes to Washington
10 Sports Skiing championship
13 Academics The politics of public lands
15 Research Pioneering Jewish women
18 People Hunter Gene Schoonveld
22 Q&A Sustainability in the West
24 Arts Ranchland photogravure
45 Alumni Connections
Online only at www.du.edu/magazine:
History Woodstock West
On the cover and this page: At the Moonrock equestrian competition, Western riders rub shoulders
with cross-country, jumping and dressage competitors. Photos by Marc Piscotty. Story on page 30.
University of Denver Magazine Update 3
U N I V E R S I T Y O F
Editor’s Note
MAGAZINE
w w w. d u . e d u / m a g a z i n e
U N I V E R S I T Y O F
Volume 9, Number 4
M A G A Z I N E
UN I V ER S I T Y O F
MAGAZINE
UNIVERSITY OF
My West—the West of my youth—was one MAGAZINE
wading irrigation ditches and baking mudpies in the mailbox. Art Director
Craig Korn, VeggieGraphics
Today, my West includes far fewer farmers, ranchers, hunters and open
Contributors
land. There are more Democrats and many more people, houses and cars. Jarl Ahlkvist • Jordan Ames (BA ’02) •
Wayne Armstrong • Jim Berscheidt •
The sky is still just as big as I remember, though, and there’s still plenty of
Janalee Card Chmel (MLS ’97) • Kristal Griffith •
the frontier pluck I knew from the roughhewn pioneers in my hometown. Doug McPherson • Marc Piscotty •
Jack Sommars • Chase Squires • Tiffany
One of the things I love most about DU is its Western legacy. Its Ulatowski • Wendy Winter-Searcy •
Jean Wittels • Richard Wittels
founders are the same pioneers who founded our state and namesake city;
Editorial Board
our histories are bound together. When I began coming across story after Chelsey Baker-Hauck, editorial director •
Jim Berscheidt, associate vice chancellor
story of DU alumni who embody the same Western spirit that shaped
for university communications •
my childhood, I sensed there was a larger story to tell. This issue is that Thomas Douglis (BA ’86) • Carol Farnsworth,
vice chancellor for university communications
story—a story of Western characters and character, freedom of spirit and • Sarah Satterwhite, senior director of
development/special assistant to the vice
new twists on old traditions. chancellor • Amber Scott (MA ’02) •
Laura Stevens (BA ’69), director of
I hope you enjoy it. parent relations
U N I V E R S I T Y O F
MAGAZINE Letters
U N I V E R S I T Y O F
M A G A Z I N E
UN I V ER S I T Y O F
MAGAZINE
UNIVERSITY OF
MAGAZINE
Junior international studies major and Chinese student Sunny Xiong shows photography student Lauryn
Strung Chinese calligraphy (the sign reads “peace”) at DU’s 26th annual Festival of Nations in April. The
all-day festival, hosted by the International Student Organization, included music, traditional dance and
ceremonies, international displays, decorations, food and other activities. DU enrolls 286 international
undergraduate students from 51 nations and 387 international graduate students from 60 nations.
Wayne Armstrong
Report annual “America’s Best Graduate Schools” report, released in
filmmakers tend to con-
April.
sider themselves movie
The report lists the Sturm College of Law at No. 77, tied with seven
buffs, Joe Brown, a first-
other law schools. The ranking represents an 11-place jump over last
year graduate student
year’s ranking. In legal specialties, DU ranked No. 9 in the country for
studying filmmaking,
part-time legal education; No. 15 for environmental law studies; No. 19
says he’s never been well
for tax law; and No. 33 for clinical training.
versed in pop culture.
DU’s Department of Psychology, tied with 10 other schools, is
“I never even saw
ranked at No. 91. The department offers graduate programs in child
Home Alone,” jokes
clinical psychology, affect science, child development and cognitive
Brown, who studied phi-
neuroscience.
losophy and history as
For its rankings, U.S. News & World Report incorporates expert opin-
an undergraduate at the
ion and statistical data collected on more than 1,200 programs.
University of Colorado.
—Chase Squires
Then again, calling
Brown an aspiring film-
maker would be ignoring
Web site helps women learn to the fact that his first
film, National Sacrifice Zone: Colorado and the Cost of Energy Independence,
manage finances has been screened at several film festivals and now is part of the Wild
and Scenic Film Festival’s national tour.
Going through a divorce or losing a spouse is emotionally devastat- “I’m really interested in the power of documentaries to address
ing. But it can also cause financial upheaval. social issues,” says Brown, whose concern about oil and gas drilling in
Louis D’Antonio, a professor of finance and co-director of the Colorado prompted him to begin exploring film.
Reiman School of Finance at the Daniels College of Business, is work- With established success and natural leadership, Brown stands out
ing on a project to provide basic financial education to underserved among his classmates, according to Sheila Schroeder, assistant professor
women. of mass communications.
Working with partners at the California Institute of Finance at “He brings a really wonderful critical understanding and ques-
California Lutheran University, he is helping develop a Web-based pro- tioning to the table that we don’t necessarily see from everyone,” says
gram called BreakFreee (the extra “e” stands for empowerment). The Schroeder. “Most students are not submitting their work to festivals,
Web site provides customized education modules for women—divor- but Joe understands the importance of getting your work out to the
cees, seniors, single moms, teen moms, low-income women and wid- public.”
ows. The program is specifically aimed at lower-income women, who Educating the public on environmental issues motivates Brown,
often aren’t in a position to access traditional financial-planning services. who chairs the Colorado Environmental Film Festival and has been
The program, which is funded by a grant from the Certified Financial commissioned by Denver Urban Gardens to make a documentary about
Planner Board of Standards, seeks to help women alleviate financial the benefits of growing your own food and being part of a community.
concerns and stay out of financial difficulties by providing free, unbiased To balance film studies with what he considers more practical skills,
financial information. Brown also is working toward a degree in library science. After gradua-
Topics include basic budgeting, financial paperwork organization, tion, he plans on pursuing either a doctorate in mass communications
debt management, using credit, dealing with financial institutions, retire- and cultural studies or a master’s of fine arts in film.
ment and estate planning. Women who need more advanced informa- But don’t expect Brown’s talent and ambition to lead to Hollywood,
tion may access volunteer certified financial planners via e-mail. because both qualities stem from his belief that what makes film valu-
D’Antonio hopes to get business students involved in developing able to society is its ability to promote and effect change. And, at the
the content. end of the day, Brown wants nothing more from his film career than the
The project has established a partnership with the YWCA of the opportunity to make “films about social issues and get them shown to
Southwest to help identify women who need the service and provide as many people as possible with the hope they will lead to some discus-
them with computer access. sion and help change something.”
—Jordan Ames —Samantha Stewart
10. The Mars Volta: Deloused in the DU installs carbon monoxide detectors in all
Comatorium (2003) sleeping quarters
The University of Denver installed more than 1,800 carbon-monoxide detectors in all University-
Compiled by arts, humanities and social sciences
lecturer Jarl Ahlkvist with help from students who owned residences following the death of a graduate student in early January.
have taken his Progressive Music in the Rock Era The project cost about $50,000 and was funded through DU’s facility maintenance budget.
course. Ahlkvist defines “progressive rock” as rock
Lauren Johnson, a student in DU’s Josef Korbel School of International Studies, died Jan. 5 from
music that has a countercultural sensibility; combines
rock music with other styles and traditions of music carbon monoxide poisoning in an off-campus apartment, which is not owned by the University. Five others
(such as folk, jazz and classical); places a high value also died from carbon monoxide poisoning in Colorado this winter. In March, the state legislature made
on innovation, virtuosity and experimentation; and
detectors mandatory in new homes and apartments. Previously, carbon monoxide detectors were not
is self-consciously cerebral—a “thinking person’s
rock music.” Ahlkvist says his list is biased in favor required by building codes.
of albums combining these four elements in unique Facilities Director Jeff Bemelen says the project is worth the expense and time to ensure the safety
ways to make music that he enjoys.
of all students. In addition to installing carbon monoxide detectors in every bedroom, detectors also were
placed near boilers. Bemelen says the University’s efforts exceed the requirements of the new legislation.
—Jim Berscheidt
With the jagged blue outlines of the mountains rising to the west above the sprawling Mile High metropolis, it should be
impossible for Denver’s inhabitants to undervalue the vast, wild lands that surround their civilized enclave.
But, according to DU lecturer Lisa Dale, many residents of Colorado—both natives and transplants—take public land for
granted, even when it’s beneath their very feet.
“A lot of students like to go skiing but don’t realize that the only reason they are able to go skiing is because public lands exist,”
says Dale, who teaches political science and environmental policy courses.
Each spring, Dale teaches the core curriculum course This Land is Your Land: The Politics of Public Land Management in the
U.S., which aims to educate students on the philosophy, history, policies and conflicts that affect the management of public lands.
The course focuses on the West, where public lands account for almost 30 percent of the land base; that number is under 10
percent in the eastern U.S.
“Understanding public lands is
understanding the West,” says Dale,
who moved to Colorado from New York
20 years ago. “Without public lands we
wouldn’t spend our weekends skiing,
backpacking, riding mountain bikes or
hiking. We’d spend them at the mall like
they do on the East Coast.”
Students learn about public land
policies—governing forest management,
fire management, motorized and
nonmotorized recreation, wildlife habitat
protection and wilderness designation—
and the resulting conflicts. The course
also incorporates the disciplines of
natural resource management, ecology,
law and public administration.
Wayne Armstrong
You could say that being a New Yorker influenced Jeanne Abrams to become a Westerner.
Abrams, a professor at Penrose Library and director of the Beck Archives and the Center for Judaic Studies’
Rocky Mountain Jewish Historical Society, moved from New York to Denver in 1973 and embarked on a career researching
Jewish history in the West.
Her work was inspired, in part, by a 1976 cover of The New Yorker on which New York was pictured as the biggest part of
the world. The West was “a footnote at that point,” Abrams points out—a reflection of many people’s mindsets. “It’s been my
passion for 25–30 years to deconstruct that myth.”
That passion led Abrams to write Jewish Women Pioneering the Frontier Trail: A History in the American West (New York
University Press, 2006)—the first academic book to trace the contributions of Jewish women in the American West.
The West, Abrams says, was historically more open for women to fully integrate than the East had been. “The West was
an area where risk-
taking was acceptable,”
she says, noting that
early pioneers were
still able to maintain a
Jewish identity. “The
[area] was definitely
more progressive in
terms of education
Courtesy of Beck Archives, Special Collections, Penrose Library
and professional
development.
and Center for Judaic Studies, University of Denver
“Going West or
growing up in the West
signaled promise for
many Jewish women.”
Abrams studied
the lives of hundreds
of women, drawing on
historical records and
personal memoirs dating
The Denver section of the National Council of Jewish Women sponsored a kosher picnic near Leadville, Co., in 1895. back to the mid-1800s.
The book chronicles
a history full of firsts. Francis Wisebart Jacobs, “Denver’s mother of charity,” helped establish the national Jewish Hospital in
Denver, the city’s first free kindergarten and the Community Chest (which evolved into the national United Way).
In the 1920s, Californian Florence Prag Kahn became the first Jewish woman to serve in the U.S. Congress. “She won
election in her own right after she filled in for her husband [following his death],” Abrams says.
Seraphine Eppstein Pisko served as head of National Jewish Hospital—likely the first Jewish woman in the U.S. to serve
as chief executive of a national institution.
Jewish women were at the forefront of the women’s suffrage movement, Abrams says, but even before they were allowed
to vote, many Jewish women in the West had “access to power circles” that enabled them to influence the men who could
vote.
Abrams also found that women often pioneered the organization of public Jewish life. For example, in the mid-1870s the
Jewish population of Cheyenne, Wyo., was about 40 when Bertha Myers established the city’s first Jewish religious school.
“As one of the smallest groups among western female immigrants, Jewish women were unusual in their disproportionate
public visibility,” Abrams writes in the introduction to her book. “Although they were rarely revolutionary, they often opened
new doors of opportunity for themselves and future generations in a region that allowed them ‘a place to grow.’”
the study of the influence of climate on annual natural events, such as plant budding and bird migration. They
register on a Web site and upload their data, which is then made available to scientists around the world.
Sanford says his class isn’t pushing any one theory of global warming. Rather, it’s testing the hypothesis that
something is altering the life cycle of plants around the world.
—Chase Squires
Donny and Missy Willis used to have an autumn ritual. They’d polish their rifles, dust off their tent, load the
car and head out on their annual hunting trip to the majesties of northwestern Colorado. Every year,
they’d have to tell Missy’s son, Jeremy Ledbetter, he’d have to stay home. And every year, he’d tell his mom he was going to go
hunting some day, no matter what. It was as predictable as the aspens turning yellow in the fall.
Missy Wallis hated to leave her son at home, but she couldn’t risk it. Ledbetter has a rare terminal illness—mitochondrial
intestinal neurogastric encephalopathy—that makes outdoor adventure almost impossible. His condition requires a near-
constant hook-up to a central line, he needs a ventilator to sleep, and when the 18-year-old isn’t in pain (he must take
morphine every four hours), he’s suffering from fatigue. He’s had more than 100 surgeries.
But last fall, Gene Schoonveld (BSBA ’60) helped Ledbetter break the routine.
Schoonveld serves on the board of directors of Child’s Wish—a charity affiliated with the United Special Sportsman
Alliance—which connects terminally ill children with guides, landowners or game ranches willing to donate hunting or fishing
excursions.
“For some reason, they have a real interest in going hunting,” Schoonveld says of the kids the charity serves. “I don’t
question it at all. You just try to get an idea of their physical limitations and do everything possible to make their wish come
true.”
When Schoonveld got Ledbetter’s request, he visited him at home in Loveland, Colo., assessed his needs and started
putting together plans for a deer hunt. Mike McQuay of Antlers Extreme Outfitters in Craig, Colo., donated a mule deer hunt,
and Schoonveld altered one of his own rifles so Ledbetter could shoot it. He even arranged for the young man to take his
hunter’s safety courses at home.
In the process, the two developed a close bond.
“He was like an adopted grandfather to Jeremy,” Missy Wallis recalls.
That’s nothing unusual for Schoonveld; the 71-year-old Fort Collins resident has three children and six grandchildren and,
like a lot of grandfathers, he’s spent a lifetime in the woods. He started hunting birds during his youth in southern Illinois and
continued hunting big game during his teens in Colorado.
While attending DU, he even skipped a few classes to go deer hunting, thinking no one would notice. He apparently didn’t
know legendary business law professor JJ Johnston well enough: “In the next class, he called me on it,” Schoonveld laughs.
In those days, the College of Business was downtown, and Schoonveld did double duty as a student and aircraft mechanic
for United Airlines and the old Frontier Airlines.
Schoonveld joined the Navy after graduation, spending two years as an officer aboard the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown
and two years ashore at the Fleet Operations Control Center in Hawaii.
After his discharge, Schoonveld used his DU degree to land a job as a district manager for General Motors in northern
Alberta, Canada.
Though he had no trouble finding a job, Schoonveld never lost interest in hunting or biology, so after four years in the
frozen North, he enrolled at Colorado State University and earned a master’s degree in animal physiology and nutrition.
Schoonveld then took a job as a wildlife research biologist with the Colorado Division of Wildlife. During his 32 years with
the agency, he worked with many of the state’s wildlife species and was responsible for reintroducing moose to the state.
After retirement in 2003, Schoonveld got involved with Child’s Wish while consulting for Bio-Tec Research, a Wisconsin-
based wildlife feed producer closely associated with the charity. As the charity’s point man in the West, he’s organized 15
hunting trips for kids from across the country.
“Gene is an asset in many aspects to our charity,” says Brigid O’Donoghue, Bio-Tec CEO and Child’s Wish founder. “Along
with his background in conservation and natural resources, he is very devoted to the children.”
Schoonveld accompanies the kids through their entire trip, helping them travel across challenging terrain, seeing to their
comfort and making sure their medical needs are met. One fall day a few years ago, he found himself asking permission from
an Inuit tribe in Alaska for four of his kids to hunt black bear on their lands. A few days later, he helped drag a bear out of the
swampy Alaskan muskeg. Over the years, he’s also taken kids elk hunting in Colorado and whitetail deer hunting in Oklahoma.
artwork.
—Jordan Ames
Become a
Coors Fitness Center
Young Alumni Member
For years, the Ritchie Center was
your fitness destination on campus.
Just because you’ve graduated
doesn’t mean that has to change!
reConneCt WitH DU anD BeCome a CoorS fitneSS Center YoUnG aLUmni memBer toDaY!
Wayne Armstrong
mention in two distinct categories: ceramics and cookbooks. of which lasts for an eight-hour
The culinary citation offers praise to Penrose Library for the shift and takes three to four hours
9,000 books and magazines that comprise its famed Margaret to recharge. Campus Safety has set
Husted Culinary Collection. It won “Best Way to Spice Up the the T3s to a maximum speed of 12
Kitchen Like It’s 1899.” mph.
The “Best Ceramics Show” award honors Myhren The initial investment, at
Gallery for the show that director Dan Jacobs organized of about $11,000 per vehicle, was
“eye-popping” sculpture done over four decades by artist Paul less than two-thirds the price of
Soldner. Images of his work can be found at www.paulsoldner. purchasing two traditional patrol
com. vehicles. Each costs about 20 cents
The Husted cookery collection includes tips on food and per day to operate, compared to
health published as far back 1683 and is one of the three largest the $25 per day average fuel cost
such collections in the United States. The material was acquired for a single patrol vehicle. After two
by the Boettcher Foundation and donated to the University in years of service, Campus Safety
1985. Director Don Enloe says, the T3s
DU has been included in Westword’s list on a number will pay for themselves through
of occasions over the years for accomplishments from art to savings in fuel costs alone.
athletics. Examples include Cab Childress, who was named Aside from clean-energy and
Best Architectural Visionary in 2004, and DU hockey, which cost-efficiency, T3 models have a
earned Best College Sports Team honors in 2005. The Ritchie number of advantages over other
Center was named Best New Building in 2000, and former clean-energy vehicles, Enloe says.
DU forward Paul Stastny was designated Best Avalanche player T3s come equipped with warning lights, sirens and a raised platform that affords the
in 2007. operator greater visibility. Additionally, the three-wheeled T3 provides greater stability
The Westword selections are chosen largely by nominations than a two-wheeled Segway, and the T3’s zero-degree turn radius makes it more
from staffers, but some unscientific public balloting also occurs. maneuverable than a golf cart.
—Richard Chapman —Samantha Stewart
containers bigger and learned to sort the items, and the amount
they collected doubled. A Social marketing. We need to craft messages rather than just
preach and pound on the podium. We need to change our sys-
tems and be really clever so people think they’re doing it the easy,
convenient way.
A No. 1 is to lower vehicle miles traveled. Instead of making 1992 to conduct research and educational programs on legal and public policy issues
related to land use and development. Audio and visual media of more than 30 panels
all those trips by car, use a bike, walk, ride a bus or combine and lectures from the institute’s 2009 conference are available at www.law.du.edu/
errands so that you don’t make separate trips. No. 2 is to buy rmlui.
Wayne Armstrong
In February, the University announced that for the 2009–10 academic
creating a “different kind of
year, tuition will increase by 4.9 percent—DU’s smallest tuition hike in a
abundance” in his life as a
decade.
volunteer for the Graduate
Effective in fall 2009, tuition for full-time undergraduate students will be
School of Social Work’s Bridge
$34,596. With room, board and mandatory student fees, the total cost for
Project.
undergraduates is $44,977, a 4.8 percent increase.
The Bridge Project is a
For some graduate programs, students enrolling in 12 to 18 credit hours
nonprofit whose mission is
per quarter will be charged a flat rate (tuition equivalent to 12 credit hours), or
to provide educational oppor-
$34,596 for the academic year.
tunities to children living in
Nearly 80 percent of DU undergraduates receive financial assistance,
Denver public housing. Steiss,
and the University has promised to continue increasing the amount of aid
who is a commodities trader
available. During the 2006–07 academic year, DU invested $42.5 million in
for BlueLinx Corp., began
undergraduate need and merit-based assistance. In 2007–08, the University
volunteering in 2006 as a
spent $47.8 million, and this academic year DU is projected to spend $50.3
tutor at Bridge’s South Lin-
million—an increase of more than 20 percent in three years. The financial aid
coln site. Quickly, though, he
office works closely with families to help them find assistance from a variety
and the site’s administrator
of sources.
both realized that Steiss had
—Jim Berscheidt
more to offer.
“I was more interested
in helping the kids with life
skills,” says Steiss. “I’d bring in
job applications, conduct mock interviews and talk about their goals.”
The site’s director suggested that Steiss also become a mentor.
That’s when Steiss met Vinnie Cruz, a high school student living in
South Lincoln Homes, a public housing project.
Steiss remembers that their first meeting ended with a unique
bonding moment. He had taken Cruz to a Nuggets game and then
drove him home.
“At the end of the night, I went to give Vinnie a handshake, and
he shook my hand in a sort of gangster-style handshake. I’m pretty
white,” Steiss jokes, “so he said to me, ‘You can help me with school
and I’ll help you with the handshakes.’”
Thus began a friendship that now includes “cheesy text mes-
sages,” sporting events and dinners up to three times a month, and
lots of straight talk.
Recently, Steiss took Cruz out to dinner to talk to him about
his goals after graduation. Cruz is attending the Life Skills Center
and should graduate in December. Cruz hinted that he may join the
Army. Steiss clearly outlined the path that the Bridge Project could
provide, including a full scholarship to college, if Cruz works hard on
his grades and entrance exams.
Cruz says he is still weighing his options but believes Steiss has
had a positive impact on his life.
“I’m guessing that if Scott wasn’t around, I’d be getting into
trouble with kids where I live,” says Cruz. “Scott’s a good guy, and I’m
glad I’ve got him as my mentor.”
>>www.du.edu/bridgeproject
—Janalee Card Chmel
For the past 16 years, Barbara Sanders (BFA ’72) has been pioneering an
art form known as “photogravure.” Like pioneers in any field, her path
has often been challenging, confusing and, yes, messy.
“I like icky inks,” she says with a laugh.
Photogravure is actually a centuries-old printmaking technique that was
all but lost after World War II. Though Sanders had been introduced to other
printmaking forms during her studies at the University of Denver, she learned
about photogravure in 1993 during a class she took at the Honolulu Academy of
Arts. Her life since has been a quest to perfect her own process and art.
The photogravure process is quite intricate. Fundamentally, it involves
printing photographs using etched metallic plates. But that’s a deceptively simple
description. While each artist’s process is slightly different, today Sanders’ list
of materials includes: digital images, an ink-jet printer, overhead transparency
paper, carbon tissue (a hard-to-find thin paper with a gelatinous film), UV light, a
mezzotint screen (which she purchased from a man in Sweden), mirror-finished
copper, ferric chloride and ink.
During the process, a positive image is exposed on light-sensitive carbon
tissue, which adheres to the copper plate so that when etched, varying depths of
holes based on the dark and light aspects of the image are created. Sanders then
spreads ink onto the surface of the plate, wiping off any excess. The plate is used
to transfer the inky image to cotton rag paper.
Why go through this involved, unpredictable process to print a photo?
“One of the joys of gravure is the clarity,” Sanders says. “There is a brilliant
contrast of white and dark but with this great continuous tone. If you get up
close to a gravure, the paper is not shiny. The blacks are black, and everything
else is a continuation of that black.
“It was explained to me that when you create a gravure, the little drops
of ink are absorbed into the paper, so there is a third dimension,” Sanders
says. “With a photo on traditional silver paper, you’re looking at all one plane.
Photogravure is three-dimensional.”
“From the beginning, I recognized Barbara’s dedication to her projects along
with her willingness to spend the time and energy to get the results she wanted,”
recalls Dodie Warren, who introduced Sanders to the technique at the Honolulu
Academy of Arts. “In class, we had some stunning successes and some disasters,
and she seemed to like the challenges.”
Sanders’ patience and persistence are paying off. One of her prints, titled
View, is on tour with the Texas Photographic Society’s “Alternative Processes”
exhibition. That print, like many that Sanders works on today, is of a historic
ranch in Steamboat Springs, Colo., where she lives.
“I’ve always tried to immerse myself in the places I live,” says Sanders. “As
I travel around the West and the Southwest, I am drawn to crumbling, ancient
and modern stone and wood structures. I am distressed that the history is falling
away from memory. I try to capture fragments, which will mean something when
the buildings are gone and the stories forgotten.”
>>www.steamboatgallery.com
T
he America of 90 years ago was very different. Prohibition Theology, Carnegie Library and Memorial Chapel.
had just begun. Flight was in its infancy. Women couldn’t The shock wave cracked University Hall.
vote. World War I had just ended, and the Spanish flu “If all the dynamite planted on our campus had exploded
pandemic was still killing millions. The White Sox threw the simultaneously, it would have knocked down our buildings
World Series, and fear of “anarchists and Reds” had the public in and destroyed life,” Chancellor Henry Buchtel told the Rocky
panic. Mountain News.
In Colorado, a bitter coal strike shivered the state and forced Miraculously, no one was injured, and no buildings fell
the governor to send troops to the mines. Record cold was down.
reported, and the workday in Denver was limited to six hours. Altogether, four bombs exploded. Ground zero was about
The University of Denver, unable to heat its buildings, closed 200 feet southwest of University Hall in an empty field where
campus for two weeks until the “coal famine” was resolved. the Mary Reed Building stands today. One bomb failed to det-
The only diversion was news coverage of the pursuit and onate—a clutch of five dynamite sticks whose fuse had been lit
capture of William Carlisle, the Parlor Car Bandit, named for his but which hadn’t gone off. An empty dynamite crate was found
“courtly manners” during train robberies. on University Boulevard.
DU in 1919 was known as the “Ministers” or “Fighting School of Mines students were blamed.
Pastors.” The school was 55 years old and boasted 1,800 stu- The night before, “slight” explosions had been heard, but
dents. It had 120 faculty members, dental, law and “commerce” neither damage nor injury resulted. Signs reading “Get D.U.”
schools, and prided itself on being the first university west of and “Give ’Em Hell, Mines” were found plastered on building
New York to offer college credit for training Scoutmasters. walls. The assumption was that the pranksters of Wednesday
Tuition was $150. evening had returned Thursday morning to make a bigger
DU had a football team but no stadium and competed in splash.
an athletic conference with CU, Colorado College, CSU (then “Police say the simultaneous explosion of 25 sticks of
Colorado A&M) and Colorado School of Mines. dynamite would have caused havoc for blocks,” The Denver Post
Hazing was rampant, as were college pranks. Some were reported in its lead story on page one.
as innocent as a cow ending up in a University Hall classroom. Buchtel was furious. He wasn’t alone.
Others were more inventive, such as when members of the Beta A wave of indignation swept the campus, inflaming students
fraternity stuffed a sophomore named Joseph Hoery into a cof- like Ralph Gibson, a burly fullback on the football team. Gibson
fin-like wooden crate, nailed the top shut, wrapped the box with was a West High graduate who had survived both World War I
rope, then summoned a freight service to deliver the crate to a and the Spanish flu before returning to Colorado to study den-
female student in Templin Hall, the women’s dormitory on the tistry at DU.
northeast corner of Josephine Street and Evans Avenue. “Students figured it was up to them to exact payment
DU’s archrival was the School of Mines, where students so for the offense against the University of Denver,” says James
often rode through Golden firing revolvers and dropping sticks Gibson, Ralph’s son. “Dad was a pretty tough guy.”
of dynamite for fun that the newspapers started calling them the The elder Gibson and others hired a car and drove to
“Blasters” and “Dynamiters” instead of the “Orediggers.” Golden with vengeance in mind. Their plan was to repaint in
So it might not have been a surprise when at 4:15 a.m. on crimson the 104- by 107-foot white “M” on Mount Zion over-
Nov. 6, 1919, a series of huge dynamite explosions shattered looking the School of Mines. The Mines “M” is the nation’s
the quiet DU dawn. The blasts rocked beds in Templin Hall so second-oldest mountainside monument and stood even then as a
fiercely that residents thought there was an earthquake, accord- cherished symbol.
ing to newspaper accounts at the time. The explosions blew The group didn’t depart Denver until mid-morning, and
out about 100 windows in University Hall, the Iliff School of though they were able to smear a large portion of the “M” with
G
dents he planned to quit the paper and go back East. ame day dawned cold and white. Nearly 5,000 people
The humiliation climaxed in a mass meeting on the Mines arrived at the Broadway Park field in snow and freezing
campus presided over by school President Victor Alderson. Bliss temperatures for the afternoon clash. It was a grand day
contritely apologized for his newspaper, the Rocky Mountain News for a grudge match; miserable for football.
gleefully reported. And after much hooting and chauvinistic “Snow made fast playing almost impossible, fumbling fre-
speeches, the Mines students sent him back to Denver to com- quent and field goals out of the question,” the News reported.
municate a warning that if the Post’s owners didn’t “cease their Still, it was an impressive game. Rick Ricketson of the Post
slurring attacks, the Miners would give the proprietors a taste of gushed that “harder fought battles haven’t been seen in Denver.”
the clowning they gave the reporter.” Nor cleaner games, he added, noting that penalties were few,
Gibson and the other DU students were released later that sportsmanship abundant, sideline cheers “good natured,” and
evening. “the bitter, destructive feeling between the two schools not
“I’m sure he was upset, but I don’t think greatly so,” James exhibited” even though both teams “flew at each other like hun-
Gibson speculates. “He was relatively good-natured and took the gry devouring beasts.”
punishment the same way.” All that was missing was resolution. The game ended in a
Today, similar behavior would result in instant police 0-0 tie.
madness
Western original Terri “t.” Stardust (BFA ’91) had a zany idea.
Now, every June, riders from around the country join her in
Wyoming for a Wild West version of equestrian competition.
H
orse trials, or eventing, is a highly regulated sport. Although “If you’ve ever seen cross-country on TV, the lanes may be roped off.
each cross-country course is different, certain standards have But, at Moonrock, it’s not so restrictive. It’s much more of a positive
to be met for a competition to be sanctioned. Rider and horse experience, especially for a younger horse.
safety are paramount, and liability issues abound. “Moonrock is just more fun,” she adds. “There’s a lot of cama-
“It takes a lot of planning,” Stardust says. “You have to hire a raderie. And [Stardust] makes it more fun by adding non-horsy type
designer and, even though I planned to do my own artwork, I needed competitions after everyone’s done riding. She’ll have a dog competi-
to find a builder, too. There are so many legalities to consider, you tion or grill up brats at sundown—something that brings everybody
just can’t drop a bunch of jumps in an area and say, ‘yee-ha!’ together. That’s what so unique about the event.”
“A lot of people I talked to didn’t believe me. They thought I was The cross-country ride is the last of three separate competitions
crazy and didn’t want to be a part of it.” at Moonrock, following dressage and stadium jumping.
That’s because most jumping courses, especially those in the “Eventing is like a horse triathlon,” Hatterman explains. “There
East, resemble well-manicured golf courses, she says. are three separate events and you ride the same horse. It’s difficult
“They’re tree-lined with lots of hedges, the exact opposite of to be really good at one phase and still be competitive. You and your
what I was proposing.” horse have to excel at all three.”
After numerous rejections, Stardust found two Canadians who “The sport goes back to the days of the cavalry, when riders used
were willing to take on the challenge. to test their horses to see if they were ready for battle,” Stardust says.
Robin Hahn, a four-time Olympian, agreed to design the “Dressage is an art form for the horses, almost like gymnastics or bal-
course, and Steve Buckman, a builder from British Columbia, would let. But, years ago, the objective was to maneuver yourself against an
help her construct it. enemy and survive on horseback. On the battlefield, you might have
“Robin provided the basic design for the loop,” Stardust says. to jump a hedge or stone wall to pursue the enemy. That’s where the
“Then Steve and I would collaborate. He would build me a frame or stadium jumping and cross-country come in. There are lots of things
shape and I’d adorn it a certain way.” a horse had to be able to do.”
Stardust spent hundreds of hours carving, painting, creating It takes years of training for both horse and rider to reach the
mosaics and etching copper for each obstacle. higher levels of competition.
“Each jump is unique, but they’re all interconnected,” she says. “It’s all about trust,” says Stardust. “Your horse has to trust you
Mystery Man
C
By Tamara Chapman
Photo illustrations by Wayne Armstrong
Charles James Box (Chuck to those who meet him face-to-face; C.J. to the legions of crime fiction fans who snap
up his every release) often wears a black hat and black leather jacket. In the iconography of the wild and woolly West,
that would make him one of the bad guys.
Box (BA mass communications ’81) is far from that, but he can rustle up an evildoer and depict an evil deed with
the best of them. Some eight years and 10 additional novels after the publication of his first page-turner, Open Season,
he is hailed for his fast-moving plots, likable protagonists and surreal showdowns. He’s also heralded as one of the
literary world’s foremost chroniclers of a modern-day West, one where avaricious individualists and deadly earnest
do-gooders ride into town on their high horses.
“A crime novel peels away the culture,” Box says, explaining why he works within the genre. “It exposes the
culture in a way that other books don’t.”
In Box’s disrobed West, readers encounter what he calls “a cutting-edge culture”—cutting edge because it’s
shaped, and sometimes distorted, by the passions of so many advocates and oppositionists. Think fans and foes of
the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act and the Environmental Protection Agency. Think proponents and
opponents of oil shale development, green energy, hunting, fishing, cattle grazing, development, the reintroduction of
wolves, you name it. Think larger-than-life characters with outsized carbon footprints or inflexible agendas.
In his celebrated Joe Pickett series, which follows the exploits of a Wyoming fish and game warden, the protago-
nist is often caught between clashing interests. Like so many archetypal heroes in this genre, Pickett is an accidental
sleuth, an honest man forced to fall back on his principles to negotiate venality, sanctimony and many forms of felony.
“It’s very much a classic Western point of view—the corrupting forces of civilization versus the individual with a code,”
Box explains.
B
the look on his face flickering between amusement and exasperation. Box’s newspaper experience provided much more than the charac-
ter of his series. It also refined his prose, developing his sense of how to
reel in a reader and propel a tale. “I work hard on the first page, on the
Box knew he wanted to write fiction even as a high school first line. And I do it throughout the whole book; I keep going back,”
student. A voracious reader, he devoured many of the novels set in he says, describing his writing process.
the West but wondered why so few of them were written by native Take the first page of Three Weeks to Say Goodbye, a thriller set pri-
Westerners. The outsider’s perspective was interesting, but where marily in Denver:
was the insider’s insight? It was Saturday morning, November 3, and the first thing I noticed
Providing that insight became his goal, but he wasn’t sure how when I entered my office was that my telephone message light was blinking.
to craft and pace a story. Over the years, he took some creative writing Since I’d left the building late the night before, it meant someone had called
classes, but to his disappointment, they failed to provide the instruc- my extension during the night. Odd.
tion he wanted. “While there are creative writing programs and MFA Not just odd, the reader soon discovers, but sinister. By page 2,
degrees, rarely are there classes in writing commercial fiction,” he says. the story is in full swing. Notice, Box says, that the reader doesn’t get
“I wasn’t interested in journaling, in getting in touch with my feelings. detoured by lots of “description.” He doesn’t do description, not by the
I’m still not.” paragraph anyway.
Box had better luck in his DU mass communications classes, Box tries to write five days a week, descending to the basement of
where he learned how to write crisp prose with strong verbs. At DU his home, located about eight miles north of Cheyenne. There, with a
on a journalism scholarship (his high school newspaper had a knack for window well for scenery, he crafts about a thousand words each day. He
investigative reporting), Box dreamed of following in the footsteps of also devotes a fair amount of time to tending to his fans, monitoring
Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, the two Washington Post reporters his Web site for their comments. He posts responses to many of them.
responsible for uncovering the Watergate scandal. He pictured himself, Where other writers complain about fan zealotry, Box can’t wait to con-
by day, uncovering corruption and exposing hypocrisy in the pages of a nect with his readers.
n the Range
I
By Richard Chapman
Photographs by Marc Piscotty
It’s a chilly January morning five days into the 2009 stock show, and the president and CEO
of the National Western is pausing to chat with a hobo.
The man called “Hobo”—“mostly from Utah and Idaho,” he says—is between the Hall of
Education and the Events Center. He’s trying to keep a tangle of tractors, hay haulers, mounted
cowboys and Texas longhorns from running anyone over.
Hobo has been part of the annual Denver stock show since 1994, when he hopped off a
freight train from Chicago to find a few hours of work.
“I been ridin’ freights since I was 12,” the 60-year-old spits through riverstone teeth. “I’m
gonna ride ’til I cain’t.”
As he directs traffic, Hobo updates the head wrangler—president and CEO Pat Grant (MBA
’73). For 18 years, Grant has been the executive ramrod behind the 103-year-old National
Western Stock Show, Rodeo and Horse Show. It’s his job to see that exhibitors feel welcome,
cowboys are treated well and hundreds of thousands of visitors have a good time.
Today, Grant is walking the grounds, carefully observing, checking, thanking volunteers and
communing with the free spirits who help make the show hum. Like Hobo.
“I see you got yourself a nice new cowboy hat,” Grant says with approval, a disarming smile
shining from under the brim of his own Stetson.
Hobo just grins.
Grant moves on.
G
It was the beginning of the work ethic to which I was exposed,
and it really is an important part of who I am.”
Grant’s love of politics might have been in his blood, but his long it took Stinkin’ Water to send him flying, but it was quick.
connection with agriculture was in his roots on Grant Farm, a corn, “I got kicked as I was thrown off the horse and limped around
barley, wheat and livestock operation that his father, Edwin “Ned” for a couple months. I decided there had to be a better way to make
Grant, ran west of Littleton. The farm stretched from about Sheridan a living.”
Boulevard to Simms Street and Bowles south to Belleview, and it Like studying business at DU. So he enrolled, commuting to
previously belonged to Gov. James Grant, writes Thomas Noel (BA campus from the farm in Littleton and earning an MBA in 1973.
history ’67, MA librarianship ’68) in Riding High: Colorado Ranchers and “I have always felt a fondness for the education I got at DU, and
100 years of the National Western Stock Show. that was one of the reasons my wife, Carla, and I started the Grant
“My first job was hoeing weeds for $1 a day. I was 9, 10, 11,” Family Scholarship Fund,” a need-based scholarship to aid undergrad-
Grant chuckles. “It was the beginning of the work ethic to which I was uates from rural Colorado.
exposed, and it really is an important part of who I am.” After DU came a law degree from Drake in 1976, then a spot in
Part of the farm became the community of Grant Ranch, but the Pop Grant’s law firm after clerking for an appeals court judge for a
heart of it is the Raccoon Creek Golf Course, which the Grant fam- year.
ily still owns and operates. Barns that once held milk cows and horses Law was interesting but politics more compelling. In 1984 Grant
now house golf carts and grooming gear. The two-story home where won a seat in the state House of Representatives representing the tony
Grant and his siblings grew up is the golf course clubhouse and Grove Denver neighborhoods of Belcaro, Hilltop, Bonnie Brae, Country
restaurant. Photos of the family hang with homey familiarity, and a Club and part of Capitol Hill.
plaque marks the spot where brother Newell Grant blasted a hole “He was a lawyer from metro Denver, but he looked more com-
through the wall with a hunting rifle. fortable in jeans and a cowboy hat,” recalls legislative colleague and
“[He] blew a book to smithereens,” Pat Grant recalls with a former Gov. Bill Owens, now affiliated with DU’s Institute for Public
prankster’s smile. “We opened the window, aired it out and took the Policy Studies.
book out to the back yard and buried it.” Grant waded into the most difficult issues he could find.
Most days in his youth were less explosive, spent learning to ride, “I carried the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD)
raise animals, tend crops. Swimming and fishing in Bowles Lake with bill with Ted Strickland. I carried the bill to annex Adams County land
Newell and sisters Susan, Cecily and Anne. Working on the farm, for Denver International Airport. I carried tort reform legislation with
going to Denver Country Day School and attending the National fellow Rep. Bill Owens. I was asked by Gov. [Dick] Lamm to head up
Western with his dad, who served on the executive committee. the effort to get ethanol-based fuel to help clean up our air. I carried
“My brother and sisters and I used to tag along behind him at the historical preservation tax credit bill.”
every show whenever we could get out of school,” Grant recalls fondly. Grant pauses, afraid the list will appear boastful. A warm smile
“I have great memories.” and down-home sincerity mask the tenacity it took to ram the bills
Ned Grant was an avid horseman and once owned Granville, through the legislature. But the results speak for themselves. The
winner of the 1936 Belmont Stakes. He was also a committed rancher, SCFD bill has become a national model. The 1985 package of tort
who in 1967 bought a sprawl of prime property south of Steamboat reforms that he and Owens hammered through in response to a crisis
Springs, where U.S. 40 meets State Road 131. in medical malpractice costs is still working.
He died unexpectedly six months later, and the family struggled Owens can remember the fight.
to keep the Yampa Valley Land and Cattle Co. running. They hung on “I’m defending the [tort] bill in front of the House. There were
until the late 1990s, when most of the ranch was sold to the Trust for maybe 20 or 30 amendments; you have to think on your feet. The
Public Lands so it wouldn’t be developed. Today, the property is some Democrats came down with a tough amendment. I was thinking,
of the breathtaking open space on the doorstep to Steamboat. ‘Damn, I know I don’t like this, but I’m not sure how to argue it.’ All
“It was a cattle ranch,” Grant recalls of those early days. “You’d get of a sudden I see Pat Grant walking up. He very effectively took over
up and feed the cattle, then break ice so they can water in the Yampa the microphone, argued and saved the day.”
River, then shovel snow off haystacks.” Grant wanted more.
The work bred an understanding of the ranching life. A July 4 “From the early ’70s my goal in life was to be governor,” he says.
ride on a bareback bronc in a 1971 Steamboat rodeo bred a healthy His first chance was in 1988. But Democratic incumbent Roy
regard for cowboys. Romer had sewn up much of the Republican business community.
“This college friend and I had a bet, after about three whiskies, of Grant feared the race would be tough and unsuccessful, so he passed
who would last longest.” on running.
A successful bareback ride is eight seconds. Grant won’t say how Two years before the 1998 election, he geared up again and was in
On May 6, 1970, students at DU—distressed by President Richard Nixon’s April 30 order to invade Cambodia
and the May 4 shooting deaths of four Kent State students by members of the National Guard—went on strike
against the University. “Woodstock West” was founded two days later in the area bounded by Margery Reed,
Carnegie Hall and the Science Building as students gathered, constructing shelters and memorials. To end the
protest, Colorado Gov. John Love (BA ’39, LLB ’41) called in National Guardsmen, who arrived on May 13.
Woodstock West was dismantled that day without incident. Read more at www.du.edu/magazine.
1962
Irvin Jones (BA ’62) retired from the
Department of Education’s Office of Indian
Education in 1991. Irvin and his wife of 50
Alumni relations reorganized
years, Norma Jean, reside in Gallup, N.M. DU is taking a new approach to alumni relations and fundraising. Starting in July, the Office
They have three grown children—Ralph, of Alumni Relations will become independent of University Advancement and will report directly
Donna and Vonda—and five grandchildren. to the chancellor.
“We’re about being a university, which means we are about our students and our alumni.
1966 We really felt that alumni relations needed the tone and the focus of being on its own,” says
DU Trustee Pat Hamill (BSBA ’81), chair of the Board of Trustees Student and Alumni Affairs
Cecil Bykerk (BA ’66) was named president
of the Society of Actuaries in October 2008. Committee.
Prior, he served as president of CDBykerk Although most institutions adhere to a model in which alumni relations is part of a
Consulting, providing actuarial consulting. larger campus department, a December 2008 Student and Alumni Affairs Committee retreat
Cecil is a fellow of the Society of Actuaries
determined that DU should develop a model that better suits the University’s needs, according
and the Conference of Consulting Actuaries
and was named an honorary fellow of the to Ed Harris, vice chancellor for University Advancement.
Institute of Actuaries of the United Kingdom. “We want to demonstrate that alumni relations at DU is not exclusively about fundraising,”
He resides in Omaha, Neb. says Harris, who believes the change will not hurt DU’s fundraising ability.
“People make investments because they are inspired by an institution’s mission,” he says.
Ralph Kruger (MSW ’66) and June Kruger
“Our commitment to carrying out DU’s mission is unwavering.”
(MSW ’66) have retired in Kimberling City,
Mo. Both were employed by school districts Both Harris and Jeff Howard, executive director of Alumni Relations, believe the change
in Colorado Springs, Colo., for 32 years, and will give their departments the opportunity to concentrate on their respective goals.
Ralph practiced psychotherapy until 2001. He Alumni Relations has already begun working on several initiatives aimed at increasing
published the book Losing Everything While alumni engagement, including building a new Web site, growing the alumni mentoring program,
Losing Nothing: Christian Martyrs of the Third supporting alumni chapters and taking the successful Alumni Symposium on the road with the
Reich (Publish America, 2008).
first stop in Chicago.
“Our alums are energized and excited about the direction the University is going,”
Howard says. “What we’re finding is that they just want to be asked to be included. The more
opportunities we give, the more our alums will be engaged.”
—Samantha Stewart
Class Notes Challenge: 1979 she is the research director for KUSA/
KTVD.
Career corner
Although christened Little Cub Bear, the promi-
nent Lakota chief known most often as Gall was nick-
named “Fighting Cock of the Sioux” by U.S. soldiers.
Gall played a major part at the Battle of Little
Bighorn in 1876. Incensed by the deaths of his two Q: I was just laid off. What do I do now?
wives and three daughters—victims of a surprise
attack by U.S. forces—Gall led a charge across A: First, take time to recover from emotions such as shock, hurt, anger and disap-
pointment. Losing a job can result in a deep loss of identity in addition to a means
of financial support. People are best able to handle new situations when their emotions are
the Medicine Trail Ford to decimate Gen. George
Custer’s main forces grouped there. under control, so express and work through them.
Stay positive and focused, and move forward. Don’t hold a grudge against your boss or
According to Larson, the Lakota Sioux “were
former company, and don’t dwell on the past or try to recreate it. With shifting market con-
the most successful Indian tribe in resisting the settle-
ditions, it may be unlikely that you will find the same type of position again, so work toward
ment of their hunting grounds.”
setting aside the disappointment of the past and create a new image of what your future
The U.S. government, however, emerged vic- work could be.
torious from the Great Sioux Wars. Gall—believing Get your financial business in order. File for unemployment insurance right away, as
assimilation to be inevitable—broke with Sitting Bull, the process may take time before you see the first payment. Clear up debt and set up a bud-
his mentor, and worked to integrate his tribe into get to determine how long you can take to search for your next position. Consider whether
modern society. you need to seek temporary work immediately or are able to take time to evaluate your
Relying on six years of research, including inter- career path and hold out for the ideal new position.
views with Gall’s direct descendants, Larson traces Be prepared for a job search to take time. It can be too easy to jump into a new job out
the transformation of the The-Man-That-Goes-in- of fear. Recognize this “gap time” as an opportunity to take care of yourself, to step back and
the-Middle—Gall’s preferred nickname—from fierce reflect on what is meaningful to you in your work and in life, and to be refreshed through a
change of pace and (perhaps) lessened responsibilities, at least for a time.
warrior to pragmatic leader.
Establish a structure to your day and your job search. Schedule time to get up and
The retired history professor has earned several
begin your day, and progress in your job search each week. While it may be tempting to set
awards for Gall, including the Western Writers of
aside routines, they are essential in establishing and maintaining a job search. Once the rea-
America Spur Award for the best Western biography son to prepare yourself for the day is gone, it is easy to fall into patterns that distract from
of 2008, the Western History Association’s 2008 a disciplined job search instead of being prepared to meet with networking contacts and
Robert M. Utley Award and Westerner’s International potential employers at a moment’s notice.
Co-Founders Best Book Award for 2007. Finally, plan your job search as if it was a full-time job and you are the boss. Set daily
Larson, 82, lives in Denver. He also wrote and weekly goals that might include polishing your resumé, researching target companies,
Red Cloud: Warrior-Statesman of the Lakota Sioux activating your network, tailoring cover letters to specific positions, and developing your
(University of Oklahoma Press, 1997) and plans a interviewing skills. Block out times to be in public interacting with professionals in person,
biography of Rain-in-the-Face, another important not simply sitting behind a computer surfing the Internet. Networking and referrals are the
Lakota leader. only way to discover untapped resources.
—Samantha Stewart
Wendy Winter-Searcy is a licensed professional counselor with a master’s degree in counseling. She is
This book is available at the DU Bookstore, assistant director at the University of Denver Career Center. She also serves on the leadership board of
www.dubookstore.com. the Colorado Career Development Association and teaches classes in career development and manage-
ment. Contact her at 303-871-2150 or wwinter@du.edu.
Wayne Armstrong
(IMBA ’99) needs to unwind,
he drags a lawn chair out to the
middle of his paddock, kicks back,
pulls down his hat and enjoys the
peaceful milling of his herd of …
alpacas.
That’s right. Alpacas.
“They’re just magnificent
animals,” Thompson says. “They’re
so calming to be around.”
Thompson owns and
operates the Tres Amigos alpaca
ranch with his wife, Nancy. The
ranch—with a sweeping view of
Pikes Peak—occupies 37 acres
of rolling grassland speckled
with stands of Gambel oak and
ponderosa.
The 7,100-foot setting is
almost perfect for alpacas—a
domesticated animal from the
high Andes raised primarily for
their fiber, which is used for
knitted and woven items.
Thompson bought his ranch 10 years ago after finishing his master’s degree. He had been working full time and going to school
full time and suddenly had a lot less to do. He was restless.
So, he bought some ranchland 15 miles south of Franktown, Colo. On weekends, he would head to the ranch—just open space at
that point—and “whack at weeds with a sickle.”
The Thompsons eventually built a house, and, wanting to keep the land’s agricultural designation for tax purposes, looked into
adding livestock to their family of three people (including daughter Lindsey), three birds and three dogs.
First they considered buying calves. But, they were afraid they’d get too attached. Then they thought of llamas. They settled on
alpacas because, Thompson says, “alpacas are smaller, they’re cuter, and they’re easier to handle.” They bought their first three alpacas
in 2000 and Tres Amigos was born.
Today there are 57 alpacas at the ranch (including 20 boarded there by another owner), along with a couple of horses and a fat
barn cat—a favorite friend to curious baby alpacas. Thompson raises breeding stock and also sells the alpacas’ fiber after their annual
shearing.
The 90-year-old cattle rancher on the neighboring spread has taught Thompson the ranching ropes. “I’m his city slicker project,”
says Thompson, who grew up in Madison, Wis. Although alpacas are “fairly easy keepers,” Thompson spends at least two hours a day
caring for his land and livestock in addition to working full time from home as a program manager for Avaya, a global communications
technology company.
Before working in the private sector, Thompson was an Army language specialist stationed at a listening post in Cold War-era
Berlin. Although he doesn’t get to use his foreign language skills much in his current job, he practices on the alpacas, even giving some
of them Hungarian or Russian names: Laszlo, Voltan, Yuri and Dimitri. Then there’s Audrey—named after Audrey Hepburn—a cocoa-
colored, doe-eyed alpaca who follows Thompson around like a lovesick puppy. And there’s Cupid (born on Valentine’s Day), Satchmo,
Morgan, Sebastian, Cutty (for the whisky) and the rest of the gang, all with distinct personalities. Thompson can recognize each, and
he loves them all.
Alpacas, he says, are a “huggable investment.”
>>www.tresamigosranch.com
—Chelsey Baker-Hauck
Contact us
Tell us about your Name (include maiden name)
career and personal DU degree(s) and graduation year(s)
accomplishments, awards, Address
births, life events or
City
whatever else is keeping
State ZIP code Country
you busy. Do you support
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send a photo. (Include a
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your photo returned.)
Post your class note online at www.alumni.du.edu, e-mail du-magazine@du.edu or mail your note to: Class Notes,
University of Denver Magazine, 2199 S. University Blvd., Denver, CO 80208-4816.
54 University of Denver Magazine Summer 2009
1995 Tracy Houston (MLA ’96, MLS ’96) was
honored during the annual Celebrate
as a partner. Kenneth specializes in advising
investment banks, broker-dealers and hedge
Melissa Reeves Women event on Nov. 14, 2008. Tracy and funds on legal issues related to the purchase
(MA ’95, PhD ’98) her fellow honorees were recognized for and sale of domestic and international par and
of Huntersville, their contributions to family, community distressed assets. He also advises clients on
S.C., co-authored and the workplace. She is the interim chair corporate and security matters.
her first book, for the nonprofit International Center for
Identifying, Assessing Appropriate and Sustainable Technology.
and Treating PTSD
at School (Springer,
Tracy lives in Lakewood, Colo. 1999
Heidi (Flammang) Ganahl (MHS ’99)
2008). Melissa is a Henry “Hank” Thiess (MBA ’96) is the gen- joined the advisory board of the University
school psychologist and adjunct lecturer at eral manager of Wintergreen Resort, located of Colorado Leeds School of Business.
Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C. She in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. Prior, he Heidi is the founder and CEO of Camp
also conducts workshops for school districts worked as the president and general manager Bow Wow, the largest dog day care and
and educational associations across the of Durango Mountain Resort in Durango, boarding franchise in North America. Prior
country. Colo., and as the vice president of resort to founding Camp Bow Wow in 2000, she
operations for Keystone Resort in Keystone, had a career in pharmaceutical sales. Heidi
Donald Baldridge (MBA ’96) of Englewood, Mikaela and Madalyn. Aaron Huey (BFA ’99) of Seattle is a photog-
Colo., has been appointed vice president of rapher for National Geographic Adventure and
business development for DCP Midstream. National Geographic Traveler and works as a free-
He has more than 16 years of experience in
the energy industry, including commercial,
1998 lancer for dozens of other publications. The
Marcus Deitz (JD ’98) of Spring, Texas, was December 2008 issue of Smithsonian magazine
trading and business development activities. named partner in the Andrews Kurth law featured Aaron’s photographs documenting
Prior, Don served as vice president of firm. Marcus practices public law with a focus Pakistan’s Sufi culture. His next assignment
corporate development. in public finance. Kenneth Rothenberg will take him on an extended trip to Yemen.
(JD ’00) of New York City will join Marcus
St. Louis
Connect with your local DU alumni chapter.
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chapters.
Deaths 1960s
Tamra Tate (BA ’62, MA ’73), Denver, 11-14-08
F. “Morris” Johnson (EdD ’63), Loveland, Colo., 8-29-08
1930s Diana Whitfield (BA ’63), Fairfax Station, Va., 12-31-08
Edwyna (Richards) Rinne (BA ’37), Denver, 1-28-09 John Kershaw (BA ’65), Albion, Mich., 8-4-08
Harold Van Horn (MA ’65, PhD ’68), Mercer Island, Wash., 10-29-08
1940s Howard Dennis (MA ’67), Denver, 12-19-08
Clara (Lee) Lambrecht (BA ’40), Lake Havasu City, Ariz., 9-13-08
Henry Stanford (MS ’43), Americus, Ga., 1-1-09 1970s
Stanley Brown (BS ’47), Kansas City, Mo., 4-1-08 George Morrison (attd. 1967–70), Schenectady, N.Y., 11-12-08
Florence Goldhammer (BA ’47), Denver, 2-21-08 George Bassett (BA ’73), Coral Gables, Fla., 6-11-08
Gilbert “Gib” Frye (BS ’48), Centennial, Colo., 11-16-08 Michael O’Connell (BSBA ’78), Westminster, Colo., 10-2-08
Marion (Stearns) White (attd. 1947–48), Denver, 1-21-09
Eleanor Yelvington (MBA ’48), Clarendon Hills, Ill., 9-21-07 1980s
John Fritts (BS ’49), Allenspark, Colo., 10-1-08 Tamra Burgwardt (BA ’81), Buffalo, N.Y., 1-30-09
Gary Fukayama (MBA ’83), Fountain Hills, Ariz., 10-6-08
1950s Craig Chamness (attd. 1986–88), Escondido, Calif., 8-20-08
Thomas Quinn (BS ’50), Denver, 3-9-08 Robin Birky (BA ’89), Valparaiso, Ind., 8-29-08
Robert Johnson (JD ’51), Colorado Springs, Colo., 10-26-08
Barbara (Goldberg) Berry (BA ’52), Macungie, Pa., 9-29-08 1990s
Gunni Karrby (BA ’53), no date given, Goteborg, Sweden Patrick Jean-Pierre (MA ’98), Woodmere, N.Y., 12-12-08
Miroslav “Michael” Slama (MA ’54), Thousand Oaks, Calif., 11-30-08
Arlyce (Kjelbertson) Milburn (BS ’59), Bartlesville, Okla., 12-5-08 Students
Lauren Johnson, international studies graduate student, Vancouver, Wash.,
1-5-09
56 University of Denver Magazine Summer 2009
?
Terrance Carroll (JD ’05) of Denver was Keri Herman (BSBA ’05) placed fourth in
elected speaker of the Colorado House of the women’s slopestyle skiing competition
Representatives on Nov. 6, 2008. He is the at the 2009 Winter X Games. Keri lives and
first African-American to hold this position trains in Breckenridge, Colo.
in Colorado. Terrance served as the assistant
House majority leader during 2007. He is also
an attorney with Greenberg Traurig and is an 2007 Which alum is a retired Air Force
ordained minister. Matthias Edrich (IMBA ’07, JD ’07) joined
the Ohio-based law firm Peck, Shaffer & colonel who once worked in Bosnia?
Williams as an attorney in its Denver office.
He advises governmental, nonprofit and The answer can be found somewhere
corporate borrowers, issuers, underwriters
on pages 46–58 of this issue. Send your
and banks in all matters concerning bond
financings and public finance law. answer to du-magazine@du.edu or
University of Denver Magazine, 2199 S.
Christina Mengert (PhD ’07) of Stone University Blvd, Denver, CO 80208-4816.
Ridge, N.Y., compiled the book 12x12: Be sure to include your full name and
Jeff Grabner (BSBA ’05) of Chagrin Falls, Conversations in 21st Century Poetry and Poetics mailing address. We’ll select a winner
Ohio, operates his family business, Cardinal (University of Iowa Press, 2009) with Joshua
from the correct entries; the winning
Fastener, as the wind product manager. The Wilkinson. Christina’s poems and reviews
company is the largest supplier of fasteners have appeared in Web Conjunctions, the Denver entry will win a prize courtesy of the DU
used to transport, erect and stabilize wind Quarterly, Afugabe and the New Review of Bookstore.
turbines. Jeff credits his DU education with Literature. She teaches writing and literature at
helping him to succeed in the fast-paced wind the University of Colorado at Boulder and in Congratulations to Debbie Stapert
energy industry. Jeff (pictured on right) and UCLA’s writers’ extension program.
(BBA ’96) for winning the spring issue’s
his family had the pleasure of meeting Barack
Obama four days before his inauguration. Post your class note online at www.alumni.du.edu, pop quiz.
e-mail du-magazine@du.edu or mail in the form on
page 57.
• a re working (or former) journalists, especially Homecoming Come back to campus Oct. 29–
those working in “new media” Nov. 1 to cheer on the Pioneers, watch the parade,
• are willing to share their perspectives on the trick-or-treat with your family, enjoy great food and
rising costs of college live music, tour campus and more.
• have struggled with personal debt (including stu- >>www.alumni.du.edu/
dent loans and credit cards) or are experts in debt
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