Hearth of the community

Tami Meck

Published on Thursday, 21 April 2011 16:24

Monica Wiitanen of Paonia monitors her retained-heat masonry oven while homemade pizzas cool. Bake days are social events as the Wiitanens welcome friends, neighbors, and even a culinary school to experience the joys and benefits of baking outdoors in a wood-fired oven.

When Monica Wiitanen pre-heats her oven, she doesn't turn a knob or punch a button. There's no pilot light.

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Keeping history alive

Verna Barr

Published on Wednesday, 13 April 2011 01:00

Rendezvous is “to assemble at a certain place at a certain time.” Mountain Men and their families meet for competition, various outdoor events, and socialization. Clothing worn is either handmade or received in trade and represents the early time period.

Armed with muzzle-loading weapons, dressed in handmade period clothing, a group of local men and women enthusiastically keep alive the fur trapping era.

Mountain men reenactors started a local club in 1987.

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Patriotic revival

Hank Lohmeyer

Published on Wednesday, 30 March 2011 01:00

Delta’s Lee Marts VFW Post and Ladies Auxiliary are on a new mission to restore the former North Delta Community Center to a military history museum. The post and auxiliary have other big plans, too. Post member Bob Sage, left, and post commander Paul Carter display their banner during a March 19 work day.

Ambitious plans for a revival of the patriotic spirit took a step towards reality on a balmy afternoon, March 19.

Members of the Lee Marts Veterans of Foreign Wars Post #3571 and Ladies Auxiliary turned out for the first work day on their future new home and military museum.

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Restoration project shines new light on Paonia church

Tamie Meck

Published on Wednesday, 16 March 2011 01:00

Earlana Sims, who is leading the effort to restore the Paonia Fellow Christian Church’s 100-year-old stained glass windows, looks at one of the windows as she recalls some of her memories of the church. Her mother first took her to a service at the church, then the First Christian Church, when she was 2 weeks old.

One of Paonia's century-old churches is gaining attention lately, both from its congregation members, and from historical preservation entities that could help protect and restore the building for the next 100 years.

Thanks largely to the efforts of Paonia Christian Fellowship member Earlana "Lana" Sims, the church was placed on the Colorado State Register of Historic Properties on Feb. 24.

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Fulfilling a promise

Verna Barr

Published on Wednesday, 02 March 2011 00:00

John Schmidt’s display at the craft sale in Cedaredge proved to be quite lucrative in sales, exposure, and provided consignment sources for the future. It was also an opportunity to make arrangements for this story on the Back Page.

John Schmidt started drawing and painting when he was six years old. Both of his grandmothers were artists.

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More than a house

Hank Lohmeyer

Published on Thursday, 17 February 2011 12:36

With light from a typically gorgeous Delta County sunset reflecting in the entryway windows, the Redlands Mesa home of Jim Wetzel and Nancy Wood conveys the sense of inviting comfort and wise energy efficient construction that was designed into its every feature from the ground up.

When Jim Wetzel and Nancy Wood head home in the evening and pull into the driveway leading to their home, they experience something very special.

That's because the unique structure they live in on Redlands Mesa represents something more than the years of dreams and planning, and three years of work so far that has gone into it.

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Vintage is in vogue

Pat Sunderland

Published on Wednesday, 09 February 2011 00:00

THESE THREE dresses are part of Rose Marie Prince’s vintage clothing collection. The peach gown on the left is a reproduction made by a friend for a Victorian gathering in Leadville. In the center is the dress Rose Marie’s grandmother wore when she was married in 1895. Rose Marie has used the lace dress on the right for many different events. She changes the color of the sash and the slip to suit the occasion.

Rose Marie Prince loves antiques of all kinds, but there's a special place in her heart for vintage clothing — perhaps because of two very special dresses, her grandmother's wedding gown and the beaded dress in which her mother was married.

While those two gowns are the genesis of Rose Marie's vintage clothing collection, she has other authentic garments from days gone by as well as some reproductions.

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Pioneering spirit

Verna Barr

Published on Thursday, 27 January 2011 16:06

Martha Jane (Workman) Peterson, front center, is surrounded by her nine children. In back is Martin, Eugene, Ben, Archie and Vern, while in front are Ada, Otto C., Evie and Nina. Martha Jane was born July 27, 1856, in Salt Lake City, Utah, and married Otto A. Peterson on Dec. 4, 1876. The couple homesteaded in Delta County in 1881

Buckley Peterson and his cousin Betty (Peterson) Kendrick tell the stories of their great-grandfather Otto August Peterson, born in 1854 in Copenhagen, Denmark. He was about two years old, the youngest of five children, when they and their widowed mother Sophia traveled to this country from Denmark.

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Klondike Mike’s unexpected adventure

Bob Borchardt

Published on Thursday, 20 January 2011 16:25

Mike Folkerth fuels the Cessna 206 he was piloting when he found himself in a “life changing” experience. Forgetting to retract the landing gear, Folkerth found himself and the plane upside down in a remote lake in Alaska while landing to pick up a party of fishermen. He escaped, but the lessons of that day have stayed with him.

Born in Dunkirk Ind., Cedaredge resident Mike Folkerth is one of three sons born to Ed and Jessie Folkerth. He graduated from Dunkirk High School in 1964; attended Bellevue Community College (Bellevue, Wash.); and served in the U.S. Navy before meeting his wife-to-be, Cathy Lemon, in Delta.

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