Marvia Valdez: a neighborhood’s best friend

Neighborhood organization is fundraising for a park shelter in her honor

BY THE BELLEVUE-HALE NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION

As the sun sets on the homes in the 1200 block of Birch Street in Denver, eyes might come to rest on a white brick house with green shutters. Until the winter of 2021, one would likely have seen a white-haired woman with a big smile inside this home, sitting at her computer by the window of her o ce. She likely would have provided a friendly wave while a small black-and-tan dog named Toby kept watch through the front screen door.

e woman’s name was Marvia Valdez. She was one of the more familiar faces in Denver’s BellevueHale neighborhood.

Her impact was signi cant and ongoing. Times changed through the years, but Valdez was steadfast in her views of community. She always spoke of how community — the cooperation, friendship and caring of neighbors for other neighbors — is what keeps a neighborhood healthy and alive.

“Marvia was the rst person I met when I moved into the neighborhood 12 years ago,” said Tom Arrison, neighbor and member of the Bellevue-Hale Neighborhood Association’s Lindsley Park Shelter Committee. “She was altogether friendly. Working around her over the years, I noticed how people were drawn to her and sought to be involved in her projects. She was just one of those people who made involvement easy and a joy. But she was strong-willed and things got done.”

Many knew Valdez from visits with her in her yard, or her and Toby’s daily visits to Lindsley Park, where Valdez would tend to annual and perennial gardens. Others encountered her during the holiday season when she worked with neighborhood volunteers to decorate the small evergreen trees with ornaments in the picnic area of Lindsley Park. Her strong sense of community helped hold the fabric of the neighborhood together.

Valdez joined the Bellevue-Hale

Neighborhood Association’s Board of Trustees in 1979, just two years after the neighborhood organization was formed and registered with the city and county of Denver. Her tenure includes serving as president for a number of years.

Just some of the community gatherings Valdez was involved with include an outdoor family movie night with live music, food and ice cream trucks; an annual summer BHNA Picnic in Lindsley Park; an annual Holiday Party hosted in the neighborhood’s historic homes; and neighborhood yard sales to raise funds for BHNA.

“Her main focus was creating and building community through activities that brought people together,” said Laurie Bogue, member and past president of the BHNA Board. “Marvia’s enthusiasm, perseverance and quiet leadership motivated many others to work on behalf of the neighborhood.” roughout her life, Valdez remained vigilant with her vision of community and in uenced development decisions in the neighborhood. She made a di erence.

Valdez died in January 2021 from a battle with cancer.

To honor her e orts of building community, the BHNA, in partnership with Denver Parks and Recreation, is making strides on ful lling Valdez’s dream to construct a shelter in Lindsley Park, which will serve as a community space where neighbors and families can gather for various activities. the construction of the shelter has already begun. Improvements to the picnic area, landscaping and gardens are also planned.

Valdez was born in Craig, Colorado. She moved to Denver in the mid-1960s, and the Bellevue-Hale neighborhood in the mid-1970s.

As a professional, Valdez wore many other hats. She retired from a teaching career of more than 20 years with Denver Public Schools in 1990, and served as a part-time teacher at Emily Gri th Technical College until 2014. Valdez also embraced being a landlord and an adventurer of road trips with her daughter, Sherri.

Valdez’s most memorable trait was her amazing ability to connect with students and their families, neighbors and her tenants. She would go to the former Annie’s Café on Fridays to visit with friends and neighborhood and keeping in touch work with Marvia for over 30 years. Her compelling enthusiasm for the betterment of our neighborhood remains an inspiration,” said Ray Allen, a long-time friend, neighbor and BHNA board member. “Marvia’s passion was to know and help others, and to contribute to our neighborhood. e Lindsley Park Shelter, Marvia’s vision, will keep her memory alive and be a community space to foster friendships among our neighbors.” including it in health records would allow clinicians to monitor it over time and adjust their responses as patients’ needs and circumstances change. … Patients’ lives may hang in the balance,” the paper reads.

The Bellevue-Hale Neighborhood Association is a Registered Neighborhood Organization. Learn more at bellevuehale.org. To donate to the Marvia Valdez Lindsley Park Shelter, visit bellevuehale. org/lindsley-park-pavilion. Donations can also be mailed to BHNA, P.O. Box 200084, Denver, CO, 80220.

Older adults are often thought of as more likely to be lonely, but according to the Surgeon General’s report, young adults are nearly twice as likely to be lonely than older adults. 79% of adults aged 18 to 24 report feeling lonely compared to 41% of those aged 66 and older.

Intergenerational connection is one way advocates have identified to lessen loneliness and social isolation, especially since over the last century, the U.S. has become age-segregated, making relationships between unrelated younger and older adults nearly unheard of.

To bridge that gap, Confidence Omenai and Haley Sanner founded Collective Healing Through Art, which brings younger and older adults together to create art and heal trauma. The organization set out to “disrupt the harm that was occurring to BIPOC and Queer youth and older adults in their Denver community.” Currently, Collective Healing Through Art is working with young adults from the Boys & Girls Clubs and older adults from a few neighborhoods in Denver.

“We have a specific curriculum, and it allows them to build a bond together and to share at will, as they’re creating, what their experience has been,” said Omenai. “We watch them form bonds and become friends and become family.”

Earlier this year, Collective Heal-

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The Sun, launched in 2018, is committed to fact-based, in-depth and non-partisan journalism. It covers everything from politics and culture to the outdoor industry and ing became a program of LinkAGES, which works with various organizations in metro Denver to make intergenerational programming the norm. LinkAGES helps build capacity, facilitate collaborations and raise awareness of the power of intergenerational connections.

The programming LinkAGES organizes goes beyond just getting people of a different generation in a room together. It’s all about intention, said Rachel Cohen, executive director of LinkAGES.

“When we say intentional, it means that we design programs specifically to facilitate a connection,” Cohen said. “And the programs are always multisession because relationships and connections take time. It takes time for people to open up, especially when you’re dealing with loneliness and social isolation.”

LinkAGES is continuing to grow education. and will start working with organizations outside of Denver to offer best practices and training.

With increased awareness, organizations that are centered on creating solutions, and a national strategy, there’s optimism for a less lonely and isolated future for everyone.

“I’m hopeful, but I hope it’s not something that’s fleeting—that it’s popular now and then people are going to forget about this and forget about older adults and forget about those that are isolated,” said Perissinotto. “I think there’s a lot of work still ahead.” statewide news.

Freelance reporter Claire Cleveland wrote this story for The Colorado Trust, a philanthropic foundation that works on health equity issues statewide and also funds a reporting position at The Colorado Sun, which is a part owner of Colorado Community Media.

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