Volume 55, Issue No. 9
A Greater Park Hill Community, Inc. Publication
September 2016
Five Homes, Two Churches The 38th Annual Park Hill Home Tour & Street Fair is Sunday Sept. 11 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tour five homes and two churches in Denver’s most architecturally diverse neighborhood. Included this year is the Park Hill United Methodist Church, and Temple Micah, pictured at left. And, enjoy the free Street Fair happening all day in the parkway at Montview Avenue and Forest Street. You can purchase tickets for the Home Tour online at www.parkhillhometour.org or at several neighborhood establishments. Tickets range from $15-$20 and increase by $5 on the day of the event, so be sure to buy in advance. The Park Hill Home Tour & Street Fair directly benefits Greater Park Hill Community, Inc. a nonprofit registered neighborhood agency that promotes the character and vibrancy of Park Hill, provides resources and advocacy, and helps preserve the quality of life of the neighborhood. Check out pages 10 and 11 for more on the Street Fair, and pages 12 and 13 for previews of the homes and churches on this year’s Home Tour.
Life At A Century Plus Five Reminiscing With Jocelyn Fisher, Matriarch of Montview Story by Jack Farrar Photos courtesy of the Fishers Special to the GPHN
“I didn’t know I was going to live so damn long,” says Jocelyn May Koch Fisher, the presiding matriarch of one of Park Hill’s handsome Denver Squares along Montview Boulevard. On May 29, Fisher marked her 105th year on the planet. She did so with some ambivalence, certainly a mixture of fatigue and stoic resignation. But not regret. She shared her memories with me recently, with the assistance of two of her four daughters, Beth and Joan. Fisher was politely corrected a few times on certain details, but her memory is sharp. To apply some historical perspective: When Fisher was born in 1911 in Calcutta, India, William Howard Taft was president of the United States, Pancho Villa was leading attacks against the government of Mexico, and the hull of the Titanic was launched in Belfast. That year the Lincoln Memorial Commission was established to find an ideal site for the proposed monument in Washington. International Women’s Day was celebrated for the first time – though women still did not have the right to vote in this country. That didn’t happen until 1920 – when Fisher
Flobots Rage Against TPP ‘It’s Time To Get Loud’
Column and photos by Dave Felice Starting in Denver with a national tour to raise awareness about a multi-national trade agreement is what legendary guitarist Tom Morello calls telling the truth as he sees it. “Working people everywhere have had enough,” Morello says. “The TPP (TransPacific Partnership) is nothing short of a corporate takeover of our democracy. That’s why people are rising up to stop it. Corporate lobbyists want to sneak the TPP through Congress quietly; that means it’s time for us to get loud.” Morello, the former leader of Rage Against the Machine and Prophets of Rage,
The Greater Park Hill Annual Meeting
is Thursday, Oct. 6 at 6:30 p.m. As of press time, a meeting location has not been finalized; check next month’s issue or call the GPHC office at 303-388-0918 for details.
Join your neighbors
to socialize, honor this year’s Babbs Award recipient, and elect new members of Greater Park Hill Community, Inc.
Nominations are now
Jocelyn Fisher graduated high school in 1926 from Denver’s South High School.
A Call For Watershed Heroes
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Career Planning From 1st Grade
Page Pagexx 8
Inside This Issue
Page Pagexx 5
April 2016 2016 September
Jonny 5 of the Flobots says he’s proud to join other performers and activists in the fight against the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Save The Date
Riding elephants
continued on page 19
Dave Felice
continued on page 16
was nine years old. Famous folks born in 1911 include Babe Didrikson Zaharias (arguably the best female athlete of her era and a part-time resident of Denver), Ginger Rogers, George Liberace, Roy Rogers and Bob Hope (one of Fisher’s favorite celebrities). Here in Denver, Mayor Robert Speer was implementing his ambitious plan to give the city of less than 214,000 people a world-class parks system, featuring parkways such as 17th Avenue. In 1911 the Cathedral of the Basilica on Colfax was completed, Mountain States Telephone (Ma Bell) opened its offices, and the Daniels & Fisher Tower and Department Store was built downtown. Fisher grew up in Calcutta, one of nine children of Clinton Koch, a teacher at a Methodist mission. She has fond memories of India, which included watching the servants at work and home, going to a boarding school from age 7, watching Hindi ceremonies and an occasional ride on an elephant. She learned Bengali from the servants and still remembers some poems and rhymes – one which she recited to me without hesitation – Little Jack Horner in Bengali. She also learned a good deal about reli-
City Matters
A Page Full Of Birds
being accepted for this year’s recipient of the Babbs Award for Community Service. Check out page 4 for details.
Next GPHC Meeting Thursday, Thursday, Sept. April 71 at at 6:30 6:30 p.m. p.m. 2823 Fairfax St., Denver
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