BIG SPRING RANCH FOR BOYS AND HIGH TRAILS RANCH FOR GIRLS
Tuition: $7100 ($1500 deposit due upon enrollment)
First Term: Sunday June 8, 2025 - Tuesday, July 8, 2025
Second Term: Saturday July 12, 2025 - Monday, August 11, 2025
SANBORN JUNIOR
Tuition: $3700 ($750 deposit due upon enrollment)
First Term: June 8 - June 22, 2025
Second Term: June 24 - July 8, 2025
Third Term: July 12 - July 26, 2025
Fourth Term: July 28 - August 11, 2025
SIBLING DISCOUNTS: $100
Dear Friends,
As the days lengthen and the snow melts, our anticipation grows for the summer of 2025 and the arrival of our campers and staff. By the time you receive this newsletter, High Trails Outdoor Education Center will be bustling with students exploring their new outdoor classroom, and The Nature Place is busy with guests after a couple of quiet months devoted to deep cleaning and facility improvement. Our summer staff will begin to show up in mid-May and our First Term campers will arrive on June 8. We can’t wait!
This issue of the Alum News includes quite a bit of your news. Thank-you to everyone who shares with us, and especially to those of you getting married and having babies. (We are a camp, after all, so please keep having babies—our future is in your hands.)
A special thanks to High Trails Alum Deb Donnelly who has contributed two wonderful articles on our natural world—the Blue Spruce and the Mountain Bluebird. Deb has promised to make this a regular feature of the Alum News!
As always, we use the winter to renovate and improve our facility. One major project this winter has been the new ABC Washhouse at Big Spring— the Lower and Upper washhouses will now be combined into one washhouse with two sections. Photos of the progress are included here and we are hoping the washhouse will be ready by Opening Day. Our second major project is the new 4-Story Treehouse—we know that the deconstruction of the old treehouse has been an emotional event for some of you and are happy to share some of the treehouse tributes that we have received in this issue.
Send us your news! alumnews@sanbornwesterncamps.com
As always, we are incredibly grateful to you, our alums, for your friendship and support. We wish you a very happy spring and summer. Please stay in touch!
Sincerely,
Jane Sanborn aka: The Editor jane@sanbornwesterncamps.com
Coming soon — Sanborn Dessert Cookbook!!
We have lost track of the number of times alums have asked us when we would produce a cookbook containing the recipes for our famous camp desserts—from Snickerdoodles to Chippy-Dippy Bars. We are excited to announce that the book is underway and will be released next fall in time for the holidays!
Baker Bernie Miller has been working throughout the year to pull these recipes together and to reduce the amounts so you can bake cookies, for example, in a batch of 36 rather than 500. Of course, those of us here yearround have accepted the challenging job of taste-testing the smaller batch cookies to make sure they are still delicious. It has been grueling work, but someone had to do it.
We need your help! We would like to include funny or heart-warming stories about some of the cooks who have kept us well-fed over many years and hope you will search your memory banks and send us any thoughts you have. (Please do not send any stories that are likely to cause the Health Department to shut us down.)
We also are brain-storming a title for the book, and would love to consider any ideas you have. Please send any ideas to alumnews@sanbornwesterncamps.com And watch our fall Alum News and social media for details on purchasing this long-awaited cookbook.
You’re Invited
Join us for a day of projects around Big Spring, High Trails, and The Nature Place including painting, setting Big Spring up for camp and projects like tree slash removal to reduce our risk of wildfire.
To the Annual AlumWork project day
Saturday, April 26, 2025
8:00 - 9:00am - meet at the nature place lodge to make a sack lunch and get organized into highly efficient work crews 9:00am - 4:00pm - Work with your crew to complete your project (Definitely enjoy a lunch break sometime in the middle) 5:00pm - super fun barbecue to celebrate our accomplishments
Wear old clothes (if you still have some with green paint on them, that would be perfect), sturdy shoes, and bring work gloves and water bottles if you have them (no worries if you don’t - we will provide them).
RSVP to jane@sanbornwesterncamps.com (We need to know by April 21st so we can plan the projects and be sure to have enough cookies!)
Dear Friends,
AA Treehouse for the Ages
Preserving the Past and Building the Future
s some of you know, we have made the difficult decision to deconstruct the four-story treehouse which has stood majestically between Big Spring and High Trails since the late sixties and to replace it with a new treehouse.
Although, our maintenance team did its best to renovate it every spring, replacing shaky boards and screws which had loosened, this could only help for so long, and we have sadly come to the time when the whole structure is unsafe. My own theory is that, due to the fact that the treehouse was painted by so many groups of JCs and Outbackers over the years, some of the boards no longer have any wood in them but are held together only by layers and layers of paint.
We know that to some of you this will be a sad loss, and I want to reassure you that the deconstruction process is being handled with extreme respect for the history and memories that the treehouse contains. In fact, to those of you with a tear in your eye right now, we are saving many of the wall boards and will be happy to send you a piece. We are well aware that the treehouse holds many important personal memories for some of you as well as the camp memories it holds for all of us. We would be blind not to realize that some of you may have romantic memories connected to the treehouse and a few of you may have even proposed to your spouse there. (A chunk of the treehouse wall would be a great gift for your next anniversary.)
The new treehouse is being constructed in the same location as the old treehouse using the same trees, which are still healthy and strong. The new treehouse
will have some additional fun entrance and exit features, but will be very similar to the old treehouse and much safer. We expect it will be completed before camp this summer so all the traditional activities can still take place there—overnights, explorations, egg drops (although with the price of eggs right now, we might have to think of something else to drop). We think our current campers will love it!
Of course, new treehouses don’t come cheap, so we are offering this as a targeted fund-raising goal. If you would like to partner with us in supporting this exciting improvement to the camp program, just let us know that your check or on-line donation should be used for the treehouse fund. And, if you want a piece of the old treehouse, just let us know that too.
We can’t wait to send you pictures of the completed Tree House 2!
Warm Regards,
Jane
Treehouse Tributes
When we first announced in an Alum e-news that the treehouse was being rebuilt, we received some eloquent thoughts and memories and are sharing some of them here. And to those of you who admitted that you met a special friend at the treehouse, it is OK. The Statute of Limitations is up.
“Makes me remember those days of early tree house construction under the leadership of a very committed Eric Weidmann. It was his passion…his special project…the mark he left on camp. I spent some time there being part of the construction. I also spent time helping Pete Sebring and his special project of the Mud Hut at Quicks. That was his special passion. And Nasty Ned Douglas and the commitment he had to the trip supply functions located out of the Chalet at Big Springs. And Herc Roth and his role as head of Garbage (pronounced with a French “G” accent sounding like triage) and how he proudly commandeered El Cometa and ran his daily trash collection runs to the dump. And Lou Killacky on his favorite pony Snickerdoodle. And Sweet Estes who spoke with a distinct Texas twang and lead amazing horse trips. The list of people and their special niches at camp is endless. Stories like this evolution of the tree house awaken so many memories.
Of the many great things about the Sanborn experience is the personal discovery that campers AND staff made during their time there. Sandy and Laura knew that people would ultimately find their own niche, create their own unique way of mastering their role. The best way to bring the best out of people is to let them “make it their own”. It’s part of their personal journey.
As the treehouse is rebuilt --.bigger, better, safer, more accessible, the important things that happened to Eric Weidmann decades ago will remain the same. And the same for all the campers that helped along the way. New treehouse means new lessons for new people. Part of the 70- year legacy of Sanborn Includes freedom of choice and the personal growth and responsibility that comes from finding a passion and being allowed to pursue it, if only for few weeks in the summer. Staff and campers.” Andy Weed (BS 66-71)
I’ll never forget eschewing our tents and sleeping directly in the treehouse proper. I look forward to many more generations having the same experience. Hannah Weinberg-Wolf (HT 02-08)
Goodbye old friend! You gave so much to so many and you asked for nothing in return! Steve Giuliani (BS 83-87; Staff 94, 00-01)
So sad to see this historic Sanborn Monument go, but happy that it will be replaced with a sturdier, safer treehouse, where I am certain many new memories will be made! This definitely brought a tear to my eye. Kaiti Kinsella (HT 06-07; Staff 13-14)
In memory of all the eggs whose existences were cut tragically short by brilliant parachute designs. Charlie Rice (BS 94-99; Staff 02-03)
So many memories and excitement for a new version that will last for decades to come! (Also, this is the camp equivalent of owning a seat from your favorite stadium). Lizzie Connelly Fischer (HT 90-95; Staff 98-99)
I have terrific memories of the 3 or 4 Story Treehouse, and I was privileged to bring my wife to see it (along with so much else that means so much to me) a couple years ago, and she finally got to see what all my stories are about. It is my pleasure to contribute to the new Treehouse Of Many Stories, just as I contributed nails, paint, and love to the old one as an Outbacker. I Zigga Zumba, yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Peter Rosenberg (BS 96-99, 01-03; Staff 06, 09)
I actually hid in it one night sneaking over to High Trails. Arrived back at my tent to find my bed with no sheets. Cheers to the Treehouse! Peter McKee (BS 8689)
I am filled with tears of joy that a new treehouse is being built - of course, I’m sad that the old one is coming down. So many memories of that treehouse as a camper and JC. Carrie Smalley Down (HT 98-97; Staff 98)
Dear Treehouse, thank you for all the memories and laughter! So glad I got to see you one last time last summer! Katie Binter Swyers (HT 94-95; Staff 98, 02-03)
My memory: Being held ‘captive’ at the Treehouse as Princess Leia during a boy’s Star Wars All Day. Jane refused to pay the ransom (the store key). But I still really like the treehouse. Barb Rowley (HT 74-77; SWC Staff 78-81, 86-90) (Jane’s response: “I’m sorry, Barb, but you know it is never a good idea to meet the demands of terrorists”)
Silver Spruce
“Gene got up quietly and slipped out of doors. His feet turned, as always when he was thinking deeply, to the big silver spruce. That was his private spot.”
From Land of the Silver Spruce by Edith Blackburn
On the North Ridge of High Trails, is a cabin called Silver Spruce. Every summer, since it was built in 1963, Silver Spruce has housed 12 year-old girls. As a camper myself, fifty years ago, I spent no time whatsoever thinking about the actual tree the cabin was named for. Ask me then and I wouldn’t have been able to distinguish a Silver Spruce, from a Ponderosa, from a Juniper. I did, however, grasp, like so many campers before and after me, the net effect of the heady infusion of play, community, doing hard things and thinking deeply- outside in nature each summer at camp. Something good happens in that mix. And whether I was aware of it or not, Silver Spruce was a note in that larger summer camp song.
As an adult, I find that my feet still turn towards the woods- a throughline that began at camp. I take pleasure now in paying closer attention to specifics of that natural world that was everywhere, enveloping, and yet unarticulated as a camper.
Silver Spruce goes by several names, the most common being the Colorado Blue Spruce-. It is named for the color of its needle leaves which range from green to blue to silvery tones. Its Latin name is Picea pungensPicea meaning “pitch pine,” pungens referring to “sharp or stinging.” Indeed, the best way to know if you are in the presence of a Blue Spruce is to give it a handshake.
Stiff and spiny, the needles of this tree are prickly to the touch. The cones are roughly three inches long with colors that range from green to orange to eggplant purple. These sturdy, resilient, conical trees typically grow from 50-75 feet but have been known to grow as tall as 150’. They favor moist, cool soils and grow along streams and drainages in upper montane forests. You can find them all over camp property on shady, northfacing slopes.
The ample seeds, and dense branches, thick with needles make the Colorado Blue Spruce an excellent choice for nesting and roosting for birds like woodpeckers, Stellar jays, nuthatches and chickadees. Wyoming ground squirrels, among other small mammals, cache the cones and find good winter shelter in a Colorado Blue Spruce. The biggest threats to Colorado Blue Spruce are fire and the Western Spruce Budworm.
In addition to providing benefits to wildlife, these trees are used for medicinal and cultural purposes. The Keres and Navajo people have used Colorado Blue Spruce needles medicinally as a tea to cure colds and clear the stomach, and as a bath to soothe rheumatism. Twigs from the tree have been offered as gifts and are considered to bring good luck.
Long a favorite choice for a Christmas tree, Colorado Blue Spruce plays a role in Colorado’s history as our state tree. As It turns out, becoming a state tree can be a rather lengthy affair. Consider the following:
1862: The Colorado Blue Spruce was collected on Pikes Peak by surgeon and botanist C.C. Parry. (You can find a monument to Parry and the Colorado Blue Spruce in Evergreen, CO.)
1879: It is described and given its current name by George Engelmann.
1892: Blue Spruce wins the vote among Colorado schoolchildren on Arbor Day as the state tree.
1939: Despite the popular vote, however, it did not become official state tree until House Joint Resolution 7 was passed by the Colorado State legislature on March 7, 1939.
That’s 77 years…The same number of years, by the way, that Sanborn Western Camps have been welcoming campers.
When you are next at camp, turn your feet to the Northern slopes. Look for the Silver Spruce. Shake hands. See who is sheltering in its branches. Consider its colors, history and resilience. Find within it your private spot. And as you sing a “known by heart” camp song, listen for that one Colorado Blue Spruce silver note.
Mountain Blue Bird
The Bluebird carries the sky on his back. Henry David Thoreau.
One of the more pleasurable activities for me as a young camper at High Trails was “Library in the Woods.” Six or eight of us campers would traipse after a counselor into the nearby Aspen grove. As we spread out, I would look for a sturdy Aspen to lean against with a nearby cluster of small, sweet, wild strawberries to eat as I set about librarying. I dutifully carried the school-assigned summer reading book, the pink stationary my mother had tucked into my camp trunk, and a pocketful of good letter writing intentions. But my letters inevitably fell to the wayside, unwritten and my book lay unopened in the grass as my body and mind entered a particular kind of languid summer camp repose there, in the shelter of the trees.
Lie still in an Aspen grove, all attention on the canopyblue sky behind shimmering green spangles riffling and bending, on the rising and falling of soft chatter of the leaves in the breeze, on the distinctively clean fragrance of the Aspen bark. Suddenly, a brilliant flash of blue appears on the edge of my view, hovers and then dives to the ground, laying claim to a grasshopper, which he delivers up to a hole in a nearby tree trunk- home to family of Mountain Bluebirds.
There’s a reason why we have the expression “Bluebird of Happiness.” Its hard not to find pleasure in the cerulean, blue plumage that covers the head and backs of the male, with the softer blue-white palettes on its chest and belly. The female is more understated with body feathers ranging from silver gray to warm, buff feathers with sparse, bright blue highlights on the wings and tail.
Mountain Bluebirds are found in high country in the West from Alaska to Mexico in the winter. These birds favor areas where prairie meets forest, open alpine meadows, sage brush flats, burned areas and spacious mixed conifer/Aspen stands. They like a good tree top or fence post perch.
Aspen groves are particularly desirable for nesting due to the number of tree cavities formerly carved out by
woodpeckers as are trees in burned montane forests. Competition for optimal nest sites is fierce. Females construct the body of their nest from grass stems, straw, fur, pine needles and line it with moss, feathers, horsehair and wool. Mountain Bluebirds typically have 1-2 broods per year with each producing a clutch of 4-8 pale blue eggs.
Cooper’s hawks, peregrine falcons, great-horned owls are among the threats to Mountain Bluebirds. Raccoons, weasels and tree snakes eat the nest eggs.
An arial hunter and ground forager, the Mountain bluebird eats beetles, caterpillars, grasshoppers, spiders and complements its diet with available fruit and seeds from juniper, mistletoe, elderberry, sumac, hackberry and currant plants. They are relatively social and are often observed in the company of Cedar Waxwings, American Robins and Western Bluebirds. Lucky for me, they are not particularly shy of people, including us campers, either.
As I think back to those afternoons in the Aspen grove, I confess that perhaps I was a little late in getting to that assigned reading book, and perhaps my mother heard a little less from me than she would have liked. But, no matter. There was a more pressing 6-inch, 1-ounce, blue-feathered, summer camp lesson calling my name.
DEB DONNELLEY (HT73-76)
Where Did THAT NAME Come From?
Occasionally someone will ask me, “Why it is called the Chalet?” or “How did Gold Hut get its name?” I decided it might be interesting to explain what I know of the origins of the names of familiar places around camp.
Let’s start with the name “Big Spring.” After Sandy returned from the 10th Mountain Division in 1945, he and Laura looked for a place to begin building the rest of their lives. Sandy had finished his degree in animal husbandry at Colorado A and M College, now Colorado State University, in Fort Collins and had become acquainted with Bob Singer. The Singers owned a piece of land south of Florissant and, in 1946, Sandy and Laura bought 480 acres (@ $12.50 an acre) just west of what became the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument.
The focal point of the land was a lovely valley where four smaller valleys came together, and their underground aquifers joined to create “The Big Spring.” The place was widely known in the Florissant area as “The Big Spring” and Sandy and Laura decided to continue to use that name. When they dug the well, they hit cool, clear water at 7 feet!
Parents and sisters of Big Spring boys had been asking for a girls’ camp for many years. In 1961 on the southern end of the 480 acres, in a fabulous meadow with a spectacular view of Pikes Peak, Sandy and Laura began to build High Trails, which opened in 1962. Lots of names were tossed around and they chose “High Trails” from a poem that began, “She who walks High Trails shall true adventure find.”
Both camps flourished and gradually additional buildings were added. One of the first was a handsome log recreation building at Big Spring. It was originally called Buckaroo Hall because the youngest boys lived in the closest tents, and they were called Buckaroos. (Older boys were called Pioneers.) After the Buckaroos moved to the tents on the ridge up from the Lodge in 1968 and the older and middle-aged campers (called Rangers) lived near Buckaroo Hall, we realized that they were avoiding the building because it was “for the little kids.”
Therefore, the name needed to be changed. We came up with “Big Deal Hall” because big deals were an important feature of the incamp program. Your big deal was the program area you chose to emphasize –riding, geology, mountaineering, tennis, swimming, etc. In recent years the building has become the craftshop and we traditionalists are striving to continue to honor the name “Big Deal Hall.”
The Chalet was another early building as the camps grew. It was so named because the room on the east end was the mountaineering program headquarters designed as a Swiss chalet featuring flower boxes in the windows, walls covered with maps, cabinets for tents, rock climbing gear, and a large deck where you could Sno-seal (waterproof) your hiking boots.
The west end of the building was the first “Leo’s”! There were two bays where the mechanic could change the spark plugs, repair tires, change the oil, adjust the carburetor, etc.
Big Deal Hall
Through the years the Chalet has been used as a wood shop (making furniture for the Interbarn), the craftshop (which was originally in the lower level of the Barn), and camp store inventory. Now it is the center for outfitting the many trips that leave camp throughout the summer – “Outcamp” food, backpack tents, camping stoves, radios, water jugs, and rental gear.
However, it was not a good location for vehicle maintenance – no room for parking, it was on a hill, and not large enough. Therefore, a new “shop” was built at the junction of the road between BS and HT and the new road to the Witcher Ranch. It was a very nice facility for servicing the camp’s fleet of vans, garbage trucks and other vintage pickups, buses (remember Fat Albert?), road graders, front loaders, tractors, hay bailers, fire trucks, and snowplows.
Unfortunately, it burned to the ground after a welding malfunction in 1990. Rising from the ashes was a larger facility built of cinder blocks and containing lifts, three bays, and a parts department.
So, how did it come to be called “Leo’s?” The story goes that a group of ACs were on time off in Colorado Springs and went shopping at Goodwill. They bought a bunch of bowling team shirts, and the one David Sebring (BS 61-67, Staff 68) chose had a name patch that said, “Leo’s Garage”. He wore it around the shop a lot and somehow the place became known as “Leo’s.” Laura’s zodiac sign was Leo; therefore, Leo the Lion graces the front of the building.
Cabin names at High Trails have an interesting history. When HT welcomed the first campers in 1962, it consisted of the Lodge, the Infirmary, one cabin on the North Ridge, and two cabins on the South Ridge.
Facing Pikes Peak the first cabin on the left was the Infirmary (aka Penicillin Palace). It was essentially the same dimensions as the other cabins. The left side and middle was the treatment room and the nurse’s quarters. The right side was the wardroom which was the same size as bunkrooms in the other cabins. It turned out to be too large and was converted to be a bunkroom.
The first few years the cabins were numbered I, II, and III. When they decided to name the cabins, Laura wanted to name Cabin I on the North Ridge Pooh Corner because the youngest girls lived there. On the South Ridge Cabin #II was named Kinnikinnik, after the ground shrub with red berries common around camp. Cabin III became Gold Hut because the gravel used to make the foundation and floor was tailings from Cripple Creek gold mines.
As cabins were added, five were named for trees and flowers: Ponderosa, Silver Spruce, Cedar Lodge, Aspen and Columbine. Crystal Palace reflects the mining history of Colorado. Pooh Corner was changed to Juniper (actually Jumping Juniper as the home of the Sanborn Junior girls) and Pooh Corner became the name of the converted half-cabin on the west end of the Infirmary building.
As you likely know, Juniper and Ponderosa were rebuilt in 2018 and 2020. The goal is to rebuild all the cabins as funds are available.
There are lots more names to track down, so stay tuned for future issues of the Alum News. Please let me know if you have questions or additional information.
The Big Spring Chalet and Leo’s
prehistoric : pre-1980
definition according to an 8 year old: a time when your grandparents were young; coincides with the age of dinosaurs
“THE FAB FIVE” --LISA SCHNECK (HT 72-75; Staff 78); BUNNY PORTER (HT 71-73; Staff 7879); JULIE MICOU (HT 72-75; Staff 76, 78) Cerf; KATHY YANUCK (HT 69-73; Staff 78) Wenger; KATHY MEDLOCK (HT 72-75; Staff 78) Tutuer “had a wonderful time in Bentonville, AR, Oct. 1620, 2024. Our activities included touring the Crystal Bridges Museum (daytime for the art, nighttime for an outdoor light show), a giant craft fair and the town of Eureka Springs.” “A surprising experience to relate: While we were standing in the lobby of Crystal Bridges, Yannie overheard a woman in a quintet of ladies about our age refer to themselves as “the Fab 5.” Yannie turned around and said, “We’re the Fab 5!” Turns out this other group comprises college chums from Wellesley College who, like us, get together every year. We exchanged amazed remarks at this coincidence. Of course, OUR Fab 5 goes back 52 years, so we had the interlopers beat.”
PETER THURSTON (BS 73-74) wrote a beautiful letter about the value of his camp experiences. “Those summers at Sanborn got me hooked on the wild places and open spaces of the west. I ended up going to college at Western State in Gunnison followed by a Masters Degree at Montana State. I studied geology and had a fabulous career traveling the world as an exploration geologist.” He is retired now and lives in Griggs, ID.
JIM (HTOEC Staff 73) and CAROLYN UNGBERG (HT 62, 64-66; Staff 71) OLIVIER continue to enjoy life in Putney, VT, where both enjoy exploring Vermont’s backcountry by e-bike, hiking, canoeing and kayaking. They are both gardeners although Carolyn focuses on flowers while Jim raises fruits and vegetables (he is an enthusiastic cook). Daughter, Anna, and her family live in Putney, and son, Pete, and his family live not too far away in Hudson, NY. In 2024, Jim and Carolyn took wonderful trips to Switzerland and Holland.
DARCIE SWENARTON (HT Staff 65-68) Peet and husband, Barrney continue to split their time between Tucson, AZ, and Copper Mountain, CO, and Darcie continues to create and show her beautiful art. Darcie and Barrney also enjoy biking and other outdoor activities in both places.
ROB (BS 62; Staff 65-68) and CONNIE McWILLIAMS (HT Staff 66-68 ) FRIESEN came through 2024 “relatively intact”. They especially enjoyed Thanksgiving week in Maui with the whole family—all 14 of them! When not traveling to visit their children and grandchildren or their cabin near Florissant, Connie stays busy in her garden and keeps in touch with old friends. Rob plays chess online with their grandsons (he usually loses).
The Fab Five in Bentonville
KATE FRIESEN (HT 62, 64-66; Staff 6768) and husband, Peter Westcott, again shared many adventures in 2024. They hiked, biked and motorcycled in northern Vietnam for two weeks, biked on the Natchez Trace in southern Mississippi, received excellent dental care in Columbia, and befriended Venezuelan migrants. Kate celebrated her milestone 75th birthday, by cross-country skiing with friends wearing her belly dancer outfit.
JUDY SMITH (HT 65-69; Staff 70, 74-75) Schoedel and husband, Warren, continue to winter in Lake Havasu City, AZ, and spend the rest of the year in Buena Vista, CO. They also made a cross-country car trip and hit 10 states in 21 days to visit 24 relatives. A highlight was meeting their new grandson, Nico Isaac Schoedel in Roanoke, VA.
BYRON “PETE” CAIN (BS 64-65) is winding down Heritage Tours after 32 years in the group tourism business. He is not retiring but using another “r” word, re-arranging his life to spend more time on family travel and projects such as writing books on the architecture of collegiate football stadiums and state capitals; family genealogy, and marching band and wind ensemble volunteer work. He and wife Nancy are especially pleased about son, Jeremy’s, upcoming wedding to Anna Wolfe.
RICH BUCHOLZ (BS 62,64-66; Staff 71) and wife, Kathy, traveled to Barcelona, Colorado, Paris, and Normandy in 2024. They welcomed a new granddaughter, Finley; cheered on their granddaughter Ginny at her regional gymnastics meet; visited colleges with grandson Clayton and enjoyed many visits with family.
DIANE BROWNLEE (HT 70-73) Ginther and husband, Paul, were not prepared for the devastation Helene brought to Swannanoa, after moving to the supposed climate haven of western North Carolina 6 years ago. Although her house and those of all kids/ grandkids survived with no damage, access out of all 3 neighborhoods was cut off for days to weeks. After evacuating out of state for some time, the Ginthers have returned to help neighbors who were not so lucky. It will be many more months, if not years, before life returns to normal there.
SUSAN
UPTEGROVE (HT Staff 64-65) Myrick and husband, Jay, enjoy visits from their family and friends to their home in St. Augustine, FL., and they are grateful that so far they have dodged the worst of the Florida hurricanes. Susan is catching up on her reading, creating books of her best photos, and putting together a book for her children and grandchildren of the papers she wrote over 24 for the Winnetka, IL, “Fortnightly”. Jay likes working in the yard and researching to come up with discoveries. Son, ANDY MYRICK (BS 84-88) has a new job in State College, PA. He and wife, Jennifer, have two children RILEY (HT 24) in 5th grade and Liam, a first grader. Daughter, EMILY MYRICK (HT 82-87; Staff 91) Densmore and husband, John, are both pediatricians in Milwaukee and Emily is working on a book about pediatric diagnostics. WILL DENSMORE (BS 14-19, 21), has returned to Williams College after studying in Paris last fall. HENRY DENSMORE (BS 21-23, 25) is in 8th grade, enjoying robotics at school and looking forward to camp this summer.
Kathy Miller Krogh (HT 63-64; Staff 65-68) with granddaughter Camille
Kate Friesen skiing on her 75th birthday
dark ages : 1980-1995
definition according to an 8 year old: a time before you were born, but your parents seem to recall quite clearly-the Florissant Fossil Beds were formed about this time.
BETSY FRIESEN (HT 85, 87-88, 90; Staff 92-93, 96-97) McMichael and husband, Malcolm, continue to live in the Roaring Fork Valley where Betsy teaches at the Carbondale middle school and is active in scouting. Son, DEAN (BS 21-22), is enjoying his sophomore year at Colorado College while brother ANDY (BS 21-24) is a junior in high school and is on the baseball and mountain biking teams. The whole family enjoys camping, hiking, skiing and biking.
KATIE FRIESEN (HT 88-93; Staff 95, 97-98) Reneker and husband, Ben, are always busy in California. Katie’s Carmel Berry Co. elderberry business continues to expand and create new products. Ben is a media analyst. Son, ROY (BS 22-23), 18, is a senior at Carmel High School and had an amazing summer internship with a mechanical engineering project at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey. HENRY (BS 21-22, 24-25), 15, is a freshman in high school, plays the drum and synthesizer and volleyball.
JEN SCHOFIELD (HT 85-90; Staff 93-95) Law and husband, Pete, celebrated their 25th anniversary with a trip to Paris and the south of France. Daughters Jacqueline and EMILY (HT14-19, 21) joined them. Jacqueline graduated from UNH last spring, and Emily is a sophomore at UNC. Jen is now the Chief Human Resources Officer at Vail Health where she helps to lead their growth.
STUART WOLFERMAN (BS 86,88; Staff 94), wife Zoe Knight, and sons HENRY (BS 24-25) and JASPER (BS 23-25) live in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY. They had a fun year and enjoyed attending the US Open, white-water rafting, and visiting family in California and Kansas City. Henry loved his first year at Big Spring, bakes cookies, and plays bass and tennis. Jasper climbed two Fourteeners in one day at camp and plays tennis, piano, and mandolin.
JANN HARRIS (HT Staff 80-82) Kinney and husband, Kraige, bought a little Craftsman bungalow in Boulder, CO. The plan is for Kraige to renovate it by the summer of 2026, and then Jann and Kraige might move from their current home in Eagle. The Boulder house is closer to their daughters and other relatives and has lots of nearby amenities. Jann and Kraige also traveled to the Netherlands and Portugal during 2024!
SUZANNE GEPSON (HT 86-90; Staff 92, 94)
Hagen , husband Chris, and sons, Will and Timmy, enjoyed “the trip of a lifetime” last winter to Kauai and the Big Island of Hawaii. They also took a great trip to California last summer and the Alum News has already reported on Suz’s 50th birthday backpacking adventure with many camp friends. Timmy, 15, graduated from 8th grade and started high school at Glenbrook North last fall. WILL (BS 22-23), 12, is in 6th grade and loves making art, playing basketball, and playing the cello in the school orchestra.
Laura Friesen, Betsy Friesen McMichael and Connie Mac Friesen
JULIE HESS (HT Staff 81-82) Farnham and husband, Stuart, did a lot of fun traveling in 2024. Among other places, they visited daughter, Elizabeth, and her family in New Zealand, and son, BEN (BS 99), his wife, Crystal and their one-year old daughter, Noelani, on Whidby Island, WA. They also took the whole family to Hawaii in July, and they are looking forward to more travel in 2025!
GREG BARRETT (BS 80-83) and wife, Precia, had a busy year visiting all of their sons in college. JACK (BS 08-16) studied in Amsterdam while BROCK (BS 11-16, 18-19, 21) lived in Prague. LUKE (BS 09-17) graduated from the University of Denver. Greg and Precia were happy to be home in Edmond, OK, for the holidays.
WALT HOWARD (BS Staff 84-86) and wife, Joanne, continue to enjoy retirement at White Lake in Montello, WI. “Biking, walking, yoga, boating, golfing and spending time with friends keeps us busy.” The Howards traveled to Argentina, Italy, Greece, Spain, and France in 2024. Walt also did a medical mission to Guatemala and accompanied 3 soccer teams to Spain.
LAURA JAKUSH (HT Staff 83-84) Angyus and husband, Joe, “seem to be getting paradoxically further from retirement, both enjoying their respective jobs more and more as time goes on. Sons, Joey and Michael, “are always moving around but steadily orbiting home base in Portland, OR, spending time together in town and on the slopes.”
SHERI BONE (HT Staff 80-82; TNP Staff 07)
Fedorchak and husband, Rich, are enjoying retirement in Estes Park, CO. After many years of working for the Park Service, they are happy to be close to Rocky Mountain National Park. In 2024, they traveled to Santa Fe and San Francisco but the highlight was a two-week trip to Alaska. Daughter, SARAH (HT 07), and her partner, Jennifer, live in the Flint Hills of Kansas, northeast of Wichita. Sarah is an emergency services coordinator for a mental health services company in Emporia and is working on her PhD.
PAUL LHEVINE (BS 81-85; Staff 88) is President and CEO of the Colorado Nonprofit Association and the Board Chair for the Denver Metro Chamber Leadership Foundation. Lorii Rabinowitz is the CEO of the Denver Scholarship Foundation and serves as a Trustee of the Rose Community Foundation. Daughter, ANTONIA (HT 14-19, 21-23) is a senior at Denver South and will graduate in May. She is looking at colleges, plays lacrosse and won her District’s DECA competition. ZOE (HT 17-19, 21-25) is a freshman at South, has begun playing tennis and “is non-stop in her creation of beautiful art projects.”
Former BS Wranglers FRANK WILLIAMS (BS 8186; Staff 87-92, 95, 97), TOM WEBER (BS Staff 9395), and MATT SUTTON (BS 83; Staff 91-93) met up at the National Rodeo Finals in Las Vegas in early December.
Tom, Frank, and Matt at the Rodeo
olden days: 1996-now
PATRICK (BS and COEC Staff 94-97) and EVAN (HT 90-93; Staff 96,99-00, 02) HUBER -SCHMIDT continue to live and work in Davis, CA. Daughter, Isis, graduated last Spring from Davis Senior High and started college at Washington State University in the Fall. Son, Ambrose learned to ski, started eighth grade and joined a new competitive soccer team. The family enjoyed “an epic trip” to British Columbia last summer.
CHRIS AZBELL (BS 12-13, 15) will finish law school in December of 2025. He plans a future with the law firm Fried Frank in Washington, DC after a successful summer internship. Brother, DANIEL AZBELL (BS 15-17) will graduate with a Masters of Mechanical Engineering and is busy applying for either a job in aerospace engineering or a PhD.
JENNA HOWARD (HT 05-11; Staff 14-15, 17) lives in the Denver area and is a Project Manager with Mortenson Construction. Fiancé Stephen is half-way through Law School at CU Boulder. They have a cute house and an even cuter mini golden doodle named Gidget. Jenna and Stephen are planning their wedding for September, 2025.
CARLIE HOWARD (05-12; Staff 15-16) and Bobby Glotfelty were married in La Crosse, WI in June. The newlyweds live in Brooklyn, NY. Carlie graduated from Parsons School of Design in December. She is also a yoga instructor and has completed two NYC Marathons. Bobby works for Betterment Investment Company.
TAYLOR EMANUELS (BS 97-07; Staff 08-10) is working at Mastercard in New York. He and fiancé, Kelli, are planning a wedding on May 24th. They will be getting married at a summer camp in Santa Cruz so “it will be a fun weekend of s’mores and camp games”.
definition according to an 8 year old: The time preceding right now-pioneers still churned butter and made candles during this period.
HEIDI SCHOEDEL ( HT 96-03; Staff 09-10) enjoyed a major trip in 2024, traveling to visit international friends in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Norway, Slovakia, Austria, Germany, Croatia,and Japan! She is now back in Buena Vista, CO., teaching yoga and bonding with her two new rescue dogs.
TAD SCHOEDEL (BS 96-01) and his wife, Alina, are busy with their medical practices, their children—Liora, 3, and Nico, 1, and remodeling and personalizing the house they bought in Roanoke, VA.
RICK FRIESEN (BS 96-99; Staff 02-05) and wife, Nicole, are busy with their careers at Children’s Hospital in Denver and are emerging as leaders in their respective fields of Cardiology and Infectious Disease. Son, Arlo, is now 3 and just welcomed a new sister, Charley Lucille, to the family on January 24, 2025.
ELLY BUCHOLZ (HT 97-02; Staff 05) and husband, Justin Cordes, welcomed new daughter, Finley Elizabeth Cordes, to their family on June 1. Their family of five spent the summer getting “to know and love” their home territory of Logan Square in Chicago and with trips to the beach, WI, and CO. Maddie, 10, excels at volleyball and Mason, 7, has been active in soccer. Justin and Ellie took up pickleball (with Finley as their referee).
LIZ CONNELLY (HT 90-95; Staff 98-99) Fischer and family experienced “immense growth” for everyone in 2024. The twins, Freya and Julian,3, “are truly living their best toddler life.” HENRY (BS 23-24) is in the 5th grade and climbed a 14’er at Big Spring last summer. Papa Woody continues to balance work and family, and Liz expanded her lactation experience and started a hospital position in January and is building her private practice.
New ABC & Outbacker Washhouse Coming for Summer 2025
With a few tweaks and refinement the new ABC washhouse echoes the STUW and MOPQ washhouses.
Ready to go June 2025!
vital statistics
marriages, births & adoptions, life celebrations
births:
Alina and TAD SCHOEDEL (BS 96-01), a son, Nico Isaac Schoedel, January 25, 2024, in Roanoke, VA. Grandparents: Warren and JUDY SMITH (HT 65-69; Staff 70, 74-75) Schoedel, Buena Vista, CO
EDDIE (BS 02, 04-05; Staff 09-11) and LACEY ELLINGSON (HT Staff 09-11) RUTLEDGE a daughter, Pearl Elizabeth Rutledge, February 5, 2024, in St. Paul, MN
Taylor and REBECCA FRIENDLY (HT 98-02) Coccari, a son, Rio Friendly Coccari, May 10, 2024, in Santa Monica, CA. Grandparents: Ana and TRIP FRIENDLY (BS 67-73) Los Angeles, CA
Justin Cordes and ELLY BUCHOLZ (HT 97-02; Staff 05) a daughter, Finley Elizabeth Cordes, June 1, 2024 in Chicago, IL. Grandparents: Kathy and RICH BUCHOLZ (BS 62, 64-66; Staff 71) St. Louis, MO
Conor and JOAN BURTON (HT 05, 07) Medlow, a daughter, Virginia Grace Medlow, October 26, 2024, in Chicago, IL. Grandparents: Bruce and JANE PORTER (HT 74-79; Staff 80-83) Burton, Grosse Pointe Farms, MI
Holden and AMANDA NOOTER (HT Staff 11-13) Rennaker, a son, Linden James Rennaker, November 21, 2024, in Washington, D.C.
Peter and CAITLIN ROSSO (HT 00-07; Staff 12)-Grant a daughter, Emma Goldie Grant, Feb 9, 2025, in Birmingham, MI Grandparents: Kate and JOHN ROSSO (BS 73-76), Birmingham, MI
Nicole and RICK FRIESEN (BS 96-99; Staff 02-05) a daughter, Charley Lucille Friesen, January 24, 2025, in Denver, CO. Grandparents: ROB (BS 62; Staff 65-68) and CONNIE McWILLIAMS (HT Staff 66-68) FRIESEN, Denver, CO
Katie and GREG MAZMANIAN (HTOEC 13-15, BS Staff 14), a son, Tyler Grant Mazmanian, March 7, 2025, in Hatboro, PA
Photos top to bottom, left to right: Liora Schoedel - Nico’s big sister; Pearl Rutledge; Rebecca, Taylor, and Rio Coccari; Amanda, Holden, and Linden Rennaker; Grandpa Rob Friesen with Charley Friesen; Tyler Mazmanian
vital statistics
marriages, births & adoptions, life celebrations
weddings:
OLIVIA POLK (HT 05,07,09) to Bryson Bono, August 31, 2024, in Jackson, WY
MARY GIGLIOTTI (HT Staff 11-13) to Jeff Lamble, September 8, 2024, in Grand Junction, CO
ELLEN CROMACK (HT 02-10; Staff. 14-15) to Erik Ellefson, September 27, 2024, in Estes Park, CO
ARDIE REED (HT 99-02) to Kyle Brown, Sept 28, 2024, in Barrington, IL
RACHEL KATZ (HT 7-13; Staff 16) to Erik Birk, October 3, 2024, in Tulsa, OK
STACEY STEPHENS (HT 10-12) to Darren Kelly, October 5, 2024, in Pontotoc, MS
BLAKE KEESEE (BS 2008) to Katelyn Nance, October 12, 2024, in Oklahoma City
MOLLY MALONE (HT 06-12; Staff 15, 17-18) to Garrett Knorr, January 20, 2025, in Breckenridge, CO
ALLYCE ARMSTRONG (HT 7-14; Staff 17) to David Thomas, February 2, 2025, in Fairhope, AL in memoriam:
John Emmel (BS Staff 64) August 10, 1944—April 29, 2022
David Garretson (BS 61,63,65) Dec 5, 1951—May 27, 2024
Jim Mains (BS Staff 80,82) Oct 24, 1958—January, 2025
Photos top left to bottom right: Olivia Polk and Bryson Bono; Mary Gigliotti and Jeff Lamble; Ellen Cromack and Erik Ellefson; Ardie Reed and Kyle Brown; Rachel Katz and Erik Birk; Stacey Stephens and Darren Kelly; Blake Keesee and Katelyn Nance; Molly Malone and Garrett Knorr
Bottom Left: Allyce Armstrong and David Thomas
Summer Tours
Have kids who may be interested in camp? Are you planning a trip to Colorado this summer? Have you been dreaming of a Florissant, CO adventure? We think (and hope!) the answer is YES and we would love to invite you to one of our in-person Sanborn Western Camps Summer Tours happening at camp in 2025.
Tours will be held on Saturday, June 28th, 2025 and Saturday, August 2nd, 2025 from 10:30am-1:00pm and will include a buffet lunch.
This is an active walking tour, covering approximately 2-2.5 miles over uneven and unimproved surfaces at and between High Trails and Big Spring. Camp will be in session, so expect to see curious campers--but engaging with campers and staff (like a Visiting Day) is not part of the experience.
We have a 25 person limit for each of these tours, so please only fill out the RSVP form if you plan to attend. Think Summer!
Florissant, CO 80816 www.sanbornwesterncamps.com
Please help us keep your contact information up-to-date by scanning the QR code!
