Pride Panhandle People

GREAT OUTDOORS Justin Haag

‘Dream job’ keeps Nebraskaland staffer busy in the great outdoors Page 15

CARIBBEAN FUSION Vernon, Claudia Simon

Couple find a home, community in Scottsbluff Page 9

Pride People Edition

Scottsbluff/Gering, Nebraska

Saturday, March 26, 2016

Music is life for Gering band director IRENE NORTH Staff Reporter inorth@starherald.com

STEVE FREDERICK/Star-Herald

Dave Calkins pauses during a lesson to coach Jadon Kaiser on a blues composition they’re working on.

Multi-faceted artist seeks to enhance youth creativity raised on the High Plains. I love the country, and I love living here. I love the proximity to the Rocky Mountains. I like to call this place the New Dave Calkins is a professionally trained sing- York of Nowhere. It’s the center of everything for er, guitarist, pianist, composer and conductor. a huge portion of the region. There are plenty of He’s a producer and filmmaker, creative people in Scottsbluff.” melding his music into his docCalkins, 58, was born in Kimumentary and feature films. He’s ball, but his family later moved With released more than three dozen to Omaha, where his father was technology recordings of his own and proa psychiatrist. They returned to duced records for others. His the way it western Nebraska in time for projects have taken him across is, I can live here him to attend Scottsbluff High the nation and to Europe. and do what I do.

School for two years and gradSo what’s he doing in ScottsI was born and uate in 1975. During his senior bluff? raised on the High year, he played the lead in the Teaching music, for one thing. school musical, “Carousel” — a Plains. I love the He’s directed the Scottsbluff role he credits with propelling country, and I love Chamber Ensemble and prohis interest in music as a career. living here.

I love ductions at the Midwest TheHe later studied classical muthe proximity to the ater. These days he’s wrapped up sic and earned a master’s degree Rocky Mountains. in his non-profit Ancova Emin music performance from the I like to call this powerment Project, an effort to University of Wyoming. He then place the New York make music and film-making furthered his studies at the Denof Nowhere. It’s the instruction accessible to a wider ver Opera Company and the center of everything Manhattan School of Music. range of students.

In his Scottsbluff studio are for a huge portion “I’ve wanted to be a musician the musical instruments, camof the region. since I was kid,” he said. “I starteras and other technology he There are plenty of ed my career as an opera singer.” needs to work on his projects. creative people in From there his interests He enjoys being able to spend Scottsbluff.” broadened into rock and jazz, his free time outdoors, and to Dave Calkins conducting and music producget a cup of coffee downtown tion and even making films. He’s Local artist without standing in line. There’s been featured on television and no rush hour. The pace is slower radio shows. He’s performed than in the big city. three times at Carnegie Hall in New York.

“With technology the way it is, I can live here and do what I do,” Calkins said. “I was born and CALKINS page 2

The sound of music is never far from Randy Raines. For more than four decades, he has used his passion for music to build a career giving his knowledge to students.

Raines has been a music educator for 41 years. For the past 19 years, he’s been the director of bands at Gering Public Schools, teaching students who have excelled in concert and jazz bands at district contests every year. An average of six students a year receive band scholarships to college. When you ask him, he still knows where most of his former students are. Five students from last year’s class are still playing.

Two former students are in the University of Nebraska-Kearney Wind Ensemble, two are in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Wind Ensemble and one in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Symphony Orchestra.

He teaches high school band, jazz band, Freshman Academy Band, beginning brass, percussion and flutes, and assists with the seventh- and eigth-grade bands.

He says he knew he wanted to be in music Randy Raines since the first grade. He watched Leonard Bernstein host young people’s concerts live on TV. “He’d turn around and explain things to these kids,” Raines said. “I’d watch that and be transfixed.”

Raines would get in front of the TV and try to emulate Bernstein.

“No one can do it, especially at 7,” he said.

His family was a sports family. His father was the 1945 allstate running back in Oklahoma, but his mother said Raines would play music. His paternal grandmother, who was raised in an orphanage, was a pianist and played in silent movies at the age of 15.

“She said you had to make it up as you go along,” he said.

Any music influence he credits to her.

“She was born and raised in the ragtime era. She’d roll bass and swing the hymns,” he said. “It’s lucky she was a Southern Baptist because they liked that.”

His musical career began on the trumpet, but he didn’t have the range, so he picked up the trombone.

RAINES page 3

STEVE FREDERICK Special Projects Editor sfrederick@starherald.com

BRAD STAMAN/Gering Courier

Gering High School band director Randy Raines shows a prototype of the new Gering band uniforms to the Gering School Board.

Goshen County roots draw Donna Beth Downer back home SANDRA HANSEN Ag Editor ag@starherald.com

TORRINGTON, Wyoming — Donna Beth Downer’s roots are in Goshen County. Although, she and her husband Howard Downer, enjoyed living at various places in the United States, and traveled to other points on the globe, when it came time to settle in, they came back home.

The daughter of homesteaders Arthur and Ruth Hovey, Donna Beth was born in the Nebraska Sandhills, but raised on a ranch north of Torrington.

“The school in the Sandhills had closed, so my father came to Gosh-

en County, but he still had to argue with the school board to get a school bus to our place five miles north of town,” she explained, chuckling at the thought. “They wanted to stop at the corner, but my father wanted the bus to come to the house, about a quarter of a mile. He won.”

Donna Beth and her brother, Bill, who later became director of the Wyoming Department of Agriculture, attended school in Torrington and were members of the Gleaners Union 4-H Club. Although she was raised on a ranch, she grew up helping her mother in the house, and Bill helped their father.

All of that time spent tending to cooking, laundry and other house-

hold chores, probably influenced Donna Beth’s career choice. Her early grade school years were spent in the White School, which still stands across the street from the Goshen County Courthouse. Starting in fourth grade, students went to the red brick building that is now an apartment complex on the same block. She attended junior high in the old high school building, which was demolished in the 1980s.

Things changed at that point because the United States was involved in World War II, and most of the male teachers were drafted or enlisted in the military. Consequently, more women

DOWNER page 4

SANDRA HANSEN/Star-Herald

Donna Beth Hovey Downer looks through a box of mementos from her busy life.

Raised on the family ranch north of Torrington, Wyoming.

She and her husband, Howard Downer, pursued careers in agriculture and home sciences, living in several states between Pennsylvania and Nevada, before returning to Goshen County in 1990.

Pride Page 2

Saturday, March 26, 2016

n CALKINS: Continued from page 1

“I’m better known elsewhere than I am here,” he said with a smile. “You’re not a star in your hometown.”

In addition to opera, his music includes classical, jazz, rock, flamenco and Indian classical styles.

“That’s why I’ve been able to make a living, because I can perform several types of music,” he said.

His first film was “Wilderness Journeys,” which melded music and outdoor videography, produced under contract with National Public Television. That led to other films, such as “Journey to the Passage,” which was partially shot in Yellowstone Park, and “Music of the Isles,” which was filmed in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. He’s made more than a dozen films combining videography and music, including the Expedition and Explorations series of recordings and films.

Calkins continues to teach music and film, and has seen many of his students become professional performers.

He produced a feature film, “Alexandra the Great,” which he describes as a fantasy-satire. In the 2005 film, a girl lives in a world of imagination while in conflict with an older sister. It’s been re-released recently in Europe.

“The film is very musical — in fact, it’s almost a musical,” he said.

The actors and musicians included his students at the time, including local talents Meghan Clemens and Joey Taylor. Taylor is now living in Hollywood, pursuing a career in acting, casting and other aspects of the film and TV business.

“I’ve worked with a lot of talented young people,” Calkins said. More recently, he produced a debut album for Tim Ostdiek, a Scottsbluff guitarist and vocalist who’s “forming a really good career as a singer-songwriter in Colorado.”

“It’s a representation of where I want to go with the Ancova Empowerment Project,” Calkins said.

His outline for the youth development program describes it as a project “designed to help young people to have positive and constructive experiences while gaining life skills and learning how to overcome obstacles to their success. By working with accomplished professional artists on high level projects such as films,

STEVE FREDERICK/ Star-Herald

Instruments, cameras, electronics and posters in Dave Calkins’ studio reflect the many projects he’s involved with.

Courtesy photo

Dave Calkins gets behind the camera during one of his video projects.

musical recordings and live performances, AEP students gain interpersonal and technical skills that boost their self-esteem and empower them to succeed.”

Ostdiek is on the board of directors for the program, which also includes members with backgrounds in education, law and mental health, including his wife, psychologist Anne Talbot.

Students chosen for the program might have mental, family, economic, behavioral, legal or social challenges to overcome.

Early in his career, Calkins spent six years as a mental health worker in a closed psychiatric unit, spending time with young patients with a variety of mental health and legal issues.

“That ignited a passion in me for working with young people,” he said.

He was inspired in part

by his psychiatrist father and his sister, who’s a social worker.

“I’m surrounded by people in the helping professions,” he said.

AEP recently received a grant from the Snow Redfern Foundation to support a pilot program to enable four to six young people to participate in music and film projects. He began interviewing potential participants in early February and has selected four to participate. He hopes to one day have as many as 20 enrolled. As the program develops, he’d like to expand the concept to other places.

“There’s a need in this area for reaching out to young people who need to have their skills and self-esteem developed,” he said.

Students can be nominated to be in the program by parents, teachers, law enforcement, ministers,

counselors and therapists or others. They’ll be considered for the program even if they have no specific talent or experience in the arts.

“The student must express a desire or willingness to be in the program,” he said.

AEP students will work with Calkins and other fac-

ulty members to collaborate on original films, musical recordings or live performances as well as with guest professionals in the arts, including Taylor. They’ll also work on technical, interpersonal and collaborative skills, and even learn how to market themselves.

Calkins’ music teaching method involves playing alongside the student, performing the more complex parts and adding layers to their combined sound to generate confidence and enthusiasm for learning.

During a recent lesson he played along with student Jadon Kaiser as the 12-yearold guitarist worked on a blues composition, alternating rhythm and solo sections, including improvisation, between them.

“I respect traditional study, but I don’t use that, as a teacher,” he said. “I like to go where the student’s interest is.

It’s about developing a young person’s creative spark, to get

inside that kid’s head and see what gets him excited.”

One of his projects, a rock opera, “The Dark Side of the Goose,” that debuted at the Midwest Theater in 2009, involved students in an orchestra with more experienced musicians.

“What they did, they did very well, and they were an important part of the team, part of a polished performance,” he said.

While few performers make it big in the arts, digital technology and social media have loosened the economic grip of large studios and record companies, he said, making it possible for new artists to break through. On the other hand, the same factors can make it difficult for them to make a living.

“Somebody with talent can compete in the digital world.

It’s no longer about who has the most expensive equipment. The playing field is leveled,” he said. “What you create with digital technology as an artist, whether it’s music or video or photography, is an advertisement for something else that makes money for you.

“I’m on Spotify. I’m on Pandora. My music sells, but I make very little money from it. It provides marketing, and it’s worldwide distribution.

You have to figure out other ways to monetize it.”

That means developing strategies to create income from diverse sources. While he once taught a few dozen students, he’s pared his teaching duties to about a quarter of that, in part to make room for new AEP students. In the meantime, he also performs and is finishing work on films and albums, including a collection of Celtic folks songs.

“I’ve been very fortunate. I haven’t worked in a 9-to-5 job since the mid-’80s,” he said.

“I have one life to live, and I want to live it as an artist.”

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Pride Saturday, March 26, 2016

Page 3

n RAINES: Continued from page 1

“This is why we test the kids,” he said. “They may want to play one instrument, but may not be able to.”

He wanted his own trombone, but his father said it wasn’t possible. One Friday night, however, his father came home from work early.

“He opens this case and inside is a new Olds Ambassador Trombone,” he said.

“My whole life changed.”

There isn’t a jazz influence in western Nebraska, but Raines enjoys the genre.

Buddy Rich and Glenn Miller are his vision of how jazz should be. He enjoys many great players from the last century. Gene Krupa was the first person to do extended solos. Louie Bellson was the best set drummer to have ever lived, he said. He also enjoys Matt Sorum, drummer for Guns N’ Roses.

He likes the concept of improvisation, but he understands how it can be scary the first time.

“The first time I did it, I was at a dance and I was awful,” he said.

When the time came to decide, he wasn’t sure where he wanted to go to college.

During his senior year in high school, Raines was in a band called the “Young Tulsans.” He made first chair and went to Europe during the summer of 1970.

“I didn’t think about college,” he said. “I was thinking money for Europe.”

The Young Tulsans competed in parade, field and concert performances, receiving 297 points out of 300 in international competition and took first prize. On Aug. 1, he thought about where he wanted to go school. On Aug. 10, he went down to Norman, Oklahoma and enrolled. He had no scholarships. His first year’s tuition was $500.

“My dad sold my ‘57 Chevy,” he said. “The next year, he sold my piano for $500.”

Raines has fond memories of his car. You could pile in nine kids, the 8-track blaring with the Beatles and the Moody Blues. He became transfixed on “Abbey Road.” “‘Sgt. Peppers’ came out when I was a freshman,” he said. “It was $1.50 and my mom said, ‘It’s terrible. It’s junk. You’re wasting your

BRAD STAMAN/Star-Herald

Randy Raines conducts city band in Gering.

money.’”

At college, he took political science, government and music theory classes, and trombone lessons. His Oklahoma University trombone teacher, Irvin Wagnor, taught him every aspect of musicianship.

“The trombone lessons changed my mind,” he said.

“I went from a mediocre trombone player to professional.”

Raines received his bachelor of music at the University of Oklahoma and a master of music in instrumental conducting and band literature at the University of Kansas where he studied with Robert Foster and James Barnes.

The more Raines became an accomplished musician, the more he learned about what the Beatles were trying to do on “Sgt. Peppers” and “The White Album.”

“I see what they did in the later years, creating sounds,” he said. “They created multitrack recording.”

“Strawberry Fields” was written in the key of E in multi-time signatures. John Lennon liked to write in complex time signatures, he said.

“Even ‘All You Need is Love’ is in 7/4 time,” he said.

In high school, he was a musical geek, collecting everything he could find in 5/4 time.

“It started with Dave Bru-

beck’s ‘Take 5,’” he said.

Raines hates to admit he likes Taylor Swift because she does melodies.

“I grew up on melodies,” he said. “Some newer rap also interjects melody.”

His male friends made fun of him when he listened to The Supremes, but he didn’t care.

“I have such an affinity for that kind of music,” he said.

Raines was almost Garth Brooks’ band director. His first job interview was at the school where Brooks was a student, but he took a junior high job with a school in Kansas.

“It was with one of the premiere band programs in the nation,” he said. “How I got the program, I don’t know.”

He taught for a year at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill after being convinced he should take the one-year position.

He applied for the permanent position and was one of three finalists from a pool of 160 applicants. He didn’t get the job, but was offered three different one-year positions. Raines wanted to work somewhere he could stay. So he did what anyone else would have done.

“I put my finger down on a map and that’s where I went,” he said.

His finger had landed on McCook.

“I wanted to be near

Colorado and that’s close enough,” he said.

He met his wife, Deb, they had their son and built a musical program that was one of the best in Nebraska. He moved to Scottsbluff and started the jazz band.

He really enjoyed the work, but moved back to Kansas after three years because his mother was ill. He found a lot of support for the students there.

“The principal would come down and congratulate them on their performances,” he said.

His fondest memories of teaching in Kansas were the parents.

“It was a blue collar city with 20 percent unemployment,” he said. “Every parent found a way to purchase an instrument because they wanted their kids to have more than they did.”

One year, when he took the band to state, there were 25 other bands competing.

His band was last. When he looked at the scores, other bands were getting threes and fours. He was worried.

“We went up there and we got all ones,” he said. “The kids didn’t know how to handle it.”

Shortly after, Raines received a call from band director Dick Moore in Gering.

In the middle of July, Raines

took a vacation to Gering and interviewed with Maurie Deines. After moving to Gering, he began the junior high jazz band to serve as a feeder group for the high school jazz band.

Professionally, Raines has performed on the trombone with Rich Little, Doc Severinsen, Bill Watrous and Clark Terry, and with the Lawrence (Kansas) Symphony, North Carolina Symphony and the Oklahoma City Symphony.

Raines has also performed with the Festival Brass Quintet at UNC Chapel Hill and the Green Country Big Band in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

He is an active clinician and guest conductor, having conducted the Western Nebraska Eighth-Grade Honor Band, the Western Conference Honor Band and the Northwest Colorado League Festival Band. He is a member of the Nebraska Chapter of Phi Beta Mu honorary band fraternity and was the recipient of the Nebraska Music Educators “Music Educator of the Year” award in 2010.

Raines is also choir director at the First Presbyterian Church in Scottsbluff, he has been an adjunct instructor at Western Nebraska Community College and performs with its Fire In The Pan Swingers big band, and di-

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rected the Gering City Band for 20 years.

He enjoys directing choral because it’s a different perspective from instrumental.

“Many don’t read music, so you have to plink rhythms for them sometimes,” he said.

“It’s made me a better band director.”

Raines hobby is baseball.

Although he loves baseball, Raines was not a good player.

His first hit was in his sixth year of playing.

“I hit it over the left fielder and barely made it to first base,” he said.

His father, who played against Mickey Mantle in Legion ball, taught him the analytical aspect of the game.

He also loves baseball autographs. He has over 40 Hall of Fame signatures and two presidential signatures. He also loves bicycling.

“When it gets warm, that’s my big passion,” he said.

He enjoys teaching students of all ages, but prefers high school because there is a point where he can help raise them to a higher level.

“I love taking them to contests,” he said. “It’s an ego booster sure, but seeing them, if they don’t feel good, I don’t feel good.”

Raines laments that many schools in the nation have pushed the arts aside for more academic achievements. Class quality and character suffer when you push performing arts aside, he said.

“Our insistence on data and technology in every facet of school has an impact on creativity and energy and feeling,” he said. “It’s important to have that, but the whole world is like that now.”

Raines said having “awesome kids” for 41 years has made all the difference.

“I don’t care if they sometimes give you trouble,” he said. “You have more kids that you want to be around than you don’t.”

Raines can’t pinpoint a single best part of his job. He loves seeing a student excel and getting them fired up about music.

“Sometimes, they’ll find their niche in music,” he said.

“Sometimes it saves the kids and they can go on to be successful.”

Pride Page 4

Saturday, March 26, 2016

n DOWNER: Continued from page 1

came into the classrooms, and of great interest were women teachers who were pregnant.

Until that time, it was difficult to become a teacher even for women who were married.

Her high school classes included home economics, the regular list of subjects, and Spanish as an elective. She also was in speech club and excelled at poetry. She also worked on the high school annual and the school newspaper.

Downer didn’t like physical education, and began writing her own excuses to get out of class.

“I’m sure the principal knew I was writing them, but he let it go,” she said, her blue eyes twinkling. She spent the time wisely, studying for other classes or reading a good book.

When high school graduation arrived, her class featured four valedictorians — Downer, Franklin Redfield, Aurelia Sparks and Miriam Benshoof.

All had 4.0 grade point averages.

In determining who or what their speeches would be about, Downer said each student chose a phrase from the monuments that were saved from the old high school building, and now stand in front of Torrington High School.

“I can’t say enough abut the teachers I had,” Downer said.

The teachers who impressed her were not only in the classroom.

“I was in 4-H and I loved those home demonstration agents,” Downer said. “I wanted to be what they were.”

Consequently, majoring in home economics at the University of Wyoming seemed the natural thing for Downer. Consumer and family services became her career, which took her to the eastern and southern states.

“I was involved in the transition from just home economics to Consumer and family services,” Downer said.

“I spent the next 30 years explaining what home economics was not. It is also child development, housing, nutrition and more.”

While at UW, she married Howard Downer of Sheridan, Wyoming, between her sophomore and junior years.

By then, the war was over and Howard came home.

They lived in a Butler Hut, a

Quonset-type metal building that had a small apartment on each end, and all the conveniences of a communal bathroom. “You bundled up, grabbed your toothbrush, and went out to do your morning ablutions,” she recalled with a laugh. “We made our own fun, playing cards and creating our own entertainment.”

Howard enrolled in a Veterans on the Farm training program and when she graduated, they had decided to move to Wheatland, Wyoming. The United States had just become involved in the Korean conflict, and Howard was called back into the Navy.

Since he would be at sea, there was no point in her following him to California. She taught at Glenrock for a year, until he was released.

He was home for a month, then had to return to San Diego to serve on his ship that would take the sailors to Mares Island at San Francisco where he would be released. They drove to California, where he set sail and she drove to San Francisco.

“We were innocent as babies,” Downer said. That trip was the first time she encountered a “round-about” traffic intersection, and it worried her immensely. “But it went well,” she said.

In San Francisco, the young couple bought a small trailer, and took the long way around to Wyoming, following the Columbia River back into Montana.

“Oh, when we came out of those mountains and saw that beautiful open spaces,” Downer said, stopping and laughing at the memory. “Howard looked at me and said, ‘You flatlanders!’”

Once back in Torrington, Howard went to work for DeBolt Equipment, and she was hired at the welfare office to help with the children.

“I fell in love with them, but I’d go home crying, it was so difficult seeing the home conditions they lived in,” she recalled. “I knew it wasn’t the life for me.”

But Glenrock schools contacted her, and the young couple was off on another adventure. While there, Howard again enrolled in the Veterans on the Farm program, but decided to get a teaching certificate, and she decided to get a masters degree, which they did at UW. Their next stop was at Ten

SANDRA HANSEN/Star-Herald

Donna Beth Hovey Downer explains to John Kessler how she discovered a document he would be interested in among her family pictures. Kessler gave a program on the history of Bear Creek, where he ranches, during a recent Goshen County Historical Society meeting.

Sleep, Wyoming, for a few years where they were able to save some money.

Again Glenrock called them. Howard got a job in the Natrona County schools system agriculture department, and Donna Beth went to work for Pacific Power and Light, in the home service department, where she visited schools around the state demonstrating the new and coming thing, electric stoves.

She also gave demonstrations at public events “I became known for being a good cook,” Downer said with a laugh.

By that time, microwave ovens were coming on the scene, and during one demonstration, a man called out “Can it boil water?”

“And I was quick enough that I answered, ‘Yes, and it doesn’t burn it.’”

After nine years of being on the road most of the time, Donna Beth wanted a change, and Howard decided he wanted to do more than work in ag production, and focus more on job opportunities in agriculture. He was interested in helping establish curricula for such programs.

It was time for another change.

This time, they headed east after selling their house and household goods except her

portable dishwasher.

“I’d worked hard, and saved money to buy it, and I wasn’t going to leave it behind,” Donna Beth declared.

Howard secured a graduate position at Penn State, in College Station, Pennsylvania.

“Strange things happened to us back there,” Donna Beth said. The first Sunday, they went to early church service, and were discovered by another former Goshen County resident Marge Raben Jones, who took them under her wing.

While Howard was concentrating on his degree, Donna Beth looked around for a job, and became director of the home economics department at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. When Howard graduated, he also came to Tennessee, but at a different campus.

Her next goal was to earn a doctorate. She did that at Purdue University in Indiana.

With her doctorate in hand, she looked for a position.

“Now that I have it, what am I going to do with it?,” she asked herself, and Howard.

“Howard said it was his turn to follow me, and he did, to Reno, Nevada, at the University of Nevada for six years.

That was followed by her next job at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, for

another six years. This was her final position as head of home economics departments.

Howard decided to take life easier and instead of continuing in the university scene, gave his time to helping at the children’s hands-on museum, and other volunteer positions.

It was then that the Downers decided it was time to return to their roots in Goshen County. Donna Beth’s brother, Bill, was in ill health, and Howard’s sister and her family were here. Also, Donna Beth’s father was getting up in years, so they returned and built a new home on the ranch north of Torrington.

“I’m glad we did,” Donna Beth said. “I got to spend some good time with my father, until he passed away at 91.”

Howard suffered from Alzheimer’s before he died, and Donna Beth was treated for colon cancer, after they settled at Torrington.

However, “Howard said coming back was the best decision he ever made,” Donna Beth said.

“The town had changed, and we had changed, but we fit in as if we’d never left home.

And now I’m here,” she said, sitting next to a card table loaded with pictures of her family and their history.

Since returning in 1990,

Donna has not been idle. She was appointed to the Goshen County Planning Commission, where one of her earliest and most important jobs as chairman was conducting a public hearing on establishing rules and regulations for animal confinement operations in the county.

As the first woman planning commission chairman, Downer was in unexplored territory.

“The county commissioners wanted to diversity commission members, and I went through a trial by fire, she laughed. “It was one of the most important things we did for the county.”

She has also served on the Community Hospital foundation board, Golden Homes and Golden Manor board, and still serves on the Eastern Wyoming College Foundation board. For her own interests, she is a member of PEO, and Eastern Star.

Spreading her hands over the pictures and documents on the card table, Downer said, “I’m a product of this background. And I have to give credit to my mother and father, and grandparents, and to friends who encouraged me along the way.

“And Howard, because we didn’t have to discuss where we were going next.”

1036 W 26th St. • Scottsbluff, NE (308) 632-2995 • 800-658-4073

Pride Saturday, March 26, 2016

Page 5

Local musician stays grounded with family IRENE NORTH Staff Reporter inorth@starherald.com

As a young boy, Don Osborn of Scottsbluff had dreams of being a rock star.

Osborn is a private man, something you wouldn’t assume of someone who aspired to rock star status.

He smiles a lot, but is contemplative, reflective and looks out for others.

There’s a depth to him that few people have the opportunity to see. His life has been touched by near-greatness and tragedy. Those experiences have shaped the man, who today is hoping he is raising his two girls to be as thoughtful as he is.

His music career began in earnest when he received a scholarship with Scarlet and Cream at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). Up With People wanted him to join, but he declined. After he discovered he could not be a music major at UNL because he played electric bass, he told his parents he wanted to study recording at the University of Colorado in Denver where he graduated with a music degree.

“After I graduated, I hit the road with bar bands,” he said. “It was a lot of fun. As a musician, that’s where you really learn to play.”

For a time, Osborn performed with Vox Pop out of Denver. They would wear new wave clothes and perform music by The Fixx and David Bowie in large clubs. They traveled around in a 1963 Cadillac limousine that was once owned by Sammy Davis Jr. “We’d show up decked out like wannabe rock stars,” he said. “Those were the days.”

Eventually, Osborn knew he had to move if he was going to make a career in music. He loaded everything he had into a Pontiac Safari station wagon and moved to Los Angeles. He couch surfed with friends and worked in a restaurant.

He was in a backup band with Jan Berry from the famous musical group Jan and Dean.

“It was neat to be in L.A., chasing the dream,” he said. “It was a great adventure. I wish I had stayed and slogged it out a bit more.”

While in California, Osborn met a girl from Vancouver, British Columbia, where he eventually moved.

He continued working in the music industry and music publishing, and supervised music on some films.

Through that time, he was writing songs on a regular basis.

He remained in Vancouver to stay near his son from his first marriage.

There, he found he had a knack for

LEFT: Don Osborn and his daughters, Ava and Marlowe, enjoying the winter weather.

RIGHT: Don Osborn in rehersal.

business planning and marketing.

He was head hunted to build the Nimbus School of Recording.

“I did lots of playing and singing,” he said. “I hosted open mics and did a record.”

Osborn played with a lot of people in Canada. Some of his music was played by others and can be heard in Hollywood films, including “Arctic Blue,” a movie starring Rutger Hauer.

“He told me he never lived anywhere for longer than three weeks,” Osborn said. “He was very charming and a gas to hang out with.”

In the movie, you can hear Osborn singing, “Ain’t Life Grand.”

In Vancouver, he worked on creating an artistic development app for the music business and came close to having it financed, even meeting the Chief Executive Officer of Warner Music in L.A. “We had a green light for a $3 million deal,” he said. “Six months into it, the deal stalled.”

Years later, he got together with another girl from Vancouver, Debra. Don and Debra soon had twin girls to look after. He proposed to her on the Scotts Bluff National Monument, the day after his parents 50th wedding anniversary.

They were married at his parents’ house when the girls were 5 months old. Upon returning to Vancouver,

Debra went into the hospital for routine surgery. She contracted c. difficile and was in a coma for three weeks.

“She woke up on Valentine’s Day,” he said.

Two weeks later, she died, on Leap Day. “It was a life-changing tragedy,” he said. “There’s a million decisions to make, all when you are at probably the toughest point in your life.”

Osborn had never lost anybody close to him before. With twin infants on his hands, he hired a round-the-clock nanny because his job as a consultant took him all over. Five years later, Osborn felt it was time for a change.

“I was in Canada working as a consultant and looking after two girls,” he said. “I thought, ‘This is crazy. I need to make a move.’”

He packed up his family and came home to be closer to his parents, who adored the girls.

“They get along great,” he said.

“They even help out with after-school care.” At that, Osborn accepted a marketing position with 21st Century Equipment.

But Osborn doesn’t want you to ever feel sorry for him.

“I realized I was presenting myself to the world as a ‘poor single dad,’” he said. “At that point, it was time to change the narrative.”

Courtesy photos

Since moving back to town, Osborn has started his own band, “Donny O and the Troublemakers,” who play music from the 1970s.

“We’re doing music from when music was good,” he said.

When the band practices, his girls will often stop by and dance.

They love watching their dad play and have begun to write music as well. The music bug is in his girls.

He smiles with pride whenever he gets a chance to see them in action.

“There’s nothing like walking into the room and they don’t see I’m there, and they’re singing ‘Hotel California,’” he said.

Osborn grew up listening to the Eagles and played with Randy Meisner a couple of times. He met Meisner on Thanksgiving Eve, 1976. The Eagles dropped him off and Osborn had the opportunity to go inside their plane. Upon reflection of his life, Osborn realizes with the death of Glen Frey, it’s sadly the end of an era. Meisner was influential on Osborn’s life.

“He’s the one who lived my dream — bass player, writer, singer,” Osborn said. “He was a local kid who reached international success.”

He recently began playing at church every two weeks on Saturday nights. Along with some original material, he takes old, traditional hymns and creates a base track

that he sings with.

“It’s fun playing music in the church I grew up in,” he said. “It’s also a great chance to record, write and be creative.”

Osborn participated in Leadership Scotts Bluff last year, which was an eye opener for him. While many things had not changed, he was shocked to learn about the meth problem in the valley.

“It’s also been a culture shock coming from a very urban Vancouver, but there’s no enchiladas in the world like here,” he said.

He is driven to be a good parent to his girls every day.

“It’s the struggle and reward of a lifetime,” he said. “It added new levels of commitment I never imagined.”

When he found out Debra was having twins, he about fainted.

“Then we find out it’s girls,” he said. “I don’t know a thing about girls.”

But when Debra died, he rolled up his sleeves and took on the challenge. Some friends had asked him if he was going to keep the girls.

“I was indignant,” he said. “I wouldn’t imagine anything other than raising them myself.”

He knows he’s not the only single parent around. Twins may add drama to a parent’s life and he sometimes feels he’s living a Shakespearean tragedy, but that’s OK with Osborn.

While living in Canada, Osborn became a certified, large canoe guide and guided several trips, which was a perfect fit for the former Eagle scout. When he’s not playing music, you can find Osborn heading for the great outdoors.

“I’ve done a lot of backpacking,” he said. “When I get a chance, I love doing that.”

Osborn said he considers being a good dad one of his greatest successes. It’s an exercise in patience when children test you every 10 minutes. If you can keep cool long enough to make a rational decision, you’ll be all right, he says.

He is also proud of the music he’s written, which can be found on Sound Cloud. He’s still hopeful to one day be married again and play at bigger and better shows. Through all his trials and tribulations, Osborn has kept a positive outlook on life.

“I tell my girls on a daily basis, ‘Happiness is a choice.’ We all have our issues we cart around, but you choose what to do with it,” he said.

“If I’m happy, I’m a better parent.

I can play music and it makes me happy. It’s almost as simple as that.”

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Pride Page 6

Saturday, March 26, 2016

Theater manager more than meets the eye AARON SEANEY Staff Reporter aseaney@starherald.com

If you’ve ever been to a movie at the Carmike 6 at the Monument Mall in Scottsbluff, chances are you’ve met or seen Glen Hamilton.

He is the gentleman usually running around behind the counter getting everyone’s popcorn or drinks, and assisting the young cashier getting your tickets. Hamilton has been the manager of the theater in Scottsbluff for seven years and has been in the business for 18.

Hamilton and his wife Cyndi were sent here by Carmike to help run the theater. At the time he assumed it was another quick stop like all the times before where he would come into a town, run the theater for a year or two, and then off to a new location. Now that seven years have passed, it took him by surprise.

“We got here and just kind of fell in love with the place. We love the town, we love the people,” said Hamilton. “Finally, the day came when the theater asked if we wanted to relocate and we turned them down and bought a house.”

Hamilton was originally going to school to become a teacher, but by

Courtesy photo

Glen Hamilton poses with a painting he did of Sigourney Weaver from the 1979 Sci-Fi movie “Alien.”

chance fell into the theater business, managing his first theater less than a year after taking a job. He says running a theater is like being a teacher.

“I still get to help teach and develop teenagers so I feel like I am a teacher,” said Hamilton. “However, I get to hand pick the teenagers I work with, so in that sense I feel very fortunate. It’s a very rewarding job.”

He also feels through his years of working with teenagers that this

current generation gets undeserved negative attention for their work ethic.

“This generation gets slammed a lot for not having any work ethic, but it just isn’t true,” said Hamilton.

“These kids come in when you call them, they step up, stay late and out of 20 years of working with teens I would put this generation up against any other.”

Hamilton said the theater has always seemed like a great fit for him because of his love for movies. A love that dates all the way back to when he was 8 years old and he saw the first “Star Wars” movie at his own local theater.

“That was when I started living in theaters really,” said Hamilton. “Our theater got it late, and I went and saw it every night of the week.”

For an avid movie lover, Hamilton also admits that certain perks of his job have certainly been career highlights, often seeing early footage of movies at conferences months before the public sees it. He has even been to several private screenings of films before they are released.

Though he admits that sometimes the studio took these screenings a bit

too seriously.

He recalls a story of seeing the second “Matrix” movie at a private screening.

“They locked all the doors to the theaters, blacked out the windows and made us sign agreements,” said Hamilton. “Then these guys came in with the film canisters actually handcuffed to their wrist. It was pretty crazy.”

Many industries have had to embrace change in the digital age, but for theaters and Hamilton the transition has made life much easier.

“Film was so difficult to work with. It was a lot of being here all night Thursday night making sure reels were ready to go and watching them to make sure there were no mistakes,” said Hamilton. “So I have really appreciated the digital age and how much smoother it has made things for me.”

While being a theater manager has been more than a full-time job for Hamilton over the last 18 years, he has still found a way to pursue his other passions, which include painting, writing and music.

Several of his pieces can be found hanging in the theater as he will of-

ten paint something to match the release of a major movie coming out.

Most recently he did a modern piece depicting Rey and BB-8 from “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”

His love of movies and art can also be seen in his office with a painting of Tom Cruise from the movie “Color of Money” that he did hanging on the wall, and pieces of movie memorabilia adorning his shelves from such classics like the original “Friday the 13th” and “Predator.”

The love of all movies also helped him publish his first book “Curved Space: The Adventures of Stella Star” which was based on the ‘80s cult hit “Star Crash.”

“The book being published was really cool, definitely a highlight in my life,” said Hamilton.

Hamilton continues to write and has published over 30 short stories for various publications as well as using a pseudonym to publish various movie reviews and critiques for magazines like “Wired” and other titles.

As part of the community for seven years and continuing his hobbies like writing and art, Hamilton said Scottsbluff has really become home.

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Pride Saturday, March 26, 2016

Page 7

Tradition, culture are leading forces in Byrd’s life SANDRA HANSEN Ag Editor ag@starherald.com

TORRINGTON, Wyoming — Get a big pot and throw in some culture, tradition, bureaucracy, tooth aches, chopper bikes, Iraqi sand, and community awareness, and you’ll get Dr. Robert Byrd, a quiet member of the Goshen County community.

Byrd’s great-grandmother arrived in Wyoming by covered wagon, and the U.S. Army was on horseback when it came to Fort D.A. Russell, now Cheyenne. Fast forward a couple of generations, and his mother, Harriett Elizabeth Byrd, is a senator in the Wyoming Legislature, and his father, James W. Byrd, is Cheyenne police chief. Add another decade or two, and here is Byrd, a retired colonel of the U.S. Army National Guard, who served in Iraq, and now lives a quiet life outside Torrington.

His path from playing football at Cheyenne Central High School on the same team with future country music star Chris LeDoux, to Scottsbluff College in Nebraska to the University of Wyoming, led to dental school in Tennessee, and practice in Colorado and California, where he enlisted in the Air Force National Guard (Reserve).

Along the way, he has learned a lot about traditions, cultures and bureaucracies, he says. Whether biker groups, native American, Iraqis, or U.S. government, they each have their own way of doing things, and in order to function in each, a quick and steep learning curve has to be conquered.

His long journey from Cheyenne to Torrington, a distance of 85 miles, began with his search for a dental school after graduating from Scottsbluff College and UW, where he had graduated in 1972, but hung out taking graduate courses and began work on a research paper.

However, instructors wondered about him because he was focusing on what he calls “evidence-based scientists,” who studied non-traditional aspects of plants, diseases and insects.

Few medical universities had dental schools at that time, and those that did had long waiting lists. He finally secured a slot at Maherry Medical School in Nashville, Tennessee. It was during that time that he had a conversation with a nephew of country star Minnie Pearl, and learned of Chris LeDoux’s success.

Upon graduation as a Doctor of Dental Surgery, he began private practice with an old U.S. Army buddy of his father’s in Denver. When the economy tanked in Colorado in the mid-1980s, Byrd headed for California.

He couldn’t practice there without a California license, so he worked with special education children until he

SANDRA HANSEN/Star-Herald

LEFT: Dr. Robert Byrd is proud of his chopper business that is located on his property near Torrington.

RIGHT: A picture of Liz Byrd, former senator in the Wyoming Legislature, is featured in a publication that is included in a collection of family history memorabilia displayed on her son’s dining room table. Dr. Robert Byrd’s ancestors arrived in Wyoming in the days of the covered wagon and cowboys.

found employment as a contract dentist with the U.S. Air Force, at March Air Force Base, later renamed March Reserve Base.

“The military certainly has a different way of doing things, but I got a lot of skills, hanging out with and shadowing oral surgeons,” Byrd said.

While shadowing the surgeons, Byrd said he tried to be like them as much as possible, from the white smock to blue khakis, for the sake of the patients who would believe he was one of the doctors.

One day, his life took another turn, more like a square corner. An Air Force recruiter sat in his chair, and encouraged Byrd to join.

“The next day he brought papers, and the next day, I was sworn in,” Byrd recalled with a laugh. He was in the Air Force Reserve. It was during the Cold War, so he learned a lot about high security practices, that even included locking up patients’ charts until they were needed, and immediately after the dental work was completed.

Soon, he was subjected to an inspection, was “kinda young and inexperienced” when it came to inspections.

“I was kinda young as a captain, still green when they threw me to the lions,” Byrd recalls, with a smile.

“You won’t let that happen again,” he told himself, and did his homework. During the next inspection, he spent two hours talking about the program, and “I wore him out,” he laughed. “We got an outstanding performance score, and the general was pleased.”

Byrd later became the regional dental chief officer, in charge of 18 bases and 32 dental medical clinics. These included reserve units.

He did a lot of traveling in that position, and was in North Ridge when the big earthquake hit. Byrd said it was a holiday, so not as many people were on the streets or in some of the business build-

ings. But this hospital he was to inspect split open. That was his first experience of war zone conditions.

In 1989, he transferred to the Veterans Administration Hospital at Sheridan, Wyoming, where he was also responsible for volunteers at Lusk, Torrington and Rock Springs. He was chief of dental services and after 10 years, he wanted to go on active duty.

To do that, he transferred to the U.S. Army National Guard at Cheyenne, where he was the base dental surgeon.

By then, U.S. troops were going to Iraq. His job was to see that their dental conditions were good enough that they shouldn’t require dental services while deployed.

In order to be deployed, he had to transfer to another unit. The trip was a hurry-upand-wait situation, he said.

Eight hours in one terminal waiting for a flight, and the long ride to Kuwait, where it was 115 degrees when they landed.

Byrd was attached to a medical squadron at Baghdad, and was responsible for the dental health of 3,500-4,000 troops.

Their tents were next to the runway at the airport.

“That was an experience,” Byrd recalled sitting at his dining room table. “You had to have other skills, because when there were injuries, you had to lend a hand.

“Some of the kids (medical staff) were pretty green, so they needed extra hands.

With the courses I’d had, I could help with the minor injuries.”

Dealing with the villagers took some patience, Byrd said.

“It was a while before the villagers trusted us. We were still the enemy in their eyes.

The elders came and checked us out, and saw that we were there to help. Tons of kids came.”

At one time, he had received a Bronco football team backpack, and gave it to one of the young boys. “I thought about that when the Broncos won the Super Bowl, and I

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hope he still had that backpack.”

The chances were slim though, because, according to Byrd, there were “gangs” of young thugs, little gangsters, roaming the streets, terrorizing younger children.

Overall, he spent two tours in Iraq. One included a near panic, when an amateur archaeologist found bones near the runway, and claimed they were human. This could have caused a major problem because of cultural differences, but following a long-distance, internet inspection, a professional archaeologist determined they were not human bones.

Also, while in Iraq, Byrd was the officer in charge of the Patriot Guard. The Patriot detail isn’t decked out in dress blues, but soldiers line up in their duty uniforms to honor the deceased soldiers going home.

He returned to Cheyenne at the end of his tour, and became the State Dental Officer and the State Surgeon Officer for the Wyoming Army National Guard.

“I was wearing two helmets,” Byrd laughed.

In that position, he was responsible for making sure all personnel were cleared for deployment. “It was hard to maintain 100 percent readiness because there is so much difference in the soldiers and the units,” he explained.

In 2011, Byrd reached the rank of Colonel. He considered War College, which would prepare him for an even higher rank, but “It takes a whole year out of your life,” Byrd said. Under the circumstance, including age, and the changes being made in the military, his chances of making General were very slim.

He gained further experience sitting on a state board that considered promotions.

These are based on a packet of information submitted by the candidate, including a photograph. Even an ill-fitting uniform can drop a soldier from consideration.

Byrd said he was glad to share that experience with other personnel who had to go before the board.

In addition to his national guard duties, in 2010, Byrd became a contract dentist at the Wyoming Medium Correctional Institution at Torrington. He purchased a home at Torrington, and began a “country doctor” dental office to treat WMCI personnel who couldn’t get to local dentists because of their work schedules. Word got around the community that he worked variable hours, and didn’t charge as much as other area dentists. It wasn’t long until he had a very good clientele. This in turn became a problem because he and his wife, Lori, were tied down more than they wanted.

He had also picked up an unusual interest. When he came home from Iraq, he started watching Orange County Choppers on television. He decided he would like to build choppers, and found people to help him fulfill his dreams. They began with an extended frame to allow for his long legs.

He named his chopper business “Broken Tooth Choppers.” The gas tank on his first chopper was painted red, highlighted by a white molar with a crack from top to bottom.

Byrd’s first attempt at winning a competition at Sturgis was a dismal failure, but a good learning experience.

His next attempt earned an eighth place, and he picked up a first place at a Cheyenne competition. He also created another bike, “The Predator,” which is doing better in competitions, with a second in its class at Sturgis. The original Broken Tooth has undergone considerable redesign, and is now holding its own.

Byrd’s face lights up when talking about his choppers. He said his philosophy at finding that winner, is “In my mind I figure out what I want, and make it happen.” This means finding someone to help determine design, colors and other

features of a winning bike.

“It’s fun,” he said with a big smile. “I want to go to Daytona some day.”

Regarding the winner circles, Byrd said judges are beginning to recognize him.

“They know who I am,” he said. “There aren’t that many blacks building bikes. I’m just looking for their nod, and I go about my business.”

Lori is into bikes, as well. She has a trike, built on a 1927 Ford pickup bed, with a VW engine and a Harley Davidson front end. A retired championship high school volleyball coach at Torrington High School, she also is a substitute teacher in Torrington.

Byrd now has five bikes, and if that isn’t enough, Byrd is a member of the Goshen County School District #1 School Board. He was appointed a year ago to replace a member who took a teaching position.

Considering what he and his family have accomplished, Byrd said his parents “Laid a pathway that made history for Wyoming, and big shoes for us to fill.”

Through it all, Byrd is conscious of traditions and cultures and how important they are. As a dentist treating patients, it is important to understand their ways. He cites the Ramadan restrictions that required he place a barrier in a patient’s mouth to keep fluids or other matter from going down his throat because they weren’t supposed to eat anything, and the Native American traditions that believe removing a tooth releases the individual’s spirit.

Because of his experiences, and exposure to other cultures, Byrd said he is even more conscious of how good life is in Wyoming.

“I’m so glad my great-grandmother stopped here,” he often says. “Wyoming is one of the safest and sanest states. The environment and populace changes, but not our Wyoming folks. We have our traditions, and I hope they adjust to our traditional ways.”

Pride Page 8

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Pride Saturday, March 26, 2016

Page 9

Couple find a home, community in Scottsbluff IRENE NORTH Staff Reporter inorth@starherald.com

When Vernon and Claudia Simon moved to Scottsbluff, they never thought it would be the place where their dreams could come true.

For Vernon, his business, Caribbean Fusion, that he opened several months ago, is doing very well. Every day someone new comes in to purchase items from his menu.

He’s enjoyed modest success and has begun offering delivery services.

When Claudia signed up with a nursing agency, they told her about opportunities in Nebraska. She immediately thought it might be in Omaha.

So Claudia and Vernon went to Google Earth to find out more about Scottsbluff.

“When we saw the place, there were hardly any buildings,” Claudia said. “I thought, ‘Where are they sending us?’”

Her fears were heightened when she flew in from Denver on a plane she hadn’t seen since the 1970s.

“I had never been in a plane with one row of seats on each side,” she said.

Despite the physical location and old planes, the Simons were attracted to the area because of demographics and the quietness.

“The main thing that got us here was the crime demographics were low, which made it great for raising children,” he said.

It took a lot of getting used to, but they decided to give it a shot.

Nearly five years later, they have learned more about the valley and are happy they decided to move to Scottsbluff.

“I’ve met some really wonderful people in the community,” Claudia said.

Vernon credits some of those same people as being responsible for encouraging him to open his restaurant.

“We’ve been treated very well here,” he said.

One of the things Vernon especially likes about Scottsbluff is the quietness, lack of sirens and lack of excess drama you normally hear of in bigger cities.

Vernon hopes to eventually

Vernon Simon

be able to expand his menu at Caribbean Fusion, but it’s difficult obtaining the fresh ingredients needed. It would be difficult to put more Caribbean foods on the menu at Caribbean Fusion because spices and herbs, which are a key ingredient and make or break a Caribbean meal, are expensive to ship to Nebraska.

Many of those ingredients, such as lemongrass and eucalyptus grow wild in Antigua and are also easily obtained at the local market on Saturday mornings.

“It would be great to have a tropical greenhouse here,” Claudia said. “We could grow everything from the Caribbean.”

Claudia likes living in Scottsbluff, but she sometimes misses the beach, sailing and going into her yard to pick anything she wants to eat right from the tree.

“I also miss having a seven-day a week farmers’ market that I can go to at 4 a.m.,” she said.

One thing Vernon misses from Antigua is Sunday morning breakfast, which leads into a discussion of what other items he would like to serve his customers.

“You have boiled eggs, salt fish, tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, plantains, spinach, sometimes okra, chocolate tea or bush tea and Antiguan-style bread,” he said. “It’s a big meal.”

Though you can obtain those items in America, they are not quite the same. Plantains are a different size than are available in the U.S., and most often have just been

Claudia Simon

plucked from a garden, not transported thousands of miles to a grocery store.

“Breakfast usually includes avocados,” Claudia said. “They are 2 1/2 times the size of the ones here.”

If Vernon could get green bananas and dasheen in Scottsbluff, he wouldn’t put rice on his menus.

“Breadfruit would be served with a meal on Saturday,” he said. “Even the cassava, it’s not like what we have here.”

In addition to the food, Claudia also misses not having family close by.

“I get homesick, especially when I think about the food,” she said.

Vernon agrees, commenting that on a typical Friday night he would have seafood, maybe a grilled tuna or salmon that was just caught, and fried rice.

“I miss that,” he said.

Claudia is a self-described foodie. She enjoys visiting different places and restaurants to try their food. The best steak she has had is at the Log Cabin in Gering. She said it’s because they know how to season their meat.

“In the Caribbean, we do not add salt to our meal after it’s cooked,” she said. “We add

hot sauce.”

Claudia and Vernon met in Antigua through a mutual friend after they agreed to a blind date. Vernon and Claudia both hung out at the same bar, but they had never met.

They will be celebrating their 12th wedding anniversary in April.

“We’ve been through thick and thin and we’re still here,” Vernon said.

When Vernon told his parents he was opening Caribbean Fusion, his father was a bit tentative because Vernon would have to give up his day job to do it.

“I thought if I’m going to dedicate my time to do it, I have to sacrifice something,” he said.

His mother was on board right away. His father is planning a trip to Scottsbluff to see how his son is managing to run things by himself.

“I hope I’ll get additional recipes when he comes,” Vernon said.

Those recipes may be hard to come by. The recipes are more taste than exact measurements. Vernon said people ask for his recipes, but he can’t actually tell you how much of each item is in it.

“I just know what flavor I want to get and I just get it,” he said.

Claudia is a nurse at Regional West Medical Center.

She is also a certified midwife.

“For something I resented when I started nursing, Midwifery became the epitome of nursing that has given me the greatest pleasure to date,” she said. “Delivering babies is one thing, but the whole perinatal experience with the family, through speaking and education really jolted the satisfaction experience to an indescribable level.”

God, family, writing, reading, speaking, travel and a really good laugh are also on the same level as nursing for Claudia. Though Claudia has spent much of her life in the medical field, she has also worked as a teacher, customs officer and sports consultant.

She owned her own anti-aging skin care business in Antigua and has always wanted to be a businesswoman, writer and speaker.

“Keeping still is for the dead,” she said.

She admires people like Richard Branson and Warren Buffet.

“Try it. Do it. If it works, keep at it,” she said. “If it doesn’t, that one was not for you. Try something else. Most importantly, keep doing.”

Vernon fully supports Claudia in her endeavors.

“I back her 100 percent,” he said. “She backs me in so many things, too.”

Last year, she published her first novel and plans a book launch of her second book in June.

“If you are going to write you have to put it out there and see what happens,” he said.

Vernon was amazed when she finally finished her book

and let him read it. Claudia had told Vernon she likes to write, but he had never seen anything. She would write, read it, then throw it away and burn it.

“The only thing I could do when I read a couple snippets, I thought ‘Is this the same woman I married?’” he said.

“But that’s her gift.”

Claudia also loves to speak and enjoys motivational speaking. She loves getting out of her comfort zone and pushing boundaries. She eventually would like to be a consultant. She has also registered for a master’s degree in health law, which she hopes will lead her into consulting and gain greater experience in nursing advocacy.

“I want my writing and speaking to take me to other places, to see the world and touch the heart, lives and health of others,” she said.

“That’s my dream.”

Vernon would be right there with her, except if there’s an ocean nearby. Then he’d be fishing and experiencing new things — food, nature, people.

The Simons feel all the hard work they have put into accomplishing their dreams is starting to pay off. Juggling family life can be tough, but at the end of the day, they are relying on faith, family and each other to make it.

“Some days I come home dog tired, but the tiredness won’t compare to where I want to be,” he said.

Neither are quite ready to give up their life in Scottsbluff.

They are both open to travel and new experiences, but feel like this is home. Every step they make brings them closer to what they want to accomplish.

“These are just the stepping stones to get there,” Vernon said.

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Pride Page 10

Saturday, March 26, 2016

‘Dog days’ is a year-round expression for Jobman AARON SEANEY Staff Reporter aseaney@starherald.com

While some dogs go to obedience school to be house broken, learn to sit, lay down and roll over, there is a special school in Bayard that can teach your dog how to expertly hunt and retrieve water foul and prairie birds.

Chris and Eileen Jobman, owners of Flatlanders Kennels, run it year-round through two different avenues. The first is through training hunting dogs. Owners bring their puppies to Flatlanders Kennels, or buy the puppies from them, and then leave them for the first four to six months to hone their skills. Some owners have even been known to take their dogs back during multiple off-seasons of hunting just to keep their training fresh.

The other side of the business is not just training dogs to hunt, but he takes them to various hunting competitions as well. Here the dogs compete, running through various retriever courses or small stake field trials, something Jobman found success in early in his career having a Grand Champion dog for the American Kennel Club hunt test in 2005.

“I was just a young trainer trying to get my feet wet. My personal dog Breaker won it, which was really special,” said Jobman. “He won three master national championships.”

From that time on Jobman has continued his success in the competitive fields, earning an average of 30 hunt test titles a year, and accumulating over 500 titles in his lifetime.

He currently has had 25 HRC Grand Champions, which is third-highest in the nation. This is statistically the most difficult test goal to achieve, as only 10-20 percent of dogs that attempt it pass it. The thing that makes you a Grand Champion though is passing that rigorous test, not only once but twice.

While some may picture harsh, boot camp-like conditions for these dogs to get them into such condition, Jobman’s secret to success hinges on love and reward. Puppies stay in heated kennels each with their own dog bed, while advanced dogs stay in the house with the Jobman family.

“We currently have about 15 dogs in our house,” Jobman said. “But they’ve all earned it. They are good

dogs who work hard, and train well.”

Jobman also takes pride in how he runs the facility and treats the dogs, stating that any one is welcome to come out at any point and watch what they do. He also offers courses to dog owners who want to learn how to train their own dog themselves, which is actually one of the more difficult aspects of his job.

“Look you can let me drive a race car and I’ll go pretty fast, but I am going to wreck it,” laughs Jobman.

“Just like anything it takes time, practice, and patience to get good at this, so if clients don’t put in that time and effort they don’t see the results they want.”

Jobman’s career choice is a good fit for the Sidney native who has been competitive his whole life, including playing football for Chadron. He says people often mistake him for being even distant or unapproachable when at competitions but that isn’t the case. He is simply focused.

“Some of these guys like to show up and hang out, drink beer and it’s a fun weekend trip for them,” said Jobman. “That’s OK, but I’m there to compete and get the job done, so I just tend to be a lot more focused. If people come up to me later though they usually realize I’m a pretty relaxed guy.”

His wife Eileen says that competitiveness comes out not just on the hunting courses but during one of his favorite pasttimes, golfing, as well.

“He’s a great golfer, it surprises a lot of people to find that out actually,” said Eileen Jobman. “But he’s incredibly competitive out there.”

Eileen and Chris met through the same passion of dogs. She grew up in Lakewood, Colorado and also raised Labrador retrievers. She was looking to put a dog in training with Jobman and the two made an instant connection.

He grew up an avid hunter with his father, and after they went hunting with friends who used a dog he was hooked, buying up every book and video on how to train a dog to hunt. Jobman says his favorite part of the job is watching a dog grow and progress, and that hasn’t faded after all these years. He is also enjoying seeing the change of the

Courtesy photos

A B OVE : C h r i s J o b m a n works with one of the black labs on hunting.

LEFT: Chris Jobman taking a moment to enjoy the success with some of his championship dogs.

competition landscape.

“Trials are getting harder and the competition is getting better. There are more dogs, more equipment, and satellite trainers are popping up,” said Jobman. “For a long time, we were the only ones in a four- or five-state area, but more competition is a good thing.”

Jobman says it takes a lot more

than just enjoying to hunt and training one dog to start up your own business.

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His passion bleeds into his results. As you walk into the main training area, over the desk are countless amounts of ribbons and awards surrounding a calendar that shows a fully booked schedule of trainings, dogs that are there and new ones that are coming.

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Pride Saturday, March 26, 2016

Page 11

Cirrus House director has many interests, passions JEFF SMITH Staff Reporter jsmith@starherald.com

Brent Anderson, executive director for the Cirrus House in Scottsbluff, is more than somebody who works a 9-to5 job. He is defined by a lot of things, writer, artist, Christian, Bushidokan expert, and loving father and husband.

He is what many might call a Renaissance Man, someone who has a variety of interests and strives to do well at all of them.

Some days he sits in front of a computer, but he also said that he’ll do the same tasks that anyone else would have to do.

“I’m the executive director, but you will often see me scrubbing toilets right alongside everybody else. There’s nothing in the daily routine of the operations of Cirrus House I won’t do,” said Anderson.

Anderson has been the executive director of the Cirrus House since 2008.

Before that he worked for the Community Action of Western Nebraska for 13 years. He was the director of youth services for the majority of his time at CAPWN. When he was first hired by CAPWN he became the youth shelter manager, getting promoted to the director of youth services in 1997.

“In 1998, up to when I left in 2008, I just kept building the program and looking at the needs in the community, trying to find grants or programs to serve those needs,” he said. “We actually started the very first mentoring program in the Scottsbluff area.”

During his 13 years at CAPWN, there were hundreds of youth helped. According to Anderson, the different programs have helped about 300 to 400 youth in the area every year.

He loved working with youth and his biggest struggle when applying for the Cirrus House position was that he liked the job he already had.

He really liked the team environment and had some great mentors during his time there.

“The senior staff was a diverse team there and we really played off of each other’s strengths,” said Anderson.

TRAVIS SELL/Star-Herald

ABOVE: Gov. Pete Ricketts (left), celebrates the newly remodeled kitchen and cafeteria with the Cirrus House staff and members. From left to right, executive director Brent Anderson, Joe Masek of Masek Foundation, VP of the board Nate Loomis, staff member Deen Johnson and member Patricia Vasquez.

IRENE NORTH/Star-Herald

LEFT: Brent Anderson, executive director of Cirrus House pays member Patricia Vasquez for lunch.

He also has served on some regional and national boards while he was a part of CAPWN. One of them was the Missouri Iowa Nebraska Kansas board, or MINK, which was a regional youth services that planned trainings for youth service agencies in the region. Another board he served on was the Runaway Homeless Youth Training Technical Assistance board of directors. It was an organization that provided training and technical assistance for runaway youth providers.

“Those were just great experiences, getting to travel around the country and see

states around the country, how they did services. I was able to observe that and bring back the best ideas to Scottsbluff,” said Anderson.

His career in human services began with the State of Missouri Department of Youth Services. He worked in a residential program for violent junior offenders. When he was working at this facility his employer put him on a track to become a manager.

He took management classes and when the time came for he and his wife to take his family west, he had plenty of experience in human services.

Other jobs he had were re-

lated to security and law enforcement.

He moved to the Scottsbluff area in 1995 with his wife, Joylene. Originally, he is from Kansas City, Missouri, and went to college at Missouri Western State University. At a young age while in Kansas City, he became engrossed with the martial art Bushidokan. One day he was flipping through the yellow pages and saw a man with a samurai sword. He thought it looked cool and wanted to join something like that.

He ended up joining a Bushidokan class. Bushidokan is considered an integrated system of self defense that uses striking, kicking and grappling techniques in a well-rounded versatile method of combat training. It helped him through his teenage years and it was something he got better at throughout his life. Before leaving Kansas City, the highest rank in Bushidokan he received was a brown belt.

At the time that he moved to the area, there were less than 100 Bushidokan black belts in the United States. Through the Gering police chief at the time, Mel Griggs, he was able to meet the founder of Bushidokan, Jim Harrison. In 1999, at a ceremony where all the people who had been in Bushidokan since the 1960s attended, he was awarded a black belt.

He was promoted by Harrison.

He now provides trainings on Monday nights and does consultations or community sessions on Bushidokan through his company KoH Security, based in Torrington.

During his time in Scottsbluff, he has grown to feel very connected to the community.

“This community is near and dear to my heart, I spend much more time in Nebraska than in Wyoming, but I love the Wyobraska area,” Anderson said. “It’s blessed me more than I can comprehend.”

He resides in Yoder, Wyoming, with his two daughters and son.

At the Cirrus House, he couldn’t do his job without everybody else doing what they’re supposed to do. According to Anderson, everybody comes together for one purpose — to help people live as independently as possible and help them find meaning in their life.

Cirrus House is an organization that focuses on helping people with mental illness gain independence in their life and provides opportunities for advocacy, housing, employment, education and a peer-supported community where members can find belonging as well as purpose.

The organization consists of providing six different programs for those with needs for assisted living all the way to helping people find employment. Anderson said that there are around 80-100 people that are served daily through the organization if all the services are combined. On top of that, there is also longterm housing services at the Cirrus House.

“One thing I love about Cirrus House is we’re not just programs or services. That’s a part of what we do and who we are, but at the real core heart of what we do is make a difference in each individual’s life,” said Anderson.

Those in the organization who receive help are looked at through their needs.

As the clubhouse, people are given a task, from working in the kitchen to helping with the billing services. Those in the clubhouse program are referred to as members.

There’s a whole different way of working with people at the Cirrus House than just seeing them as clients or consumers. Anderson said that ability to work with people in a sincere way matches his personality and what he tries to be about.

“I really don’t like sitting in front of my computer all day, but the people make it worth it,” said Anderson.

It became very apparent when Anderson started working at the Cirrus House that it is more than a workplace, it is a community of people. That’s what he has grown to know and love about the organization.

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Pride Page 12

Saturday, March 26, 2016

Park ranger finds adventure in national parks IRENE NORTH Staff Reporter inorth@starherald.com

National Park Ranger Alvis Mar always has a smile on his face. He will speak to you in highly scientific terms and turn around and explain the same thing to a 5-yearold. His enthusiasm for learning and sharing that knowledge is as infectious as his smile.

Conservation and preservation are at the heart of his work.

“To be able to protect something you have to build bridges,” he said.

“This is worthwhile for the future.”

Mar has worked at Agate Fossil Beds National Monument since July 2014. He previously worked in Omaha at the National Park Service (NPS) Midwest regional office as a recruiter. Before that, he was a park ranger at the Lewis and Clark Historical Trail and helped develop the visitor center outreach program for three years.

The opportunity to work at Agate arose in part because he was looking for something else to do other than be a recruiter. He was getting restless, but he hadn’t thought about moving to western Nebraska even after learning a staff member was retiring. Staff at Agate asked him if he knew anyone interested. When Mar couldn’t find a good candidate, Agate staff suggested he consider the position.

“I knew some folks out here,” Mar said. “I came out here gladly.”

One of the best aspects of being a park ranger for Mar is that there are a lot of different things to do within the park service. Though he has served, on average, three to five years at each of his previous locations, he can see himself staying longer at Agate.

“At this point, there are so many nice, fun challenges I could be here a while,” he said. “But I am somewhat nomadic.”

It’s not that he dislikes Agate, he’s always looking for a new challenge.

He readily accepted the job at Ag-

ate because he likes paleontology.

“I never had the chance to dig into the topic,” he said. “That curiosity is what drives me.”

Though Mar used to be a teacher and a social worker, he has found joy and contentment in the myriad

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MAR page 13

Pride Saturday, March 26, 2016

Page 13

n MAR: Continued from page 12

Mar grew up in San Francisco. His parents had a restaurant business and he and his brother, Van, would go and hang out with them.

Mar remembers several vacations with cousins to national parks, which sparked his interest in nature.

“When I was 12 years old, we took a vacation to a family summer camp on the western edge of Yosemite,” he said. “I remember car camping the first time with my cousins. They introduced me and my brother to it.”

Mar was also a member of a Boy Scout explorer group and went backpacking. One of his favorite experiences came in sixth grade when his teacher organized a trip to a regional park.

“We did a hike before dinner and found fossils,” he said. “There were fossil shells along the trail. I had never seen a real one before.”

Many children lose interest in fossils and dinosaurs as they get older, but that trip was one event that got Mar interested in life as a park ranger.

“What captured my attention was psychology in high school,” he said. “I’m always interested in why people do what they do.”

In college at the University of California-Davis, he was interested in nutrition science, psychology, environmental planning and management. He became hooked on psychology.

He graduated with a psychology degree and began work as a mental health counselor before becoming a science teacher attended San Francisco State University for his graduate degree.

He finished with a teaching certificate.

“I had a lot of science knowledge,” he said. “My brother and I took courses at the California Junior Academy of Science. He’s a pharmacist.”

His parents immigrated from China in the early 1950s, but didn’t know each other until later.

“My mom came at age 14, my dad at 24,” he said.

His father was already an American citizen even though born in China because of the Chinese Exclusionary Act. According to the law, there was concern that too many Chinese were emigrating to America. So a law was passed prohibiting them from having families here.

“The thought was they would go back to have their families,” he said.

Many did, but they were also American citizens. So

Courtesy photos

ABOVE: Alvis Mar, right, with his nephew Bryce Mar on a salmon sculpture at Nimbus Fish Hatchery in California.

FACING PAGE TOP: Alvis Mar outside the Agate Fossil Beds National Monument Visitor’s Center.

BOTTOM LEFT: Alvis Mar and his nephew, Bryce Mar, enjoy time on the trampoline section of a catamaran.

BOTTOM RIGHT: Alvis Mar, right at a luau in Hawaii with niece Brianna Mar, brother Van Mar and nephew Bryce Mar.

were their children. When Mar’s father arrived in America, he, too, was a citizen.

“When he came, he had to learn English,” Mar said.

“He went to college in San Jose and worked as an engineer for a while.”

His father eventually opened his own restaurant.

He had friends who owned restaurants and he wanted to be his own boss.

Mar enjoys being able to use all of his skills he’s gained thus far.

“I like working with people and getting the chance to explain what’s cool about science,” Mar said.

He is happiest when someone understands what he’s explaining and when they appreciate the National Park Service has preserved

and set aside these special places.

“There’s so many stories held within those objects,” he said.

Mar also said many people think Agate is “in the middle of nowhere.”

“I would argue we’re in the middle of everywhere,” he said.

Mar and the staff at Agate find many ways to entice people to visit the park.

With the use of technology and video conferencing, Mar has had the chance to work with people in other parts of the country and the world.

“We hooked up with a school in Serbia,” he said.

That school has a science fair every year. A few years ago, they began virtual field trips.

“Last year, they invited Yellowstone, then a South African national park in Cape Town and us,” Mar said.

The school learned about Agate by word of mouth.

Agate had already done a virtual field trip in Pennsylvania. Teachers talk, even around the world and they suggested Agate to the students in Serbia.

“B.J. Peters at ESU #13 has helped us a lot,” Mar said. “This year, we have a request from Dubai.”

Events such as virtual field trips excite Mar. “I like connecting with different people, hooking them up with other parks,” he said. “The 409 other parks have different stories to share. It is fun to get to set up events and relationships.”

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Mar receives great joy from his work, especially when children he’s helped recognize him.

“When they see me, they might not remember my name, but they will say ‘Hey, Mr. Ranger,’” he said.

Mar believes the national park system is one of the few places people can come together and agrees these places as a whole are important to the fabric and continuity of our collective heritage.

“Hopefully it is one of those things you can believe in and find worthwhile to preserve,” he said.

Part of his job is to help people understand the greater ecosystem and the interconnectedness of a habitat.

“To know the national parks are theirs. If they see what’s special about them, they will take care of them,” he said.

Another aspect of the national park service Mar finds fascinating is that it’s not just made up of parks, but also the National Historic Landmark program and historians who work with different groups to set aside remarkable places that aren’t park status yet.

“When I was working at Canyonlands outside Moab, Utah, I learned of a historic plaque about an internment camp for Japanese-Americans during WWII,” he said.

“My journey with the national parks has taught me to appreciate history. You’re standing on that spot where history happened.”

Mar and his girlfriend enjoy traveling as much as they can. He also likes to bicycle, hike and read. He also loves the cultural events in Scottsbluff.

“There is a group who got together to invite people from Afghanistan to come here for a cultural

exchange,” he said. “One year it was teachers, another journalists and they would live at somebody’s home.”

The best visit for Mar was October 2014, when the deputy prime minister for protected lands was invited.

“He wanted to learn how American parks work,” Mar said.

Mar said he was fortunate to have met such a gentleman who wanted to come to Agate to learn and make a difference in his country’s national parks.

Mar said the greater western Nebraska community is supportive of Agate and understands the role national parks play in preserving history.

“We’re lucky we have great neighbors,” he said.

“Park rangers like Lil Mansfield and Anne Wilson, who are themselves local ranchers, can appreciate what we do even though they may not always agree with the federal government.”

Mar said if anyone wanted to work for the National Park Service, to be open to every opportunity.

“Be open to the other adventures and other public lands, whether it’s the Forest Service or Fish and Wildlife Service,” he said. “There’s different cool things to see and experience.”

When he began his journey, Mar never expected to have such a varied and fulfilling career. He has lived in Utah, Tennessee, California, Wyoming and Yellowstone, and had an opportunity to do a stint with National Geographic for a while.

“I have met some incredible people and it’s a been a joy to learn about different parts of our American society,” he said. “This is not what I expected when I started. It’s been a tremendous ride.”

Pride Page 14

Saturday, March 26, 2016

Career change leads former business owner to the ministry joyed a religious conversion and had Christian friends, though he’d never considered entering the ministry.

Slowly, however, his feelings began to change.

“We spend the first part of our lives learning what we want to be and what we expect. We get to the middle of our lives and find that it’s empty,” he said. “I wondered, ‘Who am I, if I’m not a business owner?’ I had to answer that question. I felt like somebody who had more to give.

“I felt this sort of stirring — a calling — to become a priest.”

The answer came through his daughter, Lia. Both married and divorced, Mark and Jill already had a blended family of five children. Jill wanted to adopt another. They found Lia, a child from China with special needs, in 2002. She had vision and hearing impairments. They moved to Denver to make it easier for her to acquire needed services.

In Denver, Mark decided to enter Episcopal seminary training. It took him three years to finish. He was ordained a year later in Omaha.

“It was a very un-ordinary way to get ordained in the Episcopal Church,” he said. “We were going through money at an unsustainable rate.”

Compared with his business dealings, navigating a church career was more challenging. Openings were rare. His first church was in Elkhorn, in one of the fastest-growing parts of Nebraska. He spent seven years there.

“It’s a job where you work a lot of hours, a different kind of hours, and I’m gone a lot. People were moving there by the score, but we were so far from this support system that we need,” he said. “We never thought we’d come back to Scottsbluff. In 2013, this just came open.”

Joining the ministry at St. Francis was an opportunity to not only get closer to Lia’s support system, but to

STEVE FREDERICK Special Projects Editor sfrederick@starherald.com

Father Mark Selvey’s smile is infectious. After leading the opening procession in his formal clerical garb during a recent service, he’s exuberant, conversational, making jokes and addressing individual congregants from the front of the church.

He’s left copies of a survey in the pews, asking them for suggestions about how to make the church stronger.

During his sermon, he brings up an uncomfortable subject: money.

One of the earlier gospel readings told the story of the prodigal son, who squandered his share of his family fortune and returns, penniless, to be welcomed by his father.

From the pulpit, Selvey points out that people will be open about many subjects but rarely like to discuss their finances. He tells the story of a friend who acquired a lot but died young, before he had a chance to enjoy retirement. He cautions against hoarding or squandering riches.

“How are you using the money in your life to create love and kindness and goodness?” he asks. “I don’t know a single person who has tons of money and tons of happiness.”

He finishes with a challenge: “Use money to make meaning in our lives.”

It’s a lesson with special significance to Selvey, 60, who made a lot of successful moves as a businessman and retired early to a life of golfing and fishing before answering a call to the ministry.

The call came late in life. Raised in Omaha, Selvey graduated from Benson High School in 1973 as a “modestly interested student.”

“I had a lot of fun in high school,” he said. “Part of my story is that I should have studied harder.”

Yet his biography would be the

STEVE FREDERICK/Star-Herald

A former businessman, Father Mark Selvey entered the ministry and now serves St. Francis Episcopal Church in Scottsbluff.

envy of many a business major. He became a respiratory therapist, moving from Wyoming to take a job at Regional West Medical Center in 1980. He partnered with Gene Hilbers, who sold industrial gases, to create a home oxygen business.

Later, the hospital bought Hilbers’ share, but eventually sold its holdings to Selvey. As owner-manager, he rented space at the Scottsbluff airport for 24 oxygen concentrators and expanded over time to offices in Chadron, Alliance, Casper, Wyoming, and Mattoon, Illinois. Fearing he’d be overwhelmed by competitors, he eventually sold out to the company now known as Apria, and took a job with the buyer as a regional manager.

By nearly every measure, his life

was a success.

“It doesn’t mean you’re smart.

I’m a hard worker, and I got lucky,” he said. “When you own your own business, it’s easy to work hard. You have to. It’s your life.”

Yet he wanted to remain in Scottsbluff, where he and his wife, Jill, had made many friends.

“Our home was here. Our friends were here. I didn’t enjoy working for somebody else as much as I thought I might,” he said.

At 42, he resigned and retired.

“I had everything I wanted in life. I had money. I had enough to be flexible. I had options.”

He volunteered with his church youth group, at St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church in Gering, and found that he enjoyed it. As a teen he’d en-

the friends they’d made years earlier.

“It had been 10 years since we moved away. We came back and it feels like home, as if we’d never left.

We weren’t here two days and people were showing up and offering to help. People here are loyal. People are friendly.”

As it turned out, the money he’d made as a successful businessman had provided him with the means and opportunity to find meaning in his life.

“The message of the Gospel is that we’re supposed to take care of each other, and live with a sense of joy and kindness,” he said.

Many of the skills that served Selvey well in his business career have helped him in his ministry, he said. He enjoys speaking, and being a leader. He uses his skills in customer service and human resources management. He understands how to create a mission statement, set goals and understand budgets.

“I’m very enthusiastic and energetic, and those traits served me well in business,” he said. “Where it’s unhealthy is when there’s an excessive focus on the numbers.”

At a time when church attendance is waning in many parts of America and the nation is politically divided, it’s rewarding to be able to offer the refuge of shared religious values and a sense of community, he said.

“People who are part of a faith community need someplace to go for support,” he said. “People are liberal or conservative, but they come together to worship. People who have been though adversity get it.

You don’t have to tell them to be kind to each other.”

His business career behind him, Selvey expects his next retirement to come at 72, when his pastoral career will come to a conclusion.

“This will be my last job,” he said with a smile. “It feels like the best use of my time and my gifts.”

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Pride Saturday, March 26, 2016

Page 15

‘Dream job’ keeps Nebraskaland staffer busy in the great outdoors STEVE FREDERICK Special Projects Editor s frederick@starherald.com

At one point in his career, Justin Haag spent a lot of time writing stories and taking photographs for small Nebraska newspapers. He designed pages on computer screens and wrote a few editorials.

Today he still does a lot of writing and photography, but his working day might begin well before the sun comes up. It could take him to a state park, a wildlife management area or to remote lakes in the middle of nowhere. For a guy from a tiny Nebraska town, cataloging the state’s natural wonders is part of the job description.

Haag, 42, serves the Panhandle as regional editor and public information officer for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission’s Nebraskaland Magazine. Its mission is to create an appreciation of the state’s natural beauty, especially in parks, beyond just the hunting and fishing community. It’s known for award-winning photography and in-depth reports.

In addition to its six-person staff, the magazine runs contributions from other highly regarded freelance photographers and writers.

It also keeps tabs on the commission’s website and produces news releases.

Haag’s job description includes working with the parks division to show off the best public lands for camping, hiking, hunting and fishing, and working with the wildlife division to create feature stories about the state’s wildlife and ecosystems.

“My favorite is the field time, sitting in a photo blind and getting up close with elk and bighorns,” he said. “I’ll be riding in a helicopter as they do a mule deer survey. It’s great to see the world come alive as the sun comes up, and see the waterfowl and other wildlife greet the day.”

Haag was raised in small communities near McCook in southwestern Nebraska, where he developed a love for fishing and hunting.

He attended Beaver Valley High School, which he describes as “real small.”

“We played six-man football,” he said. “It’s consolidated twice since I graduated.”

After earning a bachelor’s degree in English and journalism from Chadron

STEVE FREDERICK/Star-Herald

TOP LEFT: A massive 500mm lens gives Justin Haag the reach he needs to photograph distant subjects.

BOTTOM LEFT: This 2013 photo of a swift fox pup near its den in southern Sioux County won Justin Haag an award from the Association for Conservation Information. It took him several visits to the area to get the photo he wanted.

ABOVE: Justin Haag drills a hole through the ice to begin a day of late-winter fishing.

State College in 1996, he worked four years as an editor and reporter, serving the Chadron Record as a reporter/photographer and later the McCook Gazette, editing copy and designing pages. In 2000, he returned to Chadron State when a job opened up in public relations and marketing. He worked 12 years at the college, serving as its media and public relations coordinator the last five.

While there, he also took a short course in Nebraska wildlife.

“It really opened my eyes to the diversity of birds and other animals we have in Nebraska,” he said.

As part of his job he covered a talk by photographer Michael Forsberg, a contributor to Nebraskaland and an avid advocate for the Great Plains. He bought a 100-500mm telephoto zoom lens for his camera and began getting out to record images of wildlife.

“It was enough to put to-

gether a portfolio to help me get this job,” he said.

He and his wife, Cricket, still live in Chadron with their children Sawyer, 13, and Kiera, 9.

“I never thought I’d come back. As a 20-year-old college student, I didn’t think there was enough to do,” he said. “Western Nebraska definitely grows on you.”

His roots in hunting and fishing go back to his rural Nebraska childhood.

“My grandpa got me fishing. I spent a lot of time out in a little boat with him,” he said. “That’s something I’ve tried to carry on with my two kids.”

They often ride along when he researches the many outdoor recreational opportunities of the Pine Ridge region. He considers the time he spends in the state’s natural spaces to be the best part of the job.

“If you can get outdoors a bit and get out from behind the desk, it changes your perspective and puts a smile

on your face,” he said.

He also enjoys working alongside some of the state’s best wildlife photographers.

He compares the skills required to those of a hunter.

Successful wildlife photography combines knowledge of the quarry and the land with successful stalking and hiding.

“It’s nice to have that rack on the wall, but it’s also nice to have a photo of a beautiful animal in a beautiful setting,” he said.

He succeeded Bob Grier, who spent nearly four decades with Nebraskaland, which celebrates its 90th anniversary this year.

Grier held the record as longest employed writer/photographer with the magazine. When Grier worked in the commission’s Lincoln office, both a reporter and photogra-

pher were sent to cover assignments. Photographers worked with film and used a camera that lacked a lot of modern technology, such as auto-focus.

“They set the bar really high. They were legends,” Haag said. “What they could do with the technology of the day was amazing.”

Today, he sometimes crosses paths with Grier, who’s now retired, for an occasional fishing trip.

“I made sure when I first got the job to meet up with him and ask some questions.

He gave me good advice,” he said. “He always has a lot of good stories to tell.”

Today, the staff is expected to write and take photographs, and they’re assigned to district offices around the state.

Another useful resource for Haag is Eric Fowler, who works out of the Lincoln office. Also a Chadron State alumni, Fowler joined the magazine staff in 2001 after working for a time in western Nebraska

newspapers, including the Star-Herald, and for Game and Parks for several years as a publications editor.

Both colleagues have been helpful in pointing Haag toward interesting story opportunities.

“We have so many places out here that I didn’t know about until I took this job,” he said.

His knowledge of the region also serves him well as a member of the travel board for Dawes County, which promotes area tourism.

Although he’s been at the job now for several years, it still feels new in a lot of ways, he said.

“It’s dependent on the seasons, and every day is different. When you’re trying to document everything that’s going on in nature, it keeps you moving,” he said.

“I never would have imagined that I’d have this job. A lot of people consider it a dream job, and I guess that’s how I look at it.”

Pride Page 16

Saturday, March 26, 2016