I was a mountain girl from the beginning, born 1953 and raised in Denver. CRMS provided opportunity and role models to shape my life from my first arrival by train to the CRMS summer session in 1968. A climb of Mt. Sopris followed the next day. Nigel and Kay Peacock were the summer Heads of School and with Gene Hebert, I climbed many 14ers and fell in love with the desert. 

I found academic subjects of interest, meaningful work crews, and unforgettable lectures and presentations. Ernest Shackleton will forever be my hero. A second summer session started my kayaking career led by John Stickney and introduction to silversmithing with Steve Shanzer. Jackie and Roger Paris helped me take kayaking to a Grand level. Finding my niche and thriving at CRMS enabled me to attend full time starting my junior year and graduating in 1971. The following two summers I taught kayaking and mowed lawns in the CRMS summer sessions. 

After college and work in Montana and climbing Denali, I married Will Perry and we moved back to Carbondale to help on the family ranch and start our own family of three children who grew up and attended CRMS. Through our proximity and friends at CRMS I was able to refresh the Jewelry Hogan and I began teaching silversmithing in 1982. One thing led to another and I was soon added teaching art classes, kayaking, packing food for trips, and leading Wilderness, fall, and spring trips. Chris and Nancy Babbs did me the honor of hiring me to take on the library after Paula Mechau’s tenure. I will never forget her admonishment to me: “Computers in the library? Over my dead body!” That was the year the internet was first introduced and look at us now thanks to Kathryn Ross and Eric Krimmer. I worked and taught many different roles at CRMS. When I retired in 2008 I was head of the Art Department, head librarian, served on the Outdoor Program Committee, as well as a kayaking instructor and trip leader. 

What inspired me most as a teacher at CRMS was being in the classroom, both indoors and out. The students inspired me to teach with the passion that I had received as a student. The many different opportunities to “teach” students expanded beyond imparting knowledge, skills, and experiences. It also allowed for a connection that came from meeting students where they were at and providing opportunity to grow, celebrate their small and grand successes, and be a reliable presence at CRMS. It is my hope that I made a positive difference with all the students I taught. 

My lifelong involvement in environmental activism started at CRMS from George Eustis’ first ecology class visiting the Rulison atomic test site and writing letters of protest. After CRMS I was on the board of the Thompson Divide Coalition and worked for over a decade to protect 200,000 plus acres of federal lands west of Carbondale from oil and gas development. I have served on the boards of the Mt. Sopris Montessori Preschool and Deer Hill Expeditions. I twice led local offices for the Obama campaign. 

It has been a refreshing and great pleasure to have the first two of my grandchildren attend CRMS as 3rd generation CRMS students. It gives me a fresh perspective of CRMS in this new age. The campus, garden and buildings are so beautiful and well kept, though I miss the messy ranch vitality. The classes and teachers are exceptional and my grandkids are thriving as I once did. Thank you CRMS.