16 minute read
All speeds welcome
Mesa Monument Striders appreciate Western Colorado’s beauty on foot
By Lauren Berg
Think running clubs are just for the younger crowd? Mesa Monument Striders invites you to think again, boasting a community of Grand Valley runners that hail from all walks—and speeds—of life.
Founded in 1978 by a group of avid runners, Mesa Monument Striders is a Grand Junction-based running club that hosts weekly group runs as well as monthly races in Western Colorado. It’s also an affiliate of the Road Runners Club of America.
While some may know the club for its grueling race up and down Mt. Garfield (dubbed the “Garfield Grumble”), its weekly group runs are much more casual and easily accessible to beginners.
“It’s a very welcoming group. We have a wide range of abilities and ages of people that come,” said Tom Ela.
Ela, 69, has been an active member of the Striders for the past 25 years and is currently in charge of the club’s membership.
According to Ela, it’s not uncommon for people to discover the sport later in life.
“One guy just turned 70 and he started when he was 50,” he said.
Personally, Ela used to say he would never be a runner—that is, until he was “tricked” into running while hiking in Colorado’s mountains shortly after he moved back to Grand Junction in 1985.
“A couple of my friends were runners,” he shared. “After I got into pretty good shape climbing fourteeners, they just took off running down one and I said, ‘I’ll just jump in and run along.’”
While some join the Striders to help train for future races, the vibe of the 170-member club is centered around encouragement rather than competition. It’s this community that keeps club members returning. Ela, for example, still plans to join the Striders for their weekly run in spite of his recent knee surgery. He joked that the club will now have it’s very first walking division.
“It’s our little escape time to not have to worry about the real world and just talk about exercise and nature and fresh air,” he said.
BECOME A STRIDER
Membership costs $20 per year, which helps fund the group’s events. However, membership is not required to join the club’s weekly runs or to attend races.
Ela said weekly runs are a great place to start, offering a range of distances catering to each individual’s goals and ability. Runners are also encouraged to bring a chair and hang out afterwards with their beverage of choice. Group runs can range from six to 40 people, with certain events like the club’s homemade peach ice cream run (held in late summer) attracting a larger crowd.
Ela’s personal favorite is the Turkey Flats Race on June 26 up in Glade Park.
“Usually the wildflowers are just peaking about then. A lot of us go up and camp for the weekend,” he said.
But when it comes to running in western Colorado, every trail is someone’s favorite.
“It’s a wonderful area of opportunity to get out in all kinds of environments. Desert, urban…it’s all accessible and close,” Ela added.
To learn more about the club’s upcoming events or to get involved, visit www.mesamonumentstriders. com or call Ela at 970-773-3124. ■
UPCOMING RUNS
• Mondays, 6 p.m. Fruita trail run
(see Facebook for location) • Thursdays, 6 p.m.
Lunch Loops run
• Saturday, April 2
Widowmaker Race
• Saturday, May 28
Garfield Grumble
• Sunday, June 26
Turkey Flats Race
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What would happen if you died today?
Not talking about estate planning can be an expensive mistake
By Melinda Mawdsley “I don’t have $3 million in assets. My kids can figure it out.”
“I’m only 60. I feel great. That power of attorney decision can wait a few more years at least.”
“I found a form for a will on the internet. That will work, won’t it?”
Perhaps one of the aforementioned thoughts resonates with you. Perhaps you’ve even said it out loud. And if that’s the case, you aren’t alone.
Attorney Andrew Smith, of the law office Kain & Burke, said it’s common to hear prospective clients unsure or hesitant about their true need for estate planning. He reiterated that no matter family dynamics, personal assets or health status, an estate plan is a necessary and beneficial part of life planning.
Estate planning prepares the way to legally manage a client’s assets in the event of incapacitation or death, which is why it’s never too soon to form one because designating power of attorney, setting a will and living will, and establishing trusts or guardianships cannot be done retroactively.
GETTING STARTED
Kain & Burke offers a variety of legal services, from complex tax issues to civil disputes, but Smith said estate planning is an area of expertise.
The firm’s lawyers—Smith, Michael P. Burke, Stephanie R. Holguin, Jill Cenamo—and experienced paralegals meet with clients to personally assess what is needed and the information necessary to include in a comprehensive estate plan.
Creating an estate plan may only take two meetings with a recommendation to revisit every five to seven years—or sooner, if something notable happens that needs attention. Those who put together an estate plan before moving to Colorado may want to meet with an attorney to ensure that plan works with state law.
“When a lot of people hear ‘estate planning,’ they think they need to have a lot of money,” Smith said. “But that’s not the case.”
An estate plan is designed to help people from a variety of financial standpoints while they’re alive and after death. An estate plan may include:
1.Power of attorney: A legally binding document that allows the client to predetermine who makes decisions on medical and financial decisions in the event the client is unable to do so.
2.Will: A document that specifies how a person’s property and assets are to be distributed. (It’s worth noting that a person who has moved to Colorado will want to check about the validity of an out-of-state will.) 3.Living will and other advance directives: Legal instructions for medical care if unable to make decisions oneself.
4.Trusts: An effective way to secure property and assets and have beneficiaries avoid potentially expensive and time-consuming probate processes after a client’s death. (There are different kinds of trusts.)
Kain & Burke attorneys will customize an estate plan for each client and will advise and take into account marriages, divorces, subsequent marriages, prenuptial agreements, etc.
Assets can be such things as bank accounts, real estate, retirement accounts, pensions and life insurance. Additionally, some people may have small businesses, or even oil and gas royalties that need to be discussed and handled.
AVOID THE MESS
If all of this is too overwhelming to think about, imagine what happens if an estate ends up in court with an unknown and undetermined outcome.
“[People] need to know what would happen if they died today, and if it’s not what they want, how they can change it,” Smith said. “A lot of times they think kids can deal with it, but they can’t always deal with paying bills while you are alive and making personal decisions on your health care. Do you want to leave a mess for your heirs or a streamlined format that really isn’t that costly to do?”
For help with your estate plan (and/or your parents’), call Kain & Burke at 970-241-2969, or visit them at 225 N. Fifth St., Suite 611, in Grand Junction (located inside Alpine Bank). ■
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Lost (and Found) in Space
TV Actors Mumy and Cartwright launch new “Lost in Space” book
By Nick Thomas
If you were a sci-fi fan growing up during the 1960s, the nostalgic value of shows like “Lost in Space” can’t be overstated. Cast members Bill Mumy and Angela Cartwright recognize the connection many seniors may have to the series and have updated and expanded their 2015 “Lost (and Found) in Space” book into a new volume, released September 14, 2021.
The new book is 350 pages and contains over 900 photographs. Mumy and Cartwright give much of the credit for the expanded book to the late producer, director and screenwriter Kevin Burns.
Cartwright, who plays the show’s genial and imaginative space teen Penny Robinson, said Burns called her after acquiring the CBS photo archives of the show, and together, they began writing down all the personal memories the photos brought back.
“We were planning to update the book with maybe 50 additional pages, but it ended up so much more with all these never-before-seen photos,” she said.
Mumy, who played plucky junior astronaut Will Robinson in the series, said the new volume contains a lot more stories about the show as well as the intertwining lives of him and Cartwright, who have remained friends for over 50 years.
“I was 10 when the show began,” said Mumy. “Angela and I were at school together for four years, we went through puberty together, Angela Cartwright and Bill Mumy in a publicity photo released during the original run of “Lost in Space.”
we became each other’s first loves, traveled the world together, and went on to have our own families. So it’s both a book on ‘Lost in Space’ and our long friendship.”
Why the show and science fiction in general remains so popular with audiences is no mystery to Mumy.
“Sci-fi is just a canvas for the imagination. And because our show had children, kids watching could relate to those characters and go along on the space adventures with us each week,” he said.
After the three-season show ended in 1968, Mumy and Cartwright continued to act including
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Angela Cartwright, left, and Bill Mumy, below, hold the new “Lost (and Found) in Space: Blast Off into the Expanded Edition.”
cameos in the new Netflix “Lost in Space” series. But both have enjoyed successful careers beyond the screen. Mumy is a respected musician and singer-songwriter while Cartwright is a noted photographer and painter.
However, the pair never distanced themselves from the iconic sci-fi series.
“The props, the cast, the stories—I loved every minute working on the show,” Mumy recalled. “We’ve been living through a hard time on this planet lately, so a little nostalgia can take you back to a happy time. ‘Lost in Space’ even inspired people to go into the space program.”
And as the stars have aged, so have their fans.
“That’s a special connection we have with them,” Cartwright noted. “They’ve even been very forgiving about my white hair!”
“Now, people in their 50s and 60s have introduced it to their children and grandchildren,” Mumy added. “In 30 or 40 years, when we’re all no longer around, there will probably be new generations still watching it with fond memories. So we’re grateful for the fans and hope the book brings back a snippet of their childhood.” ■
Buy “Lost (and Found) in Space: Blast Off into the Expanded Edition” for $60 on Amazon. Autographed editions are available at www.NCPBooks.com
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Little things that “wow” me
By Marti Healy “Oh, wow!” she kept saying, in that breathless sort of wonder that can be heard only in the voice of youth and innocence.
Her tiny nose and hands pressed against one store window and then another. She pointed to counter after counter filled with candy. And then several displays of plastic eggs and scenes of stuffed bunnies and yellow chicks and woven baskets of every size. Even a stack of nothing more than colorful socks caused her to express delight.
“Oh, wow!” she said again and again, as her tiptoes carried her from place to place, store to store, joy to joy.
She is only 2-1/2 years old, perhaps a bit closer to 3. But she is brilliantly new to the world, fresh with quickened senses and anticipation. Her name is Jane and she was visiting my neighbor—her grandmother—just before Easter.
I was delighted when Jane, her mother and grandmother invited me to come shopping with them. I had not expected how much joy it would bring to watch Jane as she reminded everyone around her about authentic awe and curiosity. She exampled for us how to appreciate the wonders that are often at the ends of our own fingertips and tips of our noses..
It wasn’t just the sparkle and glam of the stores that caught Jane’s enthusiasm. There was also a giant ballerina statue, and leaves on the ground everywhere she looked. There was one large friendly dog by the name of Quincy, and dozens of others to meet and greet on practically every street corner.
“Oh, wow!” she said to each of them.
I suspect that most of us have something in our lives that can still bring us to that feeling of “oh, wow!” It could be kneeling in a garden with the sun soft on our backs, or wet dog noses. Perhaps it’s the joy of creating art or music or dance. Maybe it’s a glowing sunset or the perfect golf swing. For me, it’s often old books or abandoned buildings, as well as deep silent forests and warm rhythmic ocean waves.
But I can also be wowed by the less tangible, such as hearing or reading one true thing. And the wisdom of native peoples and the very young. I can be wowed by a unique turn of phrase that makes me think, and a phrase of music that makes me cry. And there are the universal wows of treasured smells that seem to speak to all of us—like rain, and fresh cookies and bread.
Lately, however, I find that I am most wowed by unexpected kindnesses, unbridled compassion and uncontained love. I am awed by grace and generosity beyond reason, by peacemakers and diplomats.
Watching Jane that lovely day, I began to examine all the potential and deserving “oh, wows” there really are in life, if we remain open to them. And I began to suspect that perhaps they aren’t always meant just for us to experience. Perhaps there are moments and opportunities when we are meant to be the “wow” in someone else’s life. Perhaps, in the end, those are the “wows” that should matter the most, no matter our age. ■
Prince Philip
10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021
By John W. Thurman
Time: Oh Time, When one is an infant, there are few memories.
Growing into adolescent life, most gradually create memories which might go unheeded. In adulthood we generate so many great moments that transform into future memories.
Old age brings on reflection of life’s memories fashioned within each lifespan. Then time, oh time, you run over us deliberately and regrettably quickly. Now, all hopefully become precious memories to others to share during unhappiness. Time: Oh time, existence makes all pay your toll for being born. ■
All You Can Eat Orchard Mesa Lions Club presents the 43rd Annual Mother’s Day Pancake Breakfast
Sunday • May 8th • 7:00am-11:30am
Mesa County Fairgrounds • Building C
Tickets available through Reenie with the Orchard Mesa Lions Club at 970-270-9623, or at all local True Value Hardware Stores $8 in advance • $9 at the door Kids under 5 and Active Military are FREE! Bring this ad to receive a free spin on the cake wheel!
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Date Time Topic
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Long Term Care Medicaid Schedule 04/08 What You Need to Know When Someone Dies10-11amDate Time Topic and Presenter 04/15 10-11am End of Life Planning04/01 10-11am Long Term Care Medicaid04/22 10-11am Wills & TrustsShauna Clemmer, Esq. 04/29 Dealing with Debt10-11am 04/08 10-11am What You Need to Know 05/06 10-11am AARP: Who We Are and What We Do When Someone Dies 05/13 10-11am SSI & SSDI at Colorado Legal Services Clara Brown Shaffer, Esq. 05/20 Housing Resources: Housing Counseling & Education Program10-11am04/15 10-11am End of Life Planning 05/27 10-11am Housing Resources: Weatherization & Rehab Programs Stephanie Holguin, Esq. 04/22 10-11am Wills & Trusts Lloyd Quesenberry, Esq. 04/29 10-11am Dealing with Debt Andrea Rosenberry, Esq. 05/06 10-11am AARP: Who We Are and What We Do John Rodwick 05/13 10-11am SSI & SSDI at Colorado Legal Services Lindsey Watson, Esq. 05/20 10-11am Housing Resources: Housing Counseling & Education Program Marisa Felix-Campbell 05/27 10-11am Housing Resources: Weatherization & Rehab Programs Marisa Felix-Campbell
