Gathering Conifer's Stories

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Conifer’s apprentice storytellers cut their mythological teeth on tales of bandit capers and buried treasure, of ghosts that glide through venerable hallways, of a hot dog on wheels, and of a four-legged chicken.

The fledgling authors are part of West Jefferson Middle School’s seventh-grade gifted and talented class, and their muses are the master storytellers — Conifer’s local legends.

Teacher Frank Reetz asked: Wouldn't it be great to learn some long-lost stories from the quiet woods of southern Jefferson County, compose them, then read them back for others to hear?

And so was born the Gathering Stories Project: Conifer’s Myths and Stories.

Reetz brought together 39 of his students and nine of Conifer’s characters.

The characters are: Jesse McKean, owner of Mountain Books; Richard Burrows, longtime resident; Katie Dix, creator of Handkerchiefs Through History; Yvonne Ludwig, Conifer Historical Society secretary; Betty Field-Long, longtime resident and part of the Long Brothers legacy; Ron Aigner, owner of the Coney Island hot dog stand in Bailey; Joe Beery, owner of Aspen Drilling; artist Eric West; and Conifer sage Norm Meyer.

“This is special, this project,” Reetz said. “I hope the students learn what makes their community special, and the perpetuation of stories creates a loyalty to their community.”

The idea for the project came to Reetz while he was hiking last summer through hemlock groves in Vermont, and Reetz wants to make this project a yearly tradition.

Before gathering the stories, a little legwork was needed. The students learned new skills and concepts: research, interviews, documentation, story angles and composition; and themes: hospitality and graciousness, cherishing the reputation of the storyteller, and loyalty to community.

The interviewees and interviewers
With a giddy-up spirit, the students dived head-first into interviewing the characters and creating a picture of Conifer history.
The kids worked in nine teams of three or four interviewers to one storyteller. Each student took turns operating the small video cameras provided by the school, while others wielded old-fashioned paper and pen. Starting in early February, the interviews began, with everyone sitting around a table as a substitute for a working fireplace.

• West entertained the students with his love of crafts and creativity, and how the skills he uses to make his wooden creations and storytelling props came from his time at West Jeff Middle School.
• Field-Long spoke of Field’s Trading Post and four-legged chickens.
• Dix told her stories through her handkerchiefs, gently unfolding her history of Conifer.
• McKean shared a story about a place much like Conifer and the impacts of change, “ … a magical time in a magical place.”
• Ludwig talked of her family through a series of pictures, how she was reared in a cabin and about her fascination as a child with the running water at school — something the cabin didn’t have.
• Burrows regaled the students with the mystery of the houseless chimneys and a wooden cornice that’s too ornate for the hills of Conifer. He wondered about the people who left no trace.
• Aigner mused about motorcycle dreams and the giant hot dog on wheels that has devotees who travel across the United States for a frank.
• Beery thrilled his team with stories about his missing fingers and the fox farm.
• Meyer spoke in his slow and steady way of his family’s history beginning with his birth in 1917.

The next steps
A week later, Reetz brought in teachers to help with writing and editing. Amanda Rae and Gary Schanbacher, both with the Denver Lighthouse Writers Workshop, worked with the students to write and polish their stories/myths.

“It’s great to get the kids together with the mothers and fathers of the town,” Schanbacher said.

About 100 students and most of the characters gathered Feb. 17 to hear the finished stories. Students took their place at the table under the soft light of a lamp and read their stories aloud.

“When I walked into the room, I spied an elderly woman sitting lonely at an empty table. Her name is Betty Field-Long. As I could tell she was eager to tell her extravagant story… ,” Landon Wildes wrote in his story, called “Long Life as We Know It.”
Sam Cassman’s story, “Jesse’s Tale,” is about Jesse McKean.

“ … His hands were gnarled and calloused and showed many years of work and struggling. He greeted us jovially. … When we finally stopped our noise and shuffling … he told a story and his voice carried us to magical landscapes and times. … He was rejuvenated by this story; he grinned at us like he was 20 years younger.”

Jenna Wisnewski’s story, “Blood Orange,” is a searing interpretation of Beery’s fox farm.

“Foxes (were) everywhere, like a famous artist had just one color left to paint his farm scene: orange. … The line like a funeral procession, slowly filed into the mill … each fox met its fate.”

Finished products
Like all good stories, the project has taken on a life of its own.

The stories will become part of the Denver Public Library's Western Genealogical Library, according to Reetz.

Janet Shown, president of the Conifer Historical Society and Museum, has added the stories to the society’s Oral Traditions Project. Students will present their stories at 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 12, in the main lodge at Conifer Community Park at Beaver Ranch.

“I think it was a really exciting intergenerational project, one that brought the community closer together,” Shown said. “Having kids interview longtime residents about the community brings them into the history and makes them part of the history of Conifer.”

Student author Landon Wildes summed up the project best:

“The story of life is more important than a false (made-up) story,” he said. “When you get truth and facts about life, it’s amazing.”

The student authors

Students who participated in the project are: Matthew Bluestein, Matthew Burroughs, Justin Ford, Lindsey Foust, Lauren Freytag, Maria Jacobs, David Klaassen-Cornish, Michael LaBarge, Matthew Lein, Connor Lipke, Grant Martin, Cody Miller, Averi Rickert, Jacob Romero, David West, Cole Wheatley, Julien Williams, Jenna Wisniewski, Gabriel Arrage, Bjoern Bingham, Evan Blaskowski, Liam Canty, Jake Carter, William Dale, Megan Freytag, Olivia Galvin, Julianna Hastings, Reed Helle, Caleb Horrocks, Simon Hughes, Samuel Kassman, Camden Lawhead, Megan Mosey, Andrew Norman, Calvin Ringelberg, Howard Ritter, Maja Sagaser, Kyra Searcy and Landon Wildes.


From the High Timber Times March, 31, 2010