       |
Setting the pace
2004 Boulder County Pacesetters
The Daily Camera
January 25, 2004
John Tayer
Business
Community relations coordinator keeps a packed schedule
At first glance, John Tayer's office appears in disarray. The community relations coordinator for Roche Colorado Corp. looks around, blushes, apologizes and said "it looks bad, but it's organized chaos."
But as for his day planner — that's a different story.
"To say 'chaotic' would be somewhat of an understatement," says Tayer, laughing.
The office and the day planner are both testaments of a man who is constantly on the go. During the days, Tayer acts as the liaison and spokesman for major pharmaceutical company, while the mornings and evenings are booked with meetings for various civic and nonprofit boards and councils.
"The key is, I really enjoy doing all of the stuff — the planning, the implementing, helping the community — that's what you enjoy at the end of the day," said Tayer, who is involved with more than 10 nonprofits.
Five years ago, Tayer left the Boulder City Manager's office for his current position at Roche. At the time, Roche was in the transition of changing its image.
Tayer says he is thankful to have the opportunity to tell of the company's reduction of emissions, commitment to the environment and production of groundbreaking AIDS medications.
"It's just been an easy story to tell about a company that I think has made incredible strides in addressing some of the community's concerns," he said.
Robin Bohannan, executive director of the Boulder County AIDS Project, said Roche and especially Tayer helped put a face on the epidemic.
"When they invented Fuzeon (an alternative to other medications the patient might be rejecting), they included BCAP in conversations with corporate heads and researchers. John was able to tell, 'here's what it looks like on the ground level,'" Bohannan says. "I think John understands that it's not just about writing someone a check."
Along with BCAP, Tayer also represents Roche on the boards of the Community Foundation and Intercambio De Comunidades Espanol/Ingles, a program that serves as a cultural and language exchange between the English and Hispanic populations.
Away from Roche, Tayer serves on the Eco-Cycle board and the City of Boulder Transportation Advisory Board, and is the host of the monthly "The Boulder Show" on Channel 8.
— Alicia Wallace
Colleen Conant
Luminary Award
Ex-publisher helped build a trust fund for the needy, saved a star
Their names are Colleen and Josie. But call them Thelma and Louise.
Six years ago, these two powerhouse women were ready to risk it all and plummet off the proverbial cliff.
Josie Heath laughs as she looks at a model of the convertible from the film, sitting on her desk where she works as executive director of the Community Foundation Serving Boulder County. It was a gift from Colleen Conant, former publisher and editor of the Daily Camera.
"I remember the first day I met her, I told her the idea of the Millennium Trust," Heath says. "She could have easily thought I was wacko, but she said 'I love it. Let's do it.' ... The trust could not have been successful without Colleen."
At the dawning of the new millennium, with a boost from free advertising space and personal columns in the Daily Camera, donors came forward and established a $1.8 million trust fund that continues to earn $75,000 in interest each year to serve the most needy.
Conant had been nominated many times for a Pacesetter in the past, but as an insider she was not eligible.
"There may never be another Luminary, says Jill Stravolemos, marketing and new media director. "It was created in her honor."
She deserves it, says Clair Beckmann, regional president of Bank One who served on many boards with Conant.
"Colleen is such a joy to work with. She's a no-nonsense, let's-not-waste-time, we've-got-to-move-forward kind of a woman," Beckmann says. "She has a huge personal commitment to making this community a better place."
Building community is "a natural" for a publisher, Conant says.
Her largest legacy is the Millennium Trust, which was mentioned during a White House conference on Philanthropy. In a scant three months, the fund attracted more than 6,000 folks, from the 6-year-old who mailed in his 50 cent allowance, to an executive, who wrote her check for $100. The trust fostered a culture of giving, Heath says, and the Camera with Conant at the helm was always willing to do its part — publishing envelope inserts, coupons and words of inspiration.
Conant has always had faith in the community when it's most needed. Take 1999, the year the Flagstaff Mountain star was in such disrepair that the Chamber of Commerce president told Conant the end might be near for a holiday tradition since 1947.
"I said 'No'" Colleen recalls. "I said, "We have to have our star. If we ask the community, I promise you they will deliver."
Conant's husband Terry calls it "Colleen's Star."
Conant laughs, but she is reticent to receive any recognition. The Pacesetter, however, strikes an emotional chord, since she once turned its small luncheon into a grandiose event.
Conant feels a little "weird" as recipient. "There are a lot of people who are more deserving, but I am thrilled with this honor," she says. "I have a bias because I feel the Pacesetter is truly a community award, it is the one."
— Julie Marshall
Andy Pruitt
Science/Medicine/Health
Trainer makes sports medicine accessible to all
The idea came to him 25 years ago, when he was CU's head athletic trainer.
After treating injuries and offering training advice to college players all day, Andy Pruitt would find Boulder's recreational cyclists, runners and skiers clamoring for his attention.
"When I would send the football players off, I'd open up the back door and the townspeople would come flooding in. They had no access to sports medicine," says Pruitt, 54. "Ultimately, my goal was to provide the level of care that I provided at CU for those 300 athletes to everybody."
Today, Pruitt has done just that.
As founder and medical director for the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine, Pruitt has created a place many say is unique in the country. At the center, an outgrowth of Boulder Community Hospital, everyone from Olympic cyclists to middle-aged weekend snowboarders can get the sport-specific care typically reserved for elite athletes. And, remarkably, health insurance often covers it.
"It is one of those success stories that you wish could happen more often in communities — that his personal goal would have such a profound impact on the community at large," says former Olympic runner Frank Shorter.
A lifetime devoted to sport and medicine made Pruitt uniquely suited for the task.
Despite a hunting accident in which he lost his lower right leg at age 14, Pruitt earned several titles during a 10-year bike racing career. He served as medical coordinator for the U.S. Olympic Cycling Team and was head athletic trainer for CU from 1976 to 1985, before earning his physician assistant's license and leaving for Denver to head up a private practice.
In 1996, he got a call from Boulder Community Hospital asking if he would be interested in creating a sports medicine center. He jumped at the chance, and the center opened in 1998.
Pruitt says he is most proud of the center's creation, at his urging, of a program in which every high school in the Boulder Valley School District has a full-time certified athletic trainer — trained at and paid by the center — to help with injury prevention for young athletes. He is also proud of the diversity of patients he gets to work with.
Eckart Lemberg, 75, is one of them.
Two years ago, Lemberg's knees were shot from a lifetime of long-distance running, yet he dreamed of carrying the Olympic torch when it came through Boulder. He asked Pruitt for help, and thanks to a series of injections in his knees, completed the torch run without a problem.
"I take as much pleasure in that, in helping Eck run the Olympic torch for one-third of a mile, as I would with any Olympic athlete," says Pruitt.
Lemberg, who still rides his bike as much as 27 miles at a time, can't say enough about him:
"He makes me feel like a champion."
— Lisa Marshall
Lynn Widger
Education
Principal turned school around
Lynn Widger's commitment to improving the achievement of second language students makes her stand out in the Boulder Valley community.
Widger, 52, became the principal at Columbine Elementary School at a time when the staff was fragmented, enrollment was declining as white parents left, and pressure to improve the school's achievement was building.
Because of her leadership, educators say Columbine is now a model for educating second language and low-income students.
"Columbine's success is only because we're all in it together," Widger says. "I created a situation where everyone had a part and felt they could be part of it."
Nancy Commins, a consultant who helped restructure Columbine, says Widger set high expectations, encouraged teachers and created a strong sense of community.
Commins said Columbine is where she sends other teachers and principals who ask to see a school "that is doing it right."
"Her leadership has completely transformed Columbine into one of the top elementary schools," she said. "I feel she really makes a difference for kids."
A longtime educator, Widger has worked in Colorado public schools since 1973. She started her career as a teacher in the San Louis Valley and directed bilingual programs. Under her leadership, the Boulder Valley School District created the Department of Language and Literacy Support Services.
In 1995, she was hired as the acting principal at Washington Elementary, a dual-immersion bilingual school that closed at the end of the last school year. She refused to stay longer than a year because she wasn't fluent in Spanish.
Her next job was as principal at Heatherwood Elementary School. She became Columbine's principal in 1999.
She said working with second language students is a passion and a calling.
"I needed to go where I could give the most," she said.
In their nominating letter, Columbine teachers Laurie Jundt and Monica Olguin said Widger deserves the award because of her dedication to children.
"Lynn changes the world day by day, teacher by teacher and child by child," they said. "She leads with courage, with steadfast belief that teachers do make a difference and with a vision that she creates with her staff."
— Amy Bounds
Dorothy Rupert
Lifetime Achievement
Former legislator, teacher changed lives
Dorothy Rupert is best known as a former state congresswoman and senator who cares passionately about human rights, health care, families and public schools. But those who know Rupert also say one of her greatest impacts has been on individuals — especially young people — and inspiring them to do their best.
Living in a children's home during the Depression, instilled a deep appreciation and passion for preserving social services and helping the poor, Rupert, 77, says. Her father deserted the family, and her mother, who worked for low pay in a munitions factory during World War II, reluctantly placed her in a children's home. Rupert says she received a wonderful education at the home, including piano and cello lessons. Her mother visited frequently.
"I saw a single parent doing her absolute best and doing her all," she says.
Rupert represented District 14 in the Colorado House of Representatives from 1987 until 1994, when she was appointed to the Senate. In 2001, term limits forced her to leave office. Prior to her political career, she was a teacher and counselor at Fairview High School for 17 years and worked in the Boulder High School's counseling department 1980-1987. Former students say she took interest in each student and knew them all by name.
"Dorothy has a way of making students come to understand their own strengths and realize that they are special as individuals," wrote former Boulder High School student and Lyons resident Ben Pearlman in a nominating letter.
As a legislator, Rupert always had four to five interns even though she wasn't supposed to have more than two. One of them was Christine Hurley, 27, who met Rupert while riding the bus. By the end of the ride, Rupert offered her an internship.
"I learned a lot about effective communication and getting your voice heard and standing up for what you believe," Hurley says. But she says she learned more from Rupert through their friendship.
"Almost any tough decision I have to make I think about, how would Dorothy handle it?," Hurley says.
Rupert also serves on the board of the city's Conflict Dispute Resolution Group and she is also on Boulder Community Hospital's Clinical Ethics Committee, which deals with legislation and end of life issues.
Rupert has returned to teaching. She is an instructor at University of Colorado at Boulder and is the coordinator of the Youth Council for Public Policy.
Her class "Civic Engagement: Using Democracy as a Tool for Social Change," offered to both university and high school students, focuses on examining issues facing them, such as what's going on with higher education, she says. She hopes to continue the class in the fall with a look at how democracy works in the local city and county governments.
"My heart really always returns to kids," Rupert says. "There is something about how I feel with them and they respond to me. It's such a gift when it feels there is no break in the circle."
— Susan Glairon
Ruth Wright
Environment
Political activist helped preserve mountain views
Boulder residents gazing to the west can rest assured that their view of the Flatirons will not be obstructed by high-rise developments.
Ruth Wright, 75, made sure of that years ago.
In 1971, while a law student at the University of Colorado, Wright wrote a successful city charter amendment setting a 55-foot height limit for buildings in Boulder.
"We were in the process of buying our mountain backdrop, and I didn't want it blocked by high-rise buildings," she says.
Wright's long history of environmental activism made her an obvious candidate for the Pacesetter Award, said Gwen Dooley, a friend and political colleague who nominated Wright for the honor.
"Everybody is amazed that she hasn't received it before," she said.
Wright's environmental activism began soon after she moved to Boulder in the late 1950s.
In the 1960s, the population of Boulder was growing 7 percent a year — which would have caused the city's population to double in 10 years, she says.
"It was a matter of protecting our amenities and wanting to grow in a rational fashion."
As a result, Wright helped to revitalize PLAN-Boulder County, an organization that serves as a watchdog to monitor and influence government policy and urban planning. She was the group's chair from 1965-1970.
Wright was also the driving force behind the city of Boulder's open space program. The program, established in 1967, uses part of a one-cent sales tax increase to help the city buy land on the plains.
Wright served as a representative in the Legislature from 1981 until 1994, and was House minority leader from 1986 until the end of her tenure.
She said she has no plans of slowing down her environmental activism.
"As long as I've still got my mind and my energy I'm going to continue wanting Boulder to be the place that we love," she said.
— Laura Morsch
Sue Coffee
Arts & Entertainment
Choir founder adds resonance to local musicscene
When Sue Coffee left New York City in the late '80s to study at the University of Northern Colorado, she didn't plan to stay long.
"To move from Harlem to Greeley?" recalls Coffee, 45, founder of Boulder's Sound Circle and the Women's Chorus of Boulder.
"That was just wild. And I just assumed that I would do my studies and then move back to New York or some other metropolitan area."
Things didn't work out quite the way she'd planned.
Instead, Coffee realized she didn't need to relocate to a major city to fulfill her musical dreams, and she ultimately settled in Boulder County, a decade ago starting Sound Circle — a 20-member women's a cappella chorus that still performs regularly.
"Sue's just really committed to creating a choral tradition here in Boulder, and she's been very successful," says Louis Knapp, owner of Boulder's Word Is Out Women's Bookstore, and one of several people who nominated Coffee. "She's just contributed so much to this community and to choral music in general. She's just wonderful."
Coffee, who lives in Lafayette with her partner of 13 years, started Sound Circle in 1994, at a time when there were no women's choral groups in Boulder County. She's been involved with the Denver Women's Chorus, but longed for something smaller.
"I'm just very passionate about choral singing," Coffee says. "Singing is just so good for people. The physical sensation of singing is like massaging your body from the inside. I think it's just a miracle that humans can create these sounds. For me, it's one of the most powerful ways we have to create connections and community."
Through her involvement with GALA Choruses — the international association of the gay and lesbian choral movement — branched out from Sound Circle five years ago and took the helm of the Denver Gay Men's Chorus, a group of 100 singers. Coffee was the chorus' first female director, and she says she finds working with male voices "just so moving and stirring."
Two years ago, she took that experience working with larger-scale chorales and created the Boulder Women's Chorus, another 100-member group.
"I think the women in Boulder County are really cool," she says. "They're such a resource to this community, and I thought this was a great opportunity to help foster those connections through music."
As for receiving the Pacesetter Award, Coffee says she's flattered to be honored by her friends and colleagues who nominated her.
"I like to think that the way to go about life is to think about what inspires you and then just go for it without worrying about what other people are doing or thinking about external recognition," Coffee says. "That's really how I try to operate."
— Matt Sebastian
Doris Hass
Quality of life
Tireless volunteer promotes diversity, opportunity
She says her secrets are a morning ritual of fresh O.J. and frequent walks.
"I don't get tired, and my support system is wonderful," says Doris Hass about her energetic service to the community.
For more than 40 years Hass, 83, has worked to create equity for women, minorities and those less fortunate in the city of Boulder. Hass' colleagues say her untiring volunteerism is truly inspirational.
"I think in years to come many will benefit from her contributions," says Joyce Larsen, who nominated Hass. In her nominating letter Larsen wrote: "Doris has a long and remarkable record of accomplishments and contributions to hundreds of people in the city of Boulder. She is a teacher, a caregiver, a fund-raiser, a community activist and a compulsive volunteer."
Hass serves on the boards of the Boulder Public Library Foundation, the Boulder Seniors Foundation, Global Response, the Boulder County Latina Women's League and the American Association of University Women. Additionally, Hass has taught Sunday school at Trinity Lutheran Church for 42 years and is co-chair of the church's social ministry outreach program.
Her family has also hosted numerous exchange students through Boulder Friends of International Students.
When she's not coordinating drives such as Share-a-Gift or sending care packages filled with basic necessities to women in prison, Hass focuses her attention on grant writing. Her latest grant proposal was for the American Association of University Women's program, "Expanding Your Horizons," which encourages sixth and seventh grade girls to study math and science and introduces them to careers not traditionally held by women.
What motivates Hass is providing opportunities for others and sharing her upbeat outlook on life.
"I think life is great," Hass says. "But part of it is your attitude. You can't feel sorry for yourself."
— Katie Sands
Spencer Jemelka
Youth
High school senior strongly committed to community
Of all the songs in the Rolling Stones' catalogue, Spencer Jemelka's favorite is "Beast of Burden," because he doesn't want to carry anyone's weight, but he does want to help them deal with their problems.
By working with groups such as Mission Wolf, a Colorado wolf sanctuary, and in a program to help clean up Boulder Creek, he has helped lift the burdens of humans and animals alike.
The Boulder High senior's attitude also shows itself in a fierce dedication to school organizations and athletics.
"Of all of Spencer's outstanding traits, one of his strongest is that he is not a talker or a watcher," says nominator Dr. Ron Cabrera, principal of Boulder High. "Spencer is a doer."
Jemelka, is active in Student Council and National Honor Society, as well as varsity soccer and wrestling. He also has received the Hugh O'Brien Youth Leadership Award and the Masonic Achievement Award for Outstanding Juniors among others.
"I love to be involved," Jemelka says. "A lot of motivation comes from friends and family supporting me all the time. I need to keep myself busy."
He also has a longstanding commitment in community service, having volunteered since the sixth grade in projects such as creek cleanup. Jemelka says he's proud to be from Boulder and wants to represent the community well.
At Mission Wolf, the 17-year-old helped build walkways for visitors and cages for the wolves, which can't be released into the wild. Closer to home, he earned Eagle Scout honors with a project at Boulder's BethelUnited Methodist Church, where he helped to build a rock garden.
Do all of his achievements ever make him feel pressured? Sure. "I'm always compared to the high standard and always have to do the right thing, even when it's difficult," he says. "But it's pretty rewarding in the end."
— Sean Cone
Ann Cooper
Community Service
Successful Realtor dedicated to working with nonprofits
Ann Cooper has a dedicated interest in every community that comprises Boulder County. This may seem an obvious attribute of any real estate agent, but the Boulder businesswoman is much more than a broker of properties and percentages.
Cooper has devoted her time to shaping and improving the community in which she lives. Founder of her own real estate company, Cooper is a successful entrepreneur in addition to being a committed philanthropist.
Cooper knows what it's like to need: The 47-year old started with very little growing up in the poor and rural town of Washington, Ga. She was able to eke passage out of poverty by attending the University of Wisconsin and later traveling, which led her to realize the amount of opportunity that existed outside her home state.
In 1987, Cooper moved to Colorado and began working as a health care administrator, which she continued to do until she accepted a position as a Realtor at Keller Williams in 1998. In 2002, having been heralded as one of the state's top agents for five years, Cooper decided to start her own real estate business, Ann Cooper & Associates.
Two years later, the business is a success, and the 30th Street office continues to donate a percentage of profits to charitable organizations of its clients' choice.
Cooper has been an active player in numerous nonprofit groups in Boulder, beginning in 1987 when she joined the board for the United Black Women of Boulder Valley. Since then, she has served on boards for the People's Clinic, Habitat for Humanity, the Boulder Public Library Foundation, the Minority Issue Coalition, the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center and many other not-for-profits.
Currently, Cooper is a key participant in the boards for the Community Foundation of Boulder County, the Boulder History Museum, the YWCA and the Boulder Area Board of Realtors.
"I understand not having anything," Cooper says. "I understand the plight of poor and disenfranchised people. I think that if you're going to live in a community, you need to be a part of it. You need to make it the best place it can be."
In addition to running her own business and making overtime efforts in community service, Cooper manages to make time for her 13-year old daughter, Jasmine, and husband, Geoff.
"When she sees someone suffering, she'll give whatever she can to help them," says Malaika Pettigrew, executive director for the Institute for African-American Leadership with which Cooper has been actively involved. "She is constantly giving in every way."
— Sarah Toland
