County

Historical Society Seeking New Leadership, Members

Historical Society seeking new leadership
By Caitlin Walker
Special to the Herald Times

RBC | For aficionados of the past, there’s not much more thrilling than making history of their own. The chance to be remembered, commemorated, and rediscovered long after your stint on planet Earth is through is both motivation and reward for the long and difficult work of keeping the past alive.
The Rio Blanco County Historical Society was formed 67 years ago with that express purpose. They not only preserve the past, but have accomplished several history-making feats, including an impressive list of completed goals in the past five years including:
– Paying off the debt attained from printing the This Is What I Remember series and commissioning iron gates for the Milk Creek Battlefield Park.
– Developing the Milk Creek Battlefield Park with construction of a gazebo and signage as well as events and tours.
– Completing a lighting projection in five rooms in the museum, installing new solar tubes in one room, and cleaning and reorganizing all exhibits.
– Adding new exhibits and lighting to the Garrison and refurbishing the outdoor exhibit.
– Participating in community events including Range Call, the Meeker Classic, Community Appreciation Day, Meekerpalooza, Wagon Wheel OHV Rendezvous, Fall Festival and Meeker Classic Cattledog Trials.
– Creating a Rural School Story complete with research, brochures, and tour loops of 37 area schools.
– Continuation of the Rural School Story through the Coal Creek School Historic Preservation project with an expected completion date of 2017.
– Expanding oral history with the video series “Capturing Our Culture”,which shares stories from pioneers and their descendants.
– Sponsored special exhibits with the White River Forest Service 50th Wilderness Anniversary Exhibition at the White River Museum and the Heritage Rendezvous exhibit in conjunction with the Museums of Western Colorado in Grand Junction, Colo.
– Starting History Camps in partnership with the ERBM Recreation & Park District, providing historical presentations at all quarterly meetings, acquiring a building for a heritage culture center in partnership with Rio Blanco County and creating the Heritage Culture Center Committee with a Heritage Tourism Task Force to promote heritage education and heritage tourism.
– Creating a new website with multiple pages as well as setting up an open source data base with potential to connect archived artifacts, stories, photos and brochures.
These history-making achievements were completed through the hard work and dedication of many local residents. Five standing committees of the historical society meet separately on their own time to set goals, raise funds, apply for grants and report back to the board. They are:
– Milk Creek Battlefield Park Committee, chaired by Joe Sullivan for the continued care and development of the historic site and promotion of Ute and Calvary history
– Rural School Committee, often called the RRR (Rio Blanco County Rural School Research)—with Marge Rogers, Janet Clark, Martha Cole and Ellen Reichert—researching, preserving and promoting our rural schools.
– WACC (Website-Archiving-Computer Committee) with David Meece, Bob Amick, Sue Hicken and Marty Casey to develop, maintain and update the website, archiving and computers.
– Accession Committee with Ardith Douglass, Patty Anderson, Sue Hicken, Avis Loshbaugh and Kay Bivens to approve artifact donations with the guidelines provided by the board.
– HCCC (Heritage Culture Center Committee) with Ellene Meece, Stephanie Kobald, Katelin Cook, Scott Meszaros, Gary Zellers and the expanding Heritage Tourism Task Force, to promote heritage education and heritage tourism and operate the Old West Heritage Culture Center within the museum complex block in downtown Meeker.
Members of the Board of Directors include Gayle Rogers (vice president), Sue Hicken (secretary), Edy George (treasurer) and Chris Uphoff, Patty Anderson, Hallie Turner Blunt, Jim Brown, Bobby Gutierrez, and Kay Bivens (directors), as well as President Ellene Meece.
Meece announced in August her decision to step down to make way for new leadership of the “vibrant and motivated group who believe they can make a difference by providing a foundation of history for our future generations.”
Make a little history of your own and help change the future by preserving the past. If you are interested in serving on the board as president, on one of the committees, or in another capacity, email [email protected] or call 970-878-9982 for more information on how to get involved.
“There is so much potential in this small rural community, so much rich heritage to share and so many wonderful people who want to be a part. Our future is bright for Rio Blanco County Historical Society!” Meece said.

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  • Jake Blazon at bat for the Meeker Cowboys. The MHS team brought home two wins against Olathe and lost two against the North Fork Miners. The location for this weekend’s games has not been announced due to weather and field conditions. Read the full story online at ht1885.com.
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  • It's that time again! Another edition of great local news stories is 
🐰 Hopping 🐰 your way this morning! Catch up on everything thats 🐣 hatching 🐣 in Rio Blanco County this week.
Need a copy? Signing up is fast and easy! Visit our website at ht1885.com/subscribe to get a copy sent to your door every week! 
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Rio Blanco County and the White River and Douglas Creek Conservation Districts are still asking for your help to identify additional hatch-outs of crickets so that control efforts can be put in place. The success of the program will highly depend upon local landowners and the public helping to locate crickets as soon as they hatch.  See last week’s paper for a list of ways to help or contact the County Weed & Pest District at 970-878-9670 or the Conservation District office at 970-878-9838 with any questions. Website: www.WhiteRiverCD.com
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Jake Blazon at bat for the Meeker Cowboys. The MHS team brought home two wins against Olathe and lost two against the North Fork Miners. The location for this weekend’s games has not been announced due to weather and field conditions. Read the full story online at ht1885.com.
Jake Blazon at bat for the Meeker Cowboys. The MHS team brought home two wins against Olathe and lost two against the North Fork Miners. The location for this weekend’s games has not been announced due to weather and field conditions. Read the full story online at ht1885.com.
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The 2024 Meeker High School boys basketball team held their awards banquet last week. Jace Mobley was named Player of the Western Slope League and all-conference, Ryan Sullivan all-conference, Jonathon Fitzgibbons all-conference, Ethan Quinn honorable mention all-conference, Jacob Simonsen honorable mention all conference. Mobley will play in All State games. Coach Klark Kindler was named Western Slope Coach of the Year. Left to right: Bryan Rosas, Simonsen, Quinn, Fitzgibbons, Mobley and Sullivan.
The 2024 Meeker High School boys basketball team held their awards banquet last week. Jace Mobley was named Player of the Western Slope League and all-conference, Ryan Sullivan all-conference, Jonathon Fitzgibbons all-conference, Ethan Quinn honorable mention all-conference, Jacob Simonsen honorable mention all conference. Mobley will play in All State games. Coach Klark Kindler was named Western Slope Coach of the Year. Left to right: Bryan Rosas, Simonsen, Quinn, Fitzgibbons, Mobley and Sullivan.
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It's that time again! Another edition of great local news stories is 
🐰 Hopping 🐰 your way this morning! Catch up on everything thats 🐣 hatching 🐣 in Rio Blanco County this week.
Need a copy? Signing up is fast and easy! Visit our website at ht1885.com/subscribe to get a copy sent to your door every week! 
We appreciate all your continued support!
It's that time again! Another edition of great local news stories is 🐰 Hopping 🐰 your way this morning! Catch up on everything thats 🐣 hatching 🐣 in Rio Blanco County this week. Need a copy? Signing up is fast and easy! Visit our website at ht1885.com/subscribe to get a copy sent to your door every week! We appreciate all your continued support!
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Mormon crickets have hatched near Rangely. They were all sighted on BLM land north of Hwy. 64 near the junction of CR 96 and CR 1, down a dirt road near the Moffat County line. The picture shown was taken yesterday by Mary Meinen from Rangely. She says the crickets are about the size of a ladybug (less than 1/2”). Some of them are actually yellow in color but most of them are darker. They are milling around and getting ready to start moving soon. Note: Photo is not to scale. Rio Blanco County and the White River and Douglas Creek Conservation Districts are still asking for your help to identify additional hatch-outs of crickets so that control efforts can be put in place. The success of the program will highly depend upon local landowners and the public helping to locate crickets as soon as they hatch. See last week’s paper for a list of ways to help or contact the County Weed & Pest District at 970-878-9670 or the Conservation District office at 970-878-9838 with any questions. Website: www.WhiteRiverCD.com
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