RBC Historical Society on the move

MEEKER — The Rio Blanco County Historical Society held its first quarterly meeting of the general membership Jan. 6 at Kilowatt Korner in Meeker.
The night before it snowed 15 inches, so the turnout Sunday left a little to be desired. Those who did make it enjoyed a wonderful meal and a presentation by Dan Davidson, curator at the Museum of Northwest Colorado in Craig. Davidson gave a historical talk about Meeker and Craig. It was great!
Each year at our January quarterly meeting, the group nominates and elects officers for the year and two of the six boards of directors for three-year terms.
For 2008, Steve Wix was reelected president, Ellen Reichert is the new vice president, Shelly Flannery returns as treasurer and Sparky Pappas is the new secretary.
The society wants to thank Sandy Shimko for her many years as secretary. Shimko will remain the assistant curator at the White River Museum, along with Ardith Douglass, who has been the museum’s curator for many years.
Members of the board of directors include: Linda Cogswell, Gayle Rogers, Joe Sullivan, Dr. David Steinman, Tom Allen and Dixie Massey.
The Historical Society hosts its second quarterly meeting of the year at 1 p.m. April 6 at Kilowatt Korner. Everyone is welcome.
Historical Society members and non-members please plan to attend and bring a covered dish if you can. Vern Amick will be giving a talk about growing up here in the early 1900s.
It is time to renew your membership, if you haven’t already. The annual dues are $10 for a single person over 65, $20 for a single under age 65, $30 for a family membership and $50 for a business. Members receive quarterly newsletters and have the chance to have fun helping with our fundraisers and historical projects. There’s no obligation to volunteer, we just appreciate your membership. Send your check to the museum at P.O. Box 413, Meeker, Colo., 81641, or drop it by the museum.
Through fundraising and grant writing, we have been able to keep the museum open year-round on a daily basis since last spring. We plan to continue that, as funding permits.
We are currently working on several projects. Dr. Steinman and Joe Sullivan are going full bore on the Milk Creek Battlefield Monument project at the Thornburg battle site on County Road 15. They have had really great cooperation from the county commissioners, who have donated time and equipment to the project. Also Paul Vinzant is donating his time and expertise in building the rock structures, the entrance and interpretive sign bases. We want to thank ExxonMobil and the County Lodging Tax Board for donating money to the project.
The old fluorescent lights in the museum need replaced badly and we have the wonderful expertise of Robert Amick, who is working on a lighting replacement project which will greatly enhance the appearance of our exhibits and prolong the preservation of the artifacts.
Last winter we reprinted volumes one and two of the “This Is What I Remember” books. This was an expensive task and we wouldn’t have been able to make it happen without the help of Mountain Valley Bank, who gave us a loan which will be paid off as the books sell. We also want to thank the Fairfield Trust, Shell and Encana for donations toward the project and Shelly Flannery for her tireless grant writing and fundraising.
We have all three volumes on sale at the museum. Stop by and look them over.
The Rio Blanco Herald Times recently put together a book of the many articles of “Ropin the Past” by Rich Lyttle. We sold out of the first printing and we’ve recently had 250 additional copies printed and have them for sale at the museum, along with many other historical books about this area’s rich past.
We are grateful for all of the time and talent from the many volunteers who helped us in the past with our Fourth of July fundraisers, bank robbery reenactment and with our many projects inside and outside of the museum. We look forward to accomplishing even more in 2008.