Dunham inducted into hall of fame

MEEKER | Meeker’s Becky Dunham has been named to the Colorado Rural Electric Association (CREA) Women’s Task Force Hall of Fame. Dunham was honored at the CREA’s annual meeting in Denver last year.
Becky joined the Women’s Task Force nearly 30 years ago after her husband, Gary, was first elected to the White River Electric Association (WREA) board in 1988 and thereafter to the CREA board. The Task Force is the auxiliary organization for the statewide electric co-op association. WREA is, of course, a member of CREA. CREA publishes the monthly Colorado Country Life magazine that is sent to all members of the associated rural co-ops in the state. Becky’s award was written up in the magazine’s WREA section of the January 2018 issue.
“Becky is a great lady and it was fun to see her honored,” said the CREA’s magazine editor, Mona Neeley, in Denver.
According to the CREA, over all those years, Dunham’s work for the task force has included donating and obtaining door prizes, creating centerpieces and selling raffle tickets. The task force was instrumental in creating and initially funding the CREA Burn Fund which is now operated through the Colorado Electric Educational Institute. Assistance from the fund is available to any on-duty co-op employee hospitalized as a result of an electrical burn or fall, the family of any such employee who died as the result of such an accident, or personnel working for an independent contractor for a member co-op.
According to Karolyn Michalewisz, who has been serving as the Women’s Task Force chair for the past couple years, the fund raising the task force does now primarily goes to helping fund the Youth Leadership Camp every summer in Steamboat Springs and the Colorado students going to the Washington, D.C., Youth Tour hosted by the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.
Dunham said she was surprised by the honor. She also pointed out how active in the task force other Meeker WREA spouses have been, particularly mentioning Michalewicz, Carol Parr, Julie Pearce and Cindy Welle, and how appreciative of them she is.