Women of the West/Colorado

A Few of the Eminent WOMEN OF COLORADO

1. Margaret Tod Ritter, poet; 2. Virginia D. McClurg, writer and lecturer; 3. Christine Whiting Parmenter, author; 4. Lilian White Spencer, writer and poet; 5. Rev. Nona L. Brooks, pastor of Denver First Divine Science Church; 6. Agnes Wright Spring, journalist; 7. Millicent H. Velhagen, active in political affairs.

Chipeta
By Lilian White Spencer
(Writer of verse and well known journalist)

 

Since mine is the happy privilege of contributing a brief word-picture to the shining gallery of Colorado’s eminent women, I choose, as subject, one who stands at the threshold of our state history, Chipeta, whose story is a tragic poem in red and white.

She was of the Utes, that proud Rocky Mountain tribe, and the cherished wife of their wise and famous chief, Ouray, "the Arrow," who held out an unflinching hand of brotherhood to pioneers and doom:

 

This Moses of high summits led his braves
Out of free ages to captivity.
"They come as mighty waters, sons," said he,
"And desert sands are less. All men are slaves
to fate, that buries as in rising waves
Of these pale tribes. So, let their Chieftain be
Our great White Father too! What matter? We
Are dead and strangers trample on our graves."

 

There is no fairer romance than the idyl of Chipeta and Ouray. She was seventeen and he, twenty-six, when the white man's shadow fell upon these wedded lovers in 1859. They walked together through darkening days till he died in her arms in 1880.

During those twenty years, Ouray protected the settlers from his own people, who were restive under the inevitable, negotiated a treaty with the government and was received with the honors due a statesman at Washington. His portrait hangs beside illustrious white heroes of the early Colorado days in the State Capitol at Denver.

During the cruel times of adjustment, Chipeta was always at his side. They were one through supreme sorrow as well as mighty love. In 1863, while following the run of buffalo, they camped on the plains close to the foothills. Their baby son and only child was swinging in his sheepskin-lined, lattice-board cradle, outside their tepee when he was stolen by members of an enemy tribe. It is believed that the infant was brought up by his kidnappers as their own and, no doubt, in later life, went on the warpath against the Utes, but Chipeta and Ouray always maintained that their little Loquito was dead. To them, this thought was less terrible.

In 1879, at a time when their chief was not by to curb and counsel, a band of enraged Utes fell upon an Indian agent, Nathan Meeker, at his post, massacred him and all the other white men there and dragged the women and the three-year-old child of one of them off into the hills. Ouray heard of it. He was a sick man but his wife was still young and strong. At his command, she rode swiftly through that savage country bearing their chief's orders to his murderous braves to release the Meeker survivors and to leave the warpath. They dared not disobey. When those suffering women and the baby were brought to Chipeta and Ouray in their comfortable cabin far above the plains, they were received with sympathy by their host and by their hostess, with tears. Chipeta fed, clothed and comforted them and the little one was mothered by her aching heart. Red and white wept together till the latter were restored to their own people.

Eugene Field wrote a poem, "Chipeta's Ride," celebrating this gallant deed of an alien woman for her sisters of the usurping race.

Chipeta's lonely path was hard and long. She saw the day of the Utes depart forever and thanked the Christian God, whom she and Ouray had received with His people, that her dear one had been spared this bitter sunset. Through nearly half a century of widowhood, Ouray slept in a secret place, that no disrespect might ever visit his tomb. His grave was unknown to all but the few brother-chiefs who had left him there.

The years went on and on, for Chipeta, in poverty, in age, in neglect till, on a reservation to the southwest, in August, 1924, what was once a queen of warriors and now, a withered, weary, forgotten squaw of eighty, reached the end of the trail.

Then, the white people remembered. Much honor was paid to that bit of Indian clay. She was interred with ceremony and encomium in the reservation cemetery at Ignacio. In the minds of Coloradans, the nobility of Ouray, the goodness of Chipeta, lived again. The commonwealth was ashamed. The state legislature appropriated a thousand dollars for a monument to their memory.

This granite tribute was unveiled by the Daughters of the American Revolution (who had already made a gracious commemoration of their own) in May, 1927, above their united dust.

For the grateful recognition paid to dead Chipeta, belated though it was, melted the reserve of a brother, the last on earth of Ouray's funeral train. The old chief led the way to his grave and reverent white men brought his bones to rest beside his wife.

There was splendor in Ignacio that day. Several thousand white men and women were present and Utes, Navajos, and Apaches, in the regalia of glory that had passed, performed colorful rites. Their chants mingled with Christian prayers. They danced, as in the old years, to the old, old red gods, to honor the father of the Utes and his beloved, who, at last, in death as in life, were again side by side.

 

---

 

Mesa Verde National Park
By Virginia Donaghe McClurg
(Regent General of the Colorado Cliff Dwellings Association)

 

The movement which made Mesa Verde a National Park, containing "the most spectacular and representative area of cliff-dwellings known" (according to Dr. J. Walter Fewkes of the Bureau of Ethnology), had its inception in the visit of a young woman correspondent of the New York Daily Graphic to the ruins of Mancos Cañon, Mesa Verde, in 1882.

With the accounts of the Government Expeditions (Holmes) published in '75-'76, and Frank Cushing at Zuni, establishing the links which bound the vanished people to the race of Pueblo Indians, the world was beginning to realize that in and on mesas of the southwest United States, the phase of life which scientists call "middle barbarism" could be studied in its entirety, especially on the green tableland, honeycombed with side cañons, where were clustered cliff-homes, like swallows' nests over the precipices. For here, the Age of Polished Stone lingered long.

As there was an Indian uprising, the trip of the correspondent was undertaken under special escort of United States soldiers. Sandal House on the Mancos river, the watchtower of Navajo Cañon and some minor ruins were explored. "From that day to this, Mrs. Gilbert McClurg's interest in Mesa Verde has never flagged, and that Colorado, today, is in proud possession of this National Park is due in largest measure to her patient, continued and self-changing work, covering a quarter of a century."—(Denver Times.)

In 1886, Miss Donaghé (now Mrs. McClurg) fitted out her own expedition, consisting, besides herself, of a guide, photographer, companion-housekeeper, pack animals and saddle horses. Driven from the Mancos river by Indians, the party camped three weeks in Cliff Cañon. Here were discovered, in climbing from below, the "Three-Tiered House," "Echo Cliff House" and "Balcony House," as the explorers named them; Balcony House was found Oct. 4, 1886. In a subterranean room, was the only cliff-dwellers' loom as yet discovered in Situ.

In October, 1897, the Colorado Cliff Dwellings Association came into being, as a committee of the Colorado State Federation of Women's Clubs, Mrs. Gilbert McClurg, chairman, incorporated in 1900, with chapters also in New York and California.

Mesa Verde was made a National Park by Act of Congress, approved June 9, 1906,—the crystallization of a quarter of a century of woman's work. When the government was at last stirred to action, the boundaries of its selected lands did not include the ruin area. The women of the Association again rallied and through their influence, was passed by Congress what is popularly known as the Brooks-Leupp Amendment, providing for safety of the ruins.

Some of the labors and achievements of the Colorado Cliff Dwellings Association include:

The first practical map of Mesa Verde made at the instance and expense of that body; the first wagon-road through the cañon; the trip of anthropologists (of the American Association for the Advancement of Science) as their guests, September 4 to 7, 1901, to interest scientists in the field—Dr. and Mrs. J. Walter Fewkes thus made their first trip as the Association's guests; inducing visits to Mesa Verde of men prominent in political life, to arouse national interest; at Spruce Tree House, the opening of the present Hammond Spring by dynamite, making the water supply accessible; a lease from the Weeminuche Utés (negotiated by Mrs. McClurg as special Indian Commissioner, under Commissioner Jones), for the land on which the ruins stand,—devised as a temporary means of protection from squatters; unceasing propaganda by means of pictures, books, newspapers and magazine articles, Indian music, relic displays and approximately a thousand lectures; influencing Congress for the bills appropriating $1,000 for the first survey of Mesa Verde and $7,500 for first improvements; September 4, 1917, presenting a pageant at Spruce Tree House, "The Marriage of the Dawn and the Moon"; repairing "Balcony House" (at the Association's expense of $1000.) which, as Director Edgar Hewitt of the Archaeological Institute of America said: "is a splendid ruin which will stand for all time as a monument to the patriotism of the Colorado Cliff Dwellings Association."

 

---

 

Women in Music
By Catharine E. Van Valkenburg
(Chairman, Division of Music, Idaho Federation of Women's Clubs)

 

From the very beginnings of music, back of every musical impulse is found a woman. Every lullaby was heard in some mother's arms, be she savage or civilized, every love song had its inception in the feeling of one man for one woman. The reveries are but recollections of evenings within the home circle and the war songs, just a challenge against the invader who would desecrate that home. If we read the lives of the great composers, we cannot fail to be impressed by the influence of some woman in each life.

Bach's second wife was the youngest daughter of a court musician, and fifteen years younger than the composer. Though they had but sixty-five dollars a year, their union has been described as the happiest in musical history, because through her encouragement, Bach touched the heights in composition and then paid his tribute by signing his manuscripts, "To God and my wife."

Handel opened his heart to no woman but his mother, and to her he dedicated the loftiest of his works.

Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" was inspired by his love for one of his pupils, whose parents forced her to marry a wealthy count.

Every composition of Mozart's written after his marriage to Constance Weber, shows the influence of her love. He says: "She brightened all my days with her loving care and all of my music with her cheerfulness through poverty. She took care of my health and spurred me on to fulfill my engagements. How small a return my poor music is."

Now let us come to our own music. I want to tell you the story of the American Musical Clubs as I have gathered it from the journals of our pioneer club musicians.

First, the question, "Why belong to a musical club?" The answer, "No man liveth unto himself and no man dieth unto himself." The desire to join one's individual efforts to those of the group is as old as the race. The tribal unit has been recognized in all savage life and even insects, birds and beasts centralize for safety and efficiency, so the musical people of early America sought others of like talents and the first result was the old-fashioned singing school, which began about 1717 in New England. A direct outgrowth of the singing school was the musical convention which flourished through the last half of the nineteenth century and which finally gave place to the musical clubs.

The earliest women's musical clubs were: The St. Cecelia Club of Grand Rapids, Michigan; The Union Music Club of St. Louis; The Fortnightly Club of Cleveland; The Tuesday Musical Club of St. Paul; The Amateur Musicians of Chicago; The Tuesday Club of Akron, Ohio; The Matinee Musical of Indianapolis and The Mendelssohn Club of Rockford, Illinois. These clubs are all in existence at the present time.

The National Federation of Musical Clubs was effected in 1897 through the influence of Mrs. Russell Dorr, Miss Marion Ralston and Mrs. Chandler Starr of New York. Mrs. Edwin F. Uhl of Grand Rapids, Michigan, was the first president, with Mrs. Theodore Thomas, wife of the famous conductor, as honorary president.

To tell the work of these women is too lengthy a story, but we may touch briefly upon their aims and accomplishments. Their slogan is: "Music in every state, city, town and home in America."

To this end they annually offer prizes for amateur compositions; they compile musical programs with phonograph records which may be had for the cost of express or mail only, for the use of clubs, schools and churches, in small communities. These programs always include an excellent and authentic paper on the music sent.

They award scholarships in conservatories as prizes in musical memory contests.

Through their efforts, the pupils of the accredited private music teacher of today receive credit for their work. And finally, they preached music, sang music, played and talked music, until the world was forced to listen.

Why should club women, in particular, sponsor its development?

It is a widely known fact that there is a section of every human brain devoted specifically to music. All of us try at some time to express ourselves musically, whether it be to play, sing, whistle, or even mark time. Have any of you ever tried to play any instrument while angry? It can't be done. Have you ever seen a frown on the face of a whistling boy? Of course not. Where there is music, there is peace and harmony that fill the mind, leaving no room for bitterness, jealousy, or kindred evils.

The mayor of a large eastern city had this to say to the convention of Federated Music Teachers: "I believe you are second in importance only to the clergy of our city, because I feel that music is next to religion in the uplifting of human souls."

Mr. Robert Laurence, for three years song leader at Sing Sing, says that during the entire time of his service in musical work at this great New York prison, it was impossible to find among the inmates a pianist good enough to play ordinary accompaniments well. The situation was so amusing that a sign was hung in one of the corridors bearing this inscription: "Study piano and dodge the hoosgow" and one of the inmates wrote a letter to the district judge requesting that if a good pianist was ever brought up for sentence to give him life.

Very little musical effort is ever really wasted. If you will share your community song book, your church hymn book, your phonograph or radio with the neighbor you can't quite understand, you will soon be exchanging favorite recipes, flower bulbs, dress patterns and home remedies.

Why should women, in particular, sponsor the study and development of music in the community?

We women of today are the mothers of the Bachs and Mozarts of the future. Let us teach our children good music, encourage it in our community and keep our lives and theirs full of harmony.

Do you know—

"I am the laughter of children's voices; I am the joy of early youth; I am the pleasure and recreation of busy middle age; I am the peace and comfort of life's sunset; I am the lullaby at the cradle and the hymn of God's eternal peace at the grave. I am Music."

 

COLORADO

BIGELOW, May Tower (Mrs.), B. L., M. D., born in Minnesota, April 13, 1866, daughter of Myron and Lucretia Tower, a resident of Colorado for thirty-four years. Married to Charles Wesley Bigelow. Children: Maurice, Florence, Ruth, Lucretia. Physician. On Board of City Fed. of Women's Clubs; Chairman, Sanitation Woman's Bureau. Past Matron, O. E. S. Former member of State Legislature. Holds office in several organizations. Past president, West Side Woman's Club. Fallon, American Medical Society. Member: State and County Medical Ass'n, Denver Art Ass'n., Denver Woman's Club, American Art Ass'n, American Ass'n of University Women, etc. Home: 15 Pearl St., Denver, Colorado.

BLACK, Helen Marie (Miss), born in Washington, D. C,, daughter of H. M. and Palma Black, a resident of Denver for seventeen years. Dramatic critic. Rocky Mountain News. Specializes in feature writing and dramatic criticism. Lectures on journalism, dramatics and famous people. Has been a radio lecturer and now conducts a weekly radio movie club. Member: Denver Women's Press Club, Denver Community Players, Little Theater, Research Discussion Club. Home: 1302 Williams St., Denver, Colorado.

BROOKS, Nona L. Rev., (Miss), native of Kentucky, former resident of West Virginia, living in Colorado for forty-six years. Pastor of Denver First Divine Science Church. For fourteen years. President Colorado College of Divine Science; President Federation of Divine Scientists; nine years' actively in International New Thought Alliance. For seven years secretary of Colorado Prison Ass'n. Studied at Wellesley College, Boston University, and Home College, San Francisco. Graduate of Southern College. Has established an enviable reputation as a woman theologian. Home: 645 Lafayette St., Denver, Colorado.

COLLINS, Marie Richey (Mrs.), born in Leadville, Colorado, May 16, 1896, daughter of John Charles and Mona Richey, a resident of Denver for ten years. Married to Lawrence Collins. Advertising Manager, Daniels & Fishers Stores Co. Formerly a reporter on Denver Times. Attended University of Colorado. Press agent in United War Work Campaign. Chairman, Women's Division International Advertising Convention which was held in Denver in 1927. On the Board of Directors of Denver Advertising Club. Member: Denver Women's Press Club, Denver Advertising Club, Quota Club. Home: 1174 St. Paul, Denver, Colorado.

DIEMAN, Clara Leonard Sorensen (Mrs. Chas. A.), born in Indianapolis, Indiana, daughter of Stoughton G. and Caroline Barth Leonard, a resident of Denver, Colorado, temporarily residing in Houston, Texas. Married to Charles A. Dieman, architect. Children: Niels Leonard Sorensen. Sculptor. Lecturer on art before clubs and schools. At present, executing all sculpture decorations for exterior of new Denver Nat'l Bank Bldg. for Fisher and Fisher, architects. Secretary, Denver Civic Art Commission (2 years). Member: Chicago Art Institute (alumnae), member of Indiana and Colorado Artists Societies. Address: 3901 Main St., Houston, Texas. Home: 720 Logan St., Denver, Colorado.

FLYNN, Sopha Nelson (Mrs. M. H.), born in Sweden, January 25, 1873, a resident of Colorado for 31 years. Married to Martin Henry Flynn. Very active in church and fraternal work; at present Worthy Grand Matron, O. E. S., State of Colorado, the highest office in the state. Member: O. E. S., Grand Junction Woman's Club, Western Federation of Women's Clubs. Home: 1221 Ouray Ave., Grand Junction, Colorado.

GILMORE, Iris Pavey, (Mrs.), a native of Villa Ridge, Illinois, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. C. W. B. Pavey, a resident of Colorado for the last eight years. Married to Harold McKinley Gilmore. Dramatic Teacher and Director. Educated at Schuster-Martin Dramatic School, Cincinnati, Ohio. Dramatic Director, Radio Station, KOA, Denver, for 4 years. Teacher, Lamont School of Music. Member: Altrusa Club (National), Sigma Alpha Lata (National Music Fraternity), P. E. O. Sisterhood. Home: 1316 E. Eleventh Ave., Denver, Colorado.

GILPIN, Laura, (Miss), born in Colorado Springs, Colorado, April 22, 1891, daughter of Frank and Emma Miller Gilpin. Artist. Photographer. Graduate from Clarence White School, New York City; exhibits in photographic exhibits, here and abroad, since 1917. Print division of the Congressional library owns 10 prints of photography in permanent collection. Specializes in portrait and landscape work; has published two books of photography: "The Pikes Peak Region," "Mesa Verde National Park." Member of several photographic organizations in this country and in Europe, Home: 317 Cheyenne Road, Colorado Springs, Colorado.

 

HINDMARSH, Hazel (Miss), born in Kansas, daughter of Percy and Elizabeth Fox Hindmarsh. Former resident of Lincoln, Nebraska, living in Colorado for past seven years. Writer, musician. Girl Scout Leader. Has originated a new system of teaching, to develop the musical gift of a child prodigy whose impaired vision makes the reading of music impossible for her. Has written adult and juvenile short stories and articles, children's verse and songs which have been published in thirty-five different publications. Member: American Pen Women, Sigma Alpha Iota, American Music Society, Colorado Springs Musical Club, Quill Club, Girl Scout Leaders' Ass'n. Home: 1340 North Weber St., Colorado Springs, Colo.

 

HINMAN, Florence Lamont, (Mrs.), born in Cass City, Michigan, daughter of Peter and Annie Lamont, a resident of Colorado for twenty years. Married to Leroy Race Hinman. Professional singer and teacher of voice. President and Director of Lamont School of Music; teacher of three First Prize National Contest Winners; conductor of Treble Clef Club and Bass Clef Club. Member: Pro Musica Society, Treble Clef Club, Bass Clef Club, Sigma Alpha Iota. Home: 1170 Sherman Street, Denver, Colorado.

 

KENNON, Anne Byrd (Miss), born in Denver, Colorado, daughter of Mrs. George Kennon. Director of the Collegiate Bureau of Occupations. 1926-27, held a fellowship at Women's Educational and Industrial Union. Her study on "College Wives Who Work" was published in A.A.U.W. Journal, June, 1927; interested in the research of opportunities for women. At present, a part-time vocational adviser at the University of Colorado; speaker before college and high school groups about their future vocations. Member: Woman's Bureau of Chamber of Commerce, American Ass'n. of University Women, Colorado College Club, Colorado Vocational Guidance Ass'n., National Committee of Bureaus of Occupations. Business address: 318 Chamber of Commerce Bldg. Home: 465 Lafayette St., Denver, Colo.

 

LATHROP, Mary Florence, (Miss), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, December 10, 1865, daughter of John and Anna Campbell Lathrop, a resident of Colorado since 1887. Lawyer. Admitted Supreme Court of Colorado, 1896; U. S. Circuit Court, 1898; U. S. Supreme Court, 1917; Specialist in Probate Law, etc. Made Law of Charitable Bequests in Colorado. Newspaper syndicate correspondent, before practicing law. Chairman, Legal Education Committee Colorado Bar Ass'n; Chairman Committee on Laws Women and Children Denver Bar Ass'n; Former Vice-President American Bar Ass'n. Member: Denver Bar Ass'n, Colorado Bar Ass'n, American Bar Ass'n; International Law Ass'n, American Society of International Law; Phi Delta Delta. Address: 507-8 Equitable Bldg., Denver, Colorado.

 

LeFEVRE, (Mrs. Owen Edgar), a native of Piqua, Ohio, daughter of Daniel and Mary P. Heald French, resident of Colorado for the last 55 years. Married to the late Owen Edgar LeFevre. Children: Eva Frederiece Bellamy. Active in civic work. For many years president of Denver Orphan's Home; director of Art Ass'n; secretary, Wolcolt School for Girls; president, Denver Branch, American Ass'n of University Women. Member: Denver Country Club, Monday Literary Club, American Ass'n of University Women. Home: 1311 York St., Denver, Colo.

 

MARTIN, Clara L. (Miss), born in Indiana, a resident of Colorado for twenty-five years. Manager, Mail Order Dept., The A. T. Lewis & Son Dry Goods Co. Former school teacher; holds life diploma from Colorado State Normal School at Greeley. Worked for Elbert Hubbard at one time. Director Women's Bureau, Denver Chamber of Commerce. Member: Quota Club (director and secretary), Advertising Club. Home: 1540 Grant St., Apt. 10, Denver, Colorado.

 

McCLURG, Virginia Donaghé (Mrs.), born in Virginia, daughter of Dr. William Rice and Mrs. Susan Boylston Richardson Donaghé, a resident of Colorado since 1877. Writer and Lecturer. Married to Gilbert McClurg. Children: Dudley Boylston. Has made four transcontinental Lecture tours; lectures extensively. Author: "Picturesque Colorado", "Picturesque Utah", "Seven Sonnets of Sculpture", etc. Was awarded the national prize offered for the best "Ode to Irrigation." On permanent Pioneer Commission of the State of Colorado. Has written a History of El Paso County. Officier de l'Instruction Publique. Internationally known for her exploratory and research work among the Colorado Cliff Dwellings. Explorer and creator of Mesa Verde National Park. U. S. Delegate to the Ethnological Congress of the Paris Exposition (1901). French Government awarded her the Gold Palm of the Academy. Since 1895, Regent-General of National Colorado Cliff Dwellings Ass'n. Member: Society of Mayflower Descendants, D. A. R., Society of Descendants of Colonial Governors. Clio Club of Denver (honorary), Chicago Historical Society (corresponding member). Travel Club, Anne Hathaway Shakespeare Club and several organizations. Summer Home: Custom House, Stonington, Conn. Home: 619 North Cascade Ave., Colorado Springs, Colorado.

 

McNEAL, Blanche Young (Mrs.), a native of Chicago, Illinois, daughter of Charles and Ruth Anna Young, a resident of Colorado for twenty years. Married to Frank McNeal. Children: Donald H. Instructor, University of Colorado. For seven years, teacher in University of Denver. Secured her training at the University of Chicago, University of Denver and Columbia University. Specializes in short story technique and criticism. Has contributed to Scientific American, Editor's Magazine, Literary Review, Harper's, etc. Member: Denver Women's Press Club, Authors' League of America, Alpha Gamma Delta, Why Club, University Ass'n. Home: 1640 Dahlia St., Denver, Colorado.

 

MEENS, Ona F., (Mrs.), born in Summerset, Kentucky, March 27, 1887, daughter of Rev. and Mrs. William Harrison Foley, former resident of Missouri, living in Colorado for the last 5 years. Married to Albert W. Meens. Children: David F., Ona Lou. General Secretary, Y. W. C. A. Former Physical director of Girls, Bethel College, Newton, Kansas; Junior College, Grand Junction, Colorado. General Secretary of Girls' Work, Scotts Bluff County, Nebraska. At one time Extension teacher in "Child Training" and "Home Hygiene," Nebraska University; for seven years, director of summer camps for girls. Author: "The Twelfth Christmas," "Armistice Day," "My Son," "Principles of Child Training," "Home Making," "Character Building," poems and articles. Member: P. E. O. Sisterhood, Fortnightly Music Club, Monday Study Club, Business and Professional Women's Club. Home: Tri-Mountain Ranch, Grand Junction, Colo.

 

MILLER, Nellie Burget, (Mrs. L. A.), born in Fayette, Iowa, June 6, 1875, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. E. L. Burget, resident of Colorado for the last 20 years. Married to Dr. L. A. Miller. Children: Dorothy, Arnold, Imogene. Writer and club lecturer. Education, Upper Iowa University B. S. Honorary Degree Master of Letters, State University of Colorado, 1924. Appointed Poet Laureate of Colorado by the Governor, 1922. Has held various local positions and been connected with civic affairs for many years. Organized state branch. League of American Penwomen, now honorary president; past president. State Fed. of Women's Clubs; chairman of Literature, General Fed., 1922-26; chairman of Fine Arts, 1926-28; speaker at state and national conventions. Author: "Earthen Bowls," (collected verse) "The Flame of God," "The Living Drama," "The Land Where the Good Dreams Grow" (juvenile play). Member: Drama League, League of American Penwomen, Poetry Society of America, Poetry Society of Great Britain, P. E. O. Sisterhood. Home: 1528 N. Nevada Ave., Colorado Springs, Colo.

 

PARMENTER, Christine Whiting, (Mrs.), born in Plainfield, New Jersey, December 21, 1877, daughter of Frederic A. and Catherine Tracy Allen Whiting, former resident of Massachusetts, living in Colorado for the last 11 years. Married to Dr. Kenneth R. Parmenter (M. D.). Children: Catherine. Author. A writer of fiction for most of the leading magazines. Author: "Jean's Winter with The Warners," "Treasure at Shady Vale," "The Unknown Port," "The Real Reward," "One Wide River to Cross." Member: Authors' League of America. Home: 1208 Cheyenne Blvd., Colorado Springs, Colorado.

 

PERRY, Bertha Vaessen, (Mrs.), born in Denver, Colorado, July 23, 1895, daughter of Joseph G. and Rose Casper Vaessen, life-long residents of the state. Married to Harold Webster Perry. Lawyer. Assistant to General Attorney D. & R. G. W. Railroad Company; secretary and director of Women's Bureau of the Chamber of Commerce; director of Big Sister Organization; since 1920 on Committee of laws for women and children, Denver Bar Ass'n. Member: Quota Club (President), American Bar Ass'n, Denver Bar Ass'n, Woman's Law Club, Young Ladies Clio Club. Home: 1004 St. Paul St., Denver, Colorado.

 

RITTER, Anne Gregory (Mrs.), born July 11, 1868, in Plattsburgh, New York, daughter of Silas Wright and Grace E. V. Hopkins Gregory, a resident of Colorado for twenty-eight years. Married to Etienne A. Ritter. Artist. Instructor in Life Class, Chappell School of Art. Formerly President and Art Director of Van Briggle Pottery, Colorado Springs. Member: Master Craftsman, Boston Arts and Crafts, Broadmoor Art Academy (professional member), Denver Art Museum. Home: 1152 York St., Denver, Colorado.

 

RITTER, Margaret Tod, (Miss), born in Frederick, Maryland, December 15, 1893, daughter of Alfred and Martha Lacy Tod Ritter, resident of Colorado for the last 18 years. Poet. Her first book of collected poems, "Mirrors," was published by the Macmillan Co., Spring 1925; her second book of collected poems, "Wind Out of Betelgeuse," was published by the Macmillan Co., Spring, 1928. Has had poems appearing in The Century, Art and Archaeology, The Bookman, The Nation, The Commonweal, The Southwest Review, The Forum, etc. Her work also appears in David Morton's "The Sonnet Today and Yesterday," William W. Ellsworth's "Readings from the New Poets," Jessie B. Rittenhouse's "Third Book of Modern Verse" and many Anthologies. Member: Poetry Society of America, National Woman's Party. Home: 1107 Wood Ave., Colorado Springs, Colo.

 

SCHLENZIG, Maude E., (Miss), born in Toronto, Canada, May 24, 1886, a resident of Colorado for 38 years. Designer and part owner of one of the most unique machineless factories in the United States, manufacturing artistic products, consisting of flowers and ornaments made of sugar. Member: Altrusa Service Club. Business Address: 1022 W. 8th Ave. Home: 801 E. 10th Ave., Denver, Colo.

 

SHAW, Dorothy Stott, (Mrs.), born in Denver, Colorado, November 26, 1891, daughter of Jere B. and Laura Cory Stott, a life-long resident of the state. Married to Lloyd Shaw. Children: Doli. Writer. Poetry published in a variety of magazines. Actively engaged in public speaking on subjects connected with the arts and education; at present a teacher of French. Has been connected with P. T. A. work in both county and local offices for some time; primarily interested in the evolution of public school education. Member: Portia Club, P. T. A., American Ass'n. of University Women. Home: 1527 Winfield Ave., Broadmoor Park, Colorado Springs, Colo.

 

SHELLABARGER, M. Elizabeth (Miss) born in Moffat, Colorado, 1879, daughter of Adam and Abigal Wales Shellabarger (Colorado pioneers). Graduate nurse. B. S. Columbia University, 1920. At present making a survey of Schools of Nursing in Arkansas for the State Board of Nurse Examiners. Former president, Wyoming State Nurses Ass'n. On Committee of the Delano Art Memorial, Washington, D. C. Army nurse overseas during the World War. Director of Red Cross Nursing in Albania and Montenegro, 1921-22. Superintendent, Pershing Memorial Hospital 1925-27. Member: American. Legion Auxiliary, Cheyenne College Club, American League of Nursing Education, American Public Health Ass'n., Bellevue Alumni, N. Y. Home: Rito Alto Ranch, Moffat, Colorado.

 

SPALDING, Elizabeth (Miss), born in Erie, Pennsylvania, daughter of Right Reverend J. F. and Mrs. Lavinia D. Spencer Spalding, a resident of Colorado since 1874. Artist. Charter member of Denver Artists' Club and interested in its development into Denver Art Museum; started the first Church Art Commission of the Colorado Diocese. Active in church, art and civic affairs. Has exhibited at Erie Art Gallery, Denver Art Museum, Oberlin Art Museum, N. Y., Chicago, Philadelphia, Paris (Spring Salon, 1928), etc., also represented in California exhibitions at Oakland and Laguna Beach Art Galleries. Has been awarded several prizes. Member: New York Water Color Club, Washington Water Color Club, Providence Water Color Club, Denver Artists' Club. Home: 853 Washington St., Denver, Colo.

 

SPENCER, Lilian White, (Mrs.), born in Albany, New York, a resident of Colorado since her youth. Her father, Frederick W. White, was a distinguished western journalist. Writer, translator and poet. Has specialized somewhat in Indian Lore and in birds and beasts of legend, and these subjects are frequent in her work. Her poem, "The Dryads," won the Lyric West blank verse prize of 1925; her "Stars" was listed by Braithwaite as one of the six outstanding poems of 1926. Nationally known as a pageant writer. Her "Pageant of Colorado" was presented with a cast of fifteen hundred for seven performances under the auspices of the Music Week Ass'n of Denver, with civic support, in May, 1927, at the Municipal Auditorium, Denver. The music was by Charles Wakefield Cadman and it was the largest indoor spectacle ever given in the West. Her outdoor pageant at York, Pa., with 5,000 in the cast, was an event of international interest, (October, 1927). Member: L'Alliance Francaise, Poetry Society of Colorado, Denver Art Ass'n, Allied Arts (honorary), Colorado-Wyoming Academy of Science. Home: 1490 Stuart Street, Denver, Colorado.

 

SPRING, Agnes Wright, (Mrs. Archer T.), a native of Delta, Colorado, at one time resident of Wyoming. Daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gordon L. Wright. Married to Archer T. Spring. Journalist. Editor of "The Arrow" national organ of Pi Beta Phi Fraternity). State Librarian of Wyoming, 1917-21; State Historian of Wyoming, ex-officio, 1917-19. Editor of two departments of Wyoming Stockman-Farmer. Contributor to Sunset Magazine, A Child's Garden and other periodicals. Author: "Caspar Collins." Member: D. A. R., Fort Collins Woman's Club, Fort Collins Country Club, Quill Club, Pi Beta Phi. Home: Box 566, Fort Collins, Colo.

 

STEBBINS, Lucy H. (Mrs. Herbert Cobb), born in Jasper, Minnesota, daughter of L. W. and Leonora E. Coombe, a resident of Colorado for twenty-five years. Married to Herbert Cobb Stebbins. Children: Linda Lee. Interested in civic betterment and social welfare. Member: Scio Art and Literature Club (president), Park Hill Delphian Society (vice-president). Home: 1785 Glencoe St., Denver, Colorado.

 

TRIPLETT, Erna Pallat (Mrs. R. J.), born in Cleveland, Ohio, daughter of Karl A. and Mary E. Pallat, resident of Denver, Colorado, for ten years. Married to Richard Jefferson Triplett. Teacher of public speaking, School of Commerce, University of Denver. Business woman for nine years in Cleveland, Ohio. Four years on the lecture staff of the Barnes Commercial School of Denver. Has lectured before business and professional women, Teachers' Institutes, and commercial organizations. Member: Women's Bureau of Chamber of Commerce (director), Quota Club, Denver (director). Home: 4754 Tennyson St., Denver, Colorado.

 

VELHAGEN, Millicent H., (Mrs.), a native of Colorado, life-long resident of the state, daughter of Judge and Mrs. C. C. Holbrook. Grandparents: Hon. and Mrs. Levi Booth, Colorado pioneers of 1861. Married to Ewald H. Velhagen. Children: Bonnie Lillian. Very active in political affairs. President, Republican Fed. of Colorado Women; vice-chairman. Rep. State Cent. Com.; at present, director and one time president of the State Fed. of Women's Clubs. Considered a political leader among women in the state. Past president City School Board. Member: American Penwomen; Colorado Chapter, Poetry Society of Great Britain and many local Clubs. Home: 325 Ross Avenue, Alamosa, Colorado.

 

VORBECK, Marguerite Parsons (Mrs. H. W.), born in Vinton, Iowa, May 30, 1891, daughter of Abner C. and Mary C. Parsons, a former resident of Iowa, living in Colorado for fifteen years. Married to Herman Wisner Vorbeck. Children: Herman, Elizabeth, Mary. Active in club affairs. Member: National City Pan Hellenic, D. A. R., Country Club, Delta Delta Delta Sorority. Home: 1314 Main Street, Grand Junction, Colorado.