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Karen (Moore) McKenzie: Frisco memories

Karen (Moore) McKenzie, Hot Sulphur Springs
Special to the DailyKaren McKenzie (red coat) is seen in the early 1960s with her family at their Frisco cabin - now the home of John and Claudia Kreamelmeyer. McKenzie recently revisited the cabin for her 50th birthday (below).
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I am turning 50 on July 10 this year, and I had a journey down memory lane. I found the old house we lived in back in 1961 to 1965, and it pleased me very much to see it is still standing right where we left it, and the folks who live there are the nicest fellow natives I have met.

Dad was on the survey crew for the Dillon Dam project, his name is Marvin Moore (he is still surveying in Craig). I had to be born in Kremmling, as there was not a hospital or clinic in Frisco at the time, and the I-70 tunnel was not built for 12 more years. I remember a lot of things about Frisco from back then; I can’t, however, remember what I ate for lunch yesterday, so before I forget things in my new old age, I wanted to share the memory.

We lived in a trailer when we first moved to Old Dillon. It was in the path of the reservoir, so we moved into the Town of Frisco soon after the plans for the dam were moving closer to the initial flooding. I have a photo of my Mom holding me and my brother and sister and our dog in front of it. I remember that trailer too, and we played with kids on the block whose names were Lee and Devon Rose, and their mom, Ruby, who worked at the grocery store, and I don’t know what her husband Ed did for a living. I hope I find them one day.



I have photos of every Easter and birthday and Christmas from 1962 through 1965 at the old house. I remember later on we lived in Breckenridge, and I remember riding the bus nine miles back to Frisco to go to school, and they let us out every Friday and taught us how to ski! I grew up, the majority of my years, in Craig, which is near where our homesteads were at Great Divide. We first came to Colorado from Georgia to Rye, Colo. in 1870. I love history, and I hope some day I can find my dream job working with historic places. I hope to do a survey of cemeteries and put photos of headstones on the Internet so descendants can see them for free! I encourage other natives or interested folks to write me and share our histories, and record them for others who will come here after us, then they wont have to wonder what our lives were like in the olden days.

Happy 50th birthday to all who graduated in the classes of 1978, we made “historic” status!



wildcolo@yahoo.com


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