Time to say ‘goodbye’ to regular column writing

One day when I was speaking to a third grade class, one little girl asked, “How long does it take to write a column?” “A lifetime,” I told her.  And truly, we carry a lifetime around in our brains. For the last 22 years (almost), I have been visiting with you every week. Writing for The Daily Sentinel has been the passion of my late years. But now, sadly, it is time to say “goodbye.” This will be the last of my regular columns. A combination of ...

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Remembering the attempts to pass an equal rights amendment

I was working recently on the endless job of sorting pictures. Too many years of dumping them all in a drawer had caught up with me and I find pictures of my parents and grandparents and me having a picnic in a Denver park next to pictures of my 85th birthday party. The problem with this particular sorting job is that certain pictures jog memory into a dead stop. Mine stopped in the 1970s with snapshots of the ERA march in Grand Junction. Those were exciting times for women. The local ...

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Reflections on the wonders of the world and universe

Not long ago, I watched a mother humming bird feed her baby. That night, I looked at pictures taken by the Hubble telescope of the still-expanding remnants of a star that exploded more than 900 years ago. And there are those who say the universe is finite. I have come, in my late years, to believe that the sense of awe and wonder is a luxury indulged in chiefly by children and old people. During the in-between years, most of us are too busy surviving and procreating to have time to ...

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There’s no time more beautiful than autumn in Colorado

Autumn in Colorado — the most beautiful season of the year. This is the season that makes me the most thankful that I have lived 90 years in this beautiful state. The other six years were spent in beautiful areas, but not like ours. Autumn gives me a peaceful feeling and welcome slowing of pace. Samuel Butler felt the same way. “Youth is like spring, an over praised season more remarkable for biting winds than genial breezes. Autumn is the mellower season, and what we lose in ...

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Mercury the Wonder Cat aids columnist

Mercury the Wonder Cat says it is time to give him some publicity. And since he is more or less in charge of things around here, here is his column. Cats are amazing animals. Mercury wanted to write it, but I had to say no. After all, I have a deadline. I am a cat person. That is not to say I don’t like dogs, but I am a cat person. I had a series of Siamese cats, but when the last one died I said, “No more.” But when son Dave and friend Terry kept nagging me, I gave in. ...

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We are living the legacy of those who fought for women’s rights

In 1848, women could not vote, own property or run for president. A hundred and sixty-six years later, we can do all of those things and a lot more. And today we celebrate. Yesterday was Women’s Suffrage Day, the 70anniversary of the final passage of the 19 Amendment. Wow! Women in America finally get to vote. “The staggering changes for women that have come about over these seven generations in family life, religion, employment, education, did not happen spontaneously. Women ...

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Despite claims by some conservatives, ‘liberal’ is not a dirty word

I am tired of hearing the word “liberal” used as an obscenity. In this year’s primaries all over the country, some Republican candidates are using the word to define everything from “Muslim” (the terrorist kind) to “traitor.” All right. So we have freedom of speech in America, but this use of the language can’t go unchallenged. The dictionary defines “liberalism” as, “a political philosophy advocating personal freedom for ...

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Top-level sports was just a dream for women decades ago, before Title IX

I intended to write about Washington politics today. But they are in such a mess and I am so concerned that I think I will go back a few years to another bill that passed Congress after a bitter fight: Title IX. Parts of this are taken from a column I wrote in 2001. I want to make this clear so I will not be guilty of plagiarism, like Scott McInnis. Of course you can copy your own stuff, but I am not taking any chances. You can take the girl out of sports, but you can’t take sports ...

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Monument highlights power of nature

I wish I had known John Otto.  He was an amazing man. Otto was the first person to explore carefully the canyon country now known as the Colorado National Monument. He settled in Grand Junction in the early 20th century. Before he came, most residents thought the canyons west of town were too deep to be accessible. But not John Otto! The area was established as Colorado National Monument on May 24, 1911. Otto was hired as the first park ranger in 1911, drawing a salary of $1 per ...

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The American flag is a living symbol of our patriotic history

“You’re a grand old flag, You’re a high flying flag And forever in peace may you wave. You’re the emblem of The land I love. The home of the free and the brave.” These wonderful patriotic words were written and put to music by George M. Cohan in 1906 for his stage play, “George Washington, Jr.” Americans loved the song and it became the first piece of sheet music to sell over one million copies. Later, in 1942, it was included in a movie about ...

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Sports cars attract attention, even when the driver is a little old lady

(Note:  This was written in April, 1993. That was 17 years ago and I was a mere 79. Hmmm. I guess I have grown up a little.) As a certified little old lady, I have had to give up doing a lot of things I like to do. Fortunately, there are lots of satisfactory replacements. I don’t play tennis any more, but I can watch the really good athletes on TV. I don’t climb mountains any more, but I walk a lot on level ground. I don’t ride a motorcycle or water ski, but I can ...

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Laughter helps sustain us, even through the perils of aging

Age does not eliminate the ability to laugh.  That’s one thing that keeps us going. Too many seniors think that they can’t laugh any more; there is no longer any reason to laugh. I think at least a trace of a sense of humor is hiding in one of the tiny computer links in everyone’s brain. Only sometimes it’s awfully hard to find. The prize for humor under stress here in the Commons goes to my friend who is just a month away from her 99 birthday. She has aged ...

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From horse cars to high-tech highways, transportation has changed rapidly

The old Cherrelyn Horse Car has been restored and given a place of honor in the civic center of my hometown of Englewood. I am a few years too young to have seen it in action, but I grew up hearing lots of stories about it. Surface transportation in cities developed slowly. Before buses, there was the streetcar. And before the streetcar, there was the horse car. The horses that pulled the cars were not selected for speed, but for stamina, and travelers had a very leisurely ride. The horse ...

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Seeking the truth often means understanding everyday lessons

My friend, the philosopher, is always trying to get me to look at the big picture and share more of what I have learned in my 96 years of life. “Surely,” she says, “you must have come across a few truths you could pass on to the rest of us.” She even quoted Oprah to me. Oprah, in her monthly magazine,  includes a section called “What I Know for Sure.” Well, I have searched for the eternal truth.  Fifty or so years ago, one of my favorite ...

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Political issues keep brain active, even at age 96

I have often wondered what happens to the brain as we age.  In too many cases we know, only too tragically. But there are degrees. A 100-year-old woman in France claims to be smarter than she was at 20. As I approach my 96th birthday, I find myself trying to go back and re-create some of that century in my aged brain. Socrates would probably argue with the theory that this was the most intellectually advanced century in history, but there is no question that it was the most ...

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Despite passing of equinox, spring is still hard to find

In “The Rite of Spring,” Stravinsky put to beautiful music one of the many pagan ceremonies that humankind has used through the years to explain the changing seasons. In “Fantasia,” Disney used the title and the music to depict in animation the creation of the world, complete with dinosaurs. My favorite spring myth is the Greek story of Persephone. She was the beautiful daughter of Demeter, the goddess of the harvest. She was abducted by Hades and carried away into ...

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Crossing the Rockies has gotten easier, but Mother Nature still rules

Getting across the Rocky Mountains has always been a major challenge, whether by a horse-drawn wagon or a Cadillac.  Recently, it has been more difficult than usual, but that’s another story. Some solutions to that challenge have taken place in my lifetime, which covers nearly a century. When my family started exploring the state, around 1920, there were two main choices if you wanted to travel from Denver to the Western Slope by car. All routes were dirt roads, of course, and ...

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A burning cross leaves vision of hatred

One night when I was seven years old I saw a big fire in the house across the alley. My parents and I rushed over and saw a huge cross burning in the middle of south Broadway in front of our friend’s house. Men in sheets and white spiked headdress were marching around and shouting. Our neighbor was a popular doctor and he was also mayor of Englewood. His “crime?” He was Jewish. Many years later, in high school, I finally understood what had happened that frightful night. ...

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Holes in Colorado’s mountains have made travel easier

The state of Colorado is full of holes. If Superman, with his x-ray eyes, had flown high over Colorado in the early days of this century, he would probably have thought the state was infested with moles. There were tunnels burrowed under the Rockies in every direction. They were dug during the gold rush, when Colorado was the richest spot in the world, or so fortune hunters thought. The gold miners dug mine holes, and the railroad men dug tunnels through the mountains for the ...

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League of Women Voters still going strong after 90 years

When I was born, my mother could not vote, own property or run for office. Today I can do all three, although I think I will skip seeking office. It has been a long, hard fight. In spite of Abigail Adams’ plea to her husband, John, at the Constitutional Convention: “Remember the ladies,” women’s suffrage did not come with the Constitution. It took almost 150 years for the ladies to be remembered legally. During those years, millions of women wrote and spoke and ...

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Sense of humor essential in getting through the good and the bad times

At last, at the age of 95, I am about to become a member of the GGM club. I am going to be a GREAT grandmother for the first time. I think I am almost the only person in the Commons who does not have at least one great-grandchild. Some have quite an impressive number. Now I can brag at the dinner table with the best of them. Thanks to the magic of Skype, I will be able to see the infant very soon after he arrives in June, although he will be in New York City with his parents, Bob and ...

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At any age, exercise is the best anti-aging drug available

Body Parts. Those two words bring various images: science fiction, voodoo, pornography, Baywatch. But right now when I think of body parts I am thinking of hinges. After 81 years of use, one of my hinges is not working properly. The miracle, of course, is that any one of them is working at all. Shoulders do not come with lifetime guarantees. Oh well, neither does anything else. Fixing hinges is a major industry in this country. Doctors achieve miracles with new body parts, but a lot of ...

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Technological changes can be magical, even at age 95

Last Sunday my son, Dave, who is a computer expert, was here and said, “I want to show you something.” And did he ever! I had what was to me a magical experience. I spent about half an hour visiting with my granddaughter and her husband — in London. I could see their faces clearly on my 24-inch computer screen, their expressions, their laughter, their live presence. They could not see me because I did not have a camera, but they could hear me. The computer software that ...

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Interaction among generations benefits members of every group

A couple of years ago, on the morning of June 6, I was having coffee with a group of good friends. I was the oldest by a couple of generations. I mentioned that it was the anniversary of D-Day and started telling them what I did that day. Suddenly I realized that I was talking to myself. The others were children when that happened, but my memory was personal. There were three generations at coffee that morning, good friends who have bridged the generation gap by ignoring it. We grew up ...

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Women’s fight for equality must continue

Forty-seven years ago, in 1962, at the Third National Conference of the Status of Women, in Washington, D. C., Betty Freidan was having lunch. The discussion was about the inequality of women’s wages and it was all discussion — no action in the foreseeable future. Impatiently waiting for her dessert, she wrote the acronym NOW on a paper napkin. After lunch, she invited 15 or 20 women to assemble in her hotel room that evening. NOW, the National Organization for Women, was ...

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You must remember this: As time goes by, some memories are lost

“Memory ... is the diary that we all carry about with us,” wrote Oscar Wilde in, “The Importance of Being Earnest.” Here in the Commons, one would think that we had all misplaced our diaries. The most common expression which we all use is, “What her name? I know it, but I can’t remember it.” We find this loss of memory very annoying, not to say scary. We usually blame it on our age, just as we do everything unpleasant that happens to us. But it ...

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Glorious autumn is a wonderful time in colorful Colorado

Autumn in Colorado — the most beautiful season of the year. This is the season that makes me the most thankful that I have lived 89 years in this beautiful state. The other six were in lovely areas, but not like ours. Autumn gives me a peaceful feeling and welcome slowing of pace. Samuel Butler felt the same way. “Youth is like spring, an over praised season more remarkable for biting winds than genial breezes. Autumn is the mellower season, and what we lose in flowers we ...

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Bad manners pervade political and nonpolitical activities

I have never been one of those who say “Give me the good old days.” I was always curious to see what was ahead. But this year I think a little more old-fashioned courtesy would be welcome. We are, as a nation, going through a stretch of bad manners that makes the good old days look pretty good. Bad manners are not the exclusive province of Washington, D.C.,of course. But I nominate for the No. 1 prize of the week just passed the rudeness of Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina. ...

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Parents must ensure students have open minds about presidents, politics

I have been following the health care hassle with interest and even some amusement. At first the Republican far-right protests seemed just silly, But then they got more and more vicious. I watched the town hall meetings, with yelling and screaming and name-calling and occasional guns. There wasn’t anything funny about them. I certainly don’t understand the details of the attempt to achieve universal health care. But I understand even less how a man who was elected president of ...

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Heroes and family propelled a life of political fascination

The president of the United States was in Grand Junction a couple of weeks ago. I consider this a distinct honor for our community, and I couldn’t go — me, the political junkie. I got to wondering why politics has fascinated me all my life. I realized there were several factors heading my life in that direction. My mother was probably the major influence. I suspect that no daughter ever really understands her mother. One of my regrets is that I do not really know mine. Like ...

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Henrietta Hay Column Aug. 16, 2009

Of all the amendments to the Constitution, I think the First Amendment is by far the most important. It allows anybody to make a fool out himself — or herself — including doctors and lawyers, truckers and housewives, professors and idiots (I was thinking of Rush Limbaugh) the left and the right. It is the one freedom which separates us from most of the rest of the world. It is the one which has made us strong. But it has never been easy. There have been many examples of ...

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Henrietta Hay Column July 31, 2009

Mercury the Wonder Cat has been a little restless lately. After all, on my birthday several months ago, I had a party. He had his ninth birthday last month, and all he got was a trip to the vet for his annual physical.  So it seems only fair to give him some space in the column.  Mercury has many friends in the community. So many people that I see ask about him. I want to reassure you all that he is healthy, and as handsome as ever.  At his last annual ...

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Henrietta Hay Column July 17, 2009

I think that if I had my college years to do over, I would study etymology instead of economics. That’s etymology as in words, not entomology as in bugs. The bugs I could live without, but words fascinate me. How did people first communicate with each other? I wonder whether the first verbal communication came when a cave man looked at a cave woman and said, “Ugh,” meaning “When’s supper?” And there are those who believe that Adam said, “OK, ...

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Henrietta Hay Column July 03, 2009

I have always been fascinated by wheels, and various ones have taken me on a lot of the more exciting experiences of my life. The first car I remember was an Essex coupe. There may be readers who never heard of an Essex, but it was an automobile produced by the Essex Motor Company of Detroit from 1918 -1922. The Hudson Motor Co. continued producing the Essex until 1932. I can’t remember that much about the Essex, except traveling down the road in it with my parents. But oh, I do ...

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Henrietta Hay Column June 19, 2009

Miracles do happen. Grand Junction was mentioned in The New Yorker magazine. And it has created quite a buzz in our part of the country. It had to do with health care. Health care is the important issue today. The president and both political parties are trying to find an acceptable answer, without bloodshed. That would definitely require health care. We have had two events recently that have brought the issue to our special attention locally. We all read that dreadful story about Nadya ...

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Henrietta Hay Column June 05, 2009

“How long does it take you to write a column?” asked a third-grader when I was speaking to his class several years ago. I gave him the same answer I give everybody else who asks that question: “A lifetime.” There is no way you can write anything without using the experiences of a lifetime, whatever they may have been. Everything that you have seen or felt or learned or feared is filed away in your brain, maybe forgotten, but there. These things define who you are. ...

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Henrietta Hay Column May 22, 2009

Here I am, 95 years old, and I still don’t know what to call myself.  I don’t like “old lady.” “Senior” is OK, but lacks personality. Ah ha. I found one. The answer comes from Greek mythology. The word “crone” is a part of The Trinity — Maiden, Mother, Crone. The three are one, just as each woman is one through her life. A crone is a Wise Old Woman. In our society, we don’t often find “wise” and “old” ...

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Henrietta Hay Column May 08, 2009

What does it feel like to be 95 plus a few days? Tired. And happy. And inspired. It was a wonderful 95th birthday. My friends put on a great party and the staff here at the Commons seemed to have a good time helping. To all the people who helped and all the people who came and those who sent cards, I can only say, thank you.  It was great fun becoming 95. But now it is time to get back to work. So many things have been going on during my mental absence. It must be tough being a ...

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Henrietta Hay Column April 24, 2009

What’s it like to have been around on this planet for 95/100 of a century ? Actually, it is quite amazing. Living a long life is not unlike a journey. You start off having no idea where you are going and you end up trying to remember where you have been. I know I am the same person who walked into that first-grade room at Lowell School in Englewood in 1920 and started a wonderful journey. I was lucky. I had good genes, loving parents, a happy childhood and a good education, ...

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Henrietta Hay Column April 10, 2009

“This train’s got the disappearing railroad blues.” I wonder how many of the people who heard Arlo Guthrie sing that song at the Avalon Theatre recently can remember that long, lonely whistle in the night as the train headed for — well, anywhere. The steam engine, affectionately called the iron horse, is now a relic for the history books, museums and the memories of the men who made them run. I have seen lots of steam engines, but I had forgotten how huge and ...

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Henrietta Hat Column March 13, 2009

Some days it hardly pays to get up — especially if it is Friday the 13th. But even if it is, it is wise to laugh, or it will turn around and bite you. Last Friday the 13th, the day my column on the dangers of falling appeared, I fell! It was not a bad fall and I was not hurt seriously. But I have been remembering the advice of my favorite columnist of all time, Molly Ivins. She told me to keep on laughin’. Of course, bad luck can happen any day of the month. I have a friend ...

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Henrietta Hay Column February 27, 2009

“Getting to the top is optional. Getting down is mandatory.” — Ed Viesturs. Colorado has 54 mountain peaks over 14,000 feet in elevation, and there are many climbers who agree with the above quote. Members of the Fourteeners Club are men and women who have climbed some or all of them — and come down again. As a lifelong lover of the Colorado mountains, I really should have been a member of the club, but I must confess that I am not. Well, I did come close to the ...

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Henrietta Hay Column February 13, 2009

We women have added one more big step up the ladder. Hillary Clinton put 118 million cracks in the ceiling, but the ladder still doesn’t reach to the top. Women have finally won the legal right to equal pay for equal work. President Barack Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 in a very emotional ceremony recently. He told the story of Lilly Ledbetter as she stood beside him. Lilly, now 70, was nearing her retirement from her job in Alabama when she found out that ...

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Henrietta Hay Column January 30, 2009

I have found that I am more curious about things now than I was when I was younger. How do things work? Why do things happen? Why are there so many falls? I mean people falls, not water falls. Mercury the Wonder Cat never falls. Of course he has four legs and they keep him steady. I, on the other hand, have only two and that makes me vulnerable. But after several million years of human development, one would expect that we might have solved the problem of balance on two legs. Until I ...

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Henrietta Hay Column January 16, 2009

Next Tuesday will be the real New Year’s Day in the United States. Reason 1.  Former-President Bush will head west to his ranch in Texas. Reason 2.  President Obama will start putting the country together again. Reason 3.  1 and 2 will give us a New Year.  But there are more. When President Obama walks into the Oval Office on Jan. 20 and looks at the pile of “to dos” on his desk, he may be tempted to walk out again. Fortunately, he ...

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Henrietta Hay Column January 02, 2009

“January 2, 2009.” It never really occurred to me, one way or the other, that I would write that date some day. After all, it has taken 95 years to get here. On a recent morning, some friends and I had a conversation about our common experiences growing up in the Denver area, known in those days as “Cow Town.” He was a Wheatridge High School Farmer, I was an Englewood High School Pirate and she was an East Denver Angel. My grade school was a square brick ...

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Henrietta Hay Column December 05, 2008

Once upon a time a young man and his new wife arrived at a little village of Cebolla on the Gunnison River. They were spending a few days in one of the rustic cabins and fishing the river.  The story is that she caught the first fish. Fortunately, it did not destroy the new marriage. Several years later they visited Cebolla again, with their infant daughter — me. That was my first visit to the Western Slope, but I don’t remember very much about it. Cebolla no longer ...

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Henrietta Hay Column November 21, 2008

“It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment, change has come to America.” Those are the words of President-elect Barack Obama. History is the record of those things that have occurred in the past. But on Nov. 4, 2008, history was made in one night, right here, with the whole world watching. The United States has probably the most diverse population in the world, but for 232 years its leaders ...

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Henrietta Hay Column October 24, 2008

Just 11 more days and it will be over. Well, no, it will just be beginning. Whatever the result, we will be living with it for the next four or eight years. But for today I am going to forget the election and remember a wonderful day that I had nearly 60 years ago. I was standing on the Paepcke lawn in Aspen, listening to Albert Schweitzer speak. I could see and hear and almost touch the great man. Fifty-nine years ago an idea conceived in Chicago was born in Aspen, a sleepy little ...

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Henrietta Hay Column October 10, 2008

In a very interesting political discussion recently with a group of intelligent, politically informed people, one woman said, “I don’t really know whether I am a liberal or a conservative.” It was hardly surprising. A presidential campaign, a financial crisis, the Blue Angels and the Broncos, plus Sarah Palin all in one week. We were all spinning. Every campaign year I get asked the same question: “Are you sure you are a liberal, Henrietta? You look so ...

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