Special Sections - Portrait

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POR Bryan Wade March 22, 2009

It’s a Thursday evening at the Avalon Theatre in downtown Grand Junction, and Bryan Wade is doing something rare. He’s sitting. And he’s not happy about it. The 1,000-seat auditorium is empty. No one came to see the 5 p.m. ...

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POR Bruce Jensen March 22, 2009

When The Packing Shed, 351 W. Eighth St., in Palisade opened in June 2004, owner Bruce Jensen already was dreaming about opening a steakhouse in the old farmhouse that sat back on the same property. It took Jensen two years, and lots of help, ...

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POR Bruce Gordon March 22, 2009

ASPEN — Peering down on a landscape threatened with change, Bruce Gordon is flying to make a difference. It may be the Roan Plateau, the desert southwest, a mine site in Alaska or a jungle forest in Belize, but if there is a lesson to ...

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POR Beth Carlucci March 22, 2009

Retirement isn’t a topic Beth Carlucci talks about much. She still loves her job after nearly 60 years. Plus, Carlucci, 76, is healthy and enjoys staying busy. Then again, Carlucci doesn’t talk about herself much. She ...

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POR John Redifer March 22, 2009

John Redifer’s deep passion for politics began literally at the dinner table. Growing up in the 1950s and ’60s in Baltimore, the Mesa State College political science professor said he can vividly remember his father, George, ...

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POR: Marilyn Stroh and Gretchen Johnson March 15, 2009

Every year the orchards in Palisade and on East Orchard Mesa blossom, bringing prosperity to Grand Valley farmers and a bounty of fresh produce to the rest of us. But without the migrant farm workers, getting the grapes, peaches, apricots, ...

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POR: Steve Stogsdill March 15, 2009

For most of us, we’ll probably never meet Steve Stogsdill unless it’s one of the worst days of our life, when a loved one dies. This fact isn’t lost on Stogsdill, chief investigator at the Mesa County Coroner’s Office. ...

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POR: Steve Laiche March 15, 2009

You can’t miss Steve Laiche. As soon as the veteran defense attorney walks into a room, the charm flows by the gallon. “I just like people,” Laiche said. “My father was like that. And I just picked it up from my ...

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POR: Rebeca Barnes March 15, 2009

Rebeca Barnes has been through too much to look at things pessimistically. She grew up in Mexico, had children while attending college, barely knew English when she moved to Japan, and has dealt with racism. Despite all that, she will tell ...

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POR: Janet Mossburg March 15, 2009

Janet Mossburg said she hated packing lunches for her own kids. So, it might seem a little odd that Mossburg has staked a 24-year career on creating menus and buying enough food to feed more than 22,000 students in School District ...

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POR: Ed Chamberlin March 15, 2009

From the observation platform of the steel tower that rises above the Museum of the West in downtown Grand Junction, you can see the past, the present and the future. Past is visible in the nearby historic buildings and the distant geological ...

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POR: Dean Paul March 15, 2009

Follow Dean Paul around for a week. Just try to keep up. Ballroom dancing classes at Mesa State College three days a week. Tap-dancing class on Tuesday evenings. Then there are his classes in the history of music and dance, also at Mesa ...

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POR: Dan Hooper Jr. March 15, 2009

When Dan Hooper Jr. moved to Grand Junction as a 7-year-old, his father took a job as pastor of a 19-member church. ¶ Today Hooper works as a pastor with his father, Dan Hooper Sr., at the church his father founded, Fellowship Church. ...

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POR: Curt Martin March 15, 2009

It was blowing off his boss to go to lunch on Aug. 3 13 years ago that landed Curt Martin where he is today. Martin eventually would become the financial aid director for Mesa State College, but on that day, he had just found out his wife, ...

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POR: Anne Hart March 15, 2009

Anne Hart came to the Grand Valley six years ago without intentions of opening her own business, but fate surprised her by opening a door she never would have expected. After 20 years, Hart retired from a credit union in Laramie, Wyo. She and ...

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