There were four tables – about 40 people – of Durangoans in Denver on March 20 when Morley Cowles Ballantine was inducted into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame. There were more like 60 people, all Ballantine friends and many mentees, at the Rochester Hotel on Monday evening as we gathered to celebrate the first one of our own to be thus honored.
Susan Lander, who sits on the Hall of Fame’s board, invited board members to Durango to promote nominations from Southwest Colorado (she can’t nominate, being on the board). Rochelle Mann and Debra Parmenter took her up on the challenge, and put together the package that resulted in Ballantine’s induction.
She joins an illustrious group of women that ranges from A to Z - that’s former Secretary of State Madeline Albright to athlete extraordinaire Mildred “Babe” Didrikson Zaharias.
The gathering in Denver was big, about 550 people and a Who’s Who of Denver, Lander said. The gathering in Durango was smaller, but everyone there personally knew and loved the lady of the hour. So there were lots of laughs and lots of great stories.
Beth Lamberson Warren remembered two fun “Morley stories.” The first came during the final game of March Madness, when Ballantine and some of her friends were dining at Seasons Rotisserie & Grill, and Warren was there with her children. (They were virtually the only people in the restaurant.)
On the way out, she introduced her children to Mrs. Ballantine, who told the kids Warren was “nifty,” a word that definitely applies but one they had to explore to understand just what Ballantine was saying about their mom.
The other event happened during the early days of the Adaptive Sports Association, when Warren was working with Dave Spencer, the founder and eponymous inspiration for the classic weekend that is the organization’s signature fundraiser.
Spencer, who had already lost a leg to cancer, was losing his final battle with the disease. Warren was five months pregnant and, let’s be honest here, Beth, doing a little whining.
“He told me that if I can get Morley Ballantine to sit in a dunking booth, you can do anything,” Warren said. “And whenever I have to ask someone for a lot of money, I think, at least I don’t have to ask Morley Ballantine to sit in a dunking booth.”
After the laughter on that one, Richard Ballantine said a few words about his mother and the honor, but first he had to tell the coda to the story.
“That was one of mother’s finest moments,” he said.
And while Morley Ballantine is often lauded for her commitment to higher education, her son shared a surprising fact.
“She paid virtually no attention to K through 12,” he said. “She sent us off to school and never asked what happened there.”
It was also a chance to introduce Sarah Healy, Morley’s granddaughter from Wichita, Kan., who is working at the Herald and enjoying getting to know the Durango her grandmother loved.
The event was sponsored by First National Bank of Durango and hosted by the Hall of Fame and the Women’s Resource Center. Hot Tomatoes served Parmesan-artichoke tartlets, curried deviled eggs and meatballs in marinara sauce to fuel the storytelling.
Liz Mora, the executive director of the resource center also thanked Alpine Bank, which had served as the sponsor for the entire Women’s History Month. The month-long acknowledgement, which included numerous events, ended with the reception.
The gathering was also full of inspiration to do more, be more.
Lander said after seeing what Ballantine and the other inductees had accomplished, she felt like she had spent her life in bed reading a book and eating bonbons. She wasn’t the only one.
Morley Ballantine may be the first woman from Southwest Colorado to be inducted into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame, but she shouldn’t be the last. Lander says the organization, which inducts a new class every other year, will start gearing up in the fall for 2016. Who should we nominate next?
HHH
Happy Aries birthday wishes go out to John Kessell, Jim Welch, Janice Martin, Lacy Williams, Mary Catherine Baty, David Best III, Micah Priest, Steve Owen, Sam Larsen, Jack Irby, Blake Martin, Pat Morris, Jen Schoedler, Nikolai Bohachevski, Dave Potter, Roman Speegle, Barb Ugai, Mike Brinnon, Lin Lewis, Kylee Cheese and Nancy Ottman.
HHH
As long as I’m thinking about Morley Ballantine, the Hall of Fame induction was not her only honor this year.
In the middle of February, the Sarah Platt Decker Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution awarded her its Women in American History Award. It’s given to women who have made outstanding contributions to society in intellectual, social, religious, political, scientific or cultural endeavors. Ballantine qualifies in a number of those categories.
In an interesting coincidence, Platt Decker was inducted into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame in 1990, so it was an impressive array of female accomplishment on both sides. (Platt Decker never lived in Durango, but so impressed the members of the chapter with her “brilliant mind, sympathetic heart and common sense” on a visit here, they voted to name the chapter after her.
The award was given at the organization’s tea at St. Mark’s Episcopal Parish Hall, where guests enjoyed a cornucopia of goodies while applauding the accomplishments of a number of honorees. Julie Cordova, the chapter’s honorary regent, served as mistress of ceremonies.
Good Citizen Awards went to Zachary Ellis from Pagosa Springs High School and Katy Funkhauser from Bayfield High School. Tanice Ramsperger not only received the Community Service Award, she received it from her sister, Taran Goetz. Al Carter, a veteran of the Vietnam War, was also recognized.
Perhaps the most exciting win was Joe Pope’s entry in the American History Essay Contest. (I know what you’re thinking: “Really, an essay contest, exciting?”) Joe, a seventh grader at St. Columba Catholic School, not only won the chapter’s contest, he won at the state level as well.
The topic was “Pretend you are a boy or girl during the colonial fight for freedom. Using historical facts, discuss how the war is affecting your life.”
Joe’s essay continued on to the Southwest Region of the DAR, and he has been invited to a state conference’s Awards Luncheon in May.
HHH
There tulips are in bloom for the anniversaries of Jack and Lauri Kloepfer, Geoff and Karen Overington, Randal and Linda Jernigan, Ken and Paula Seay, John and Diane Knutson, Bob and Jan Newlin and John and Deb Seglund.
Special greetings go to Roger and Shirley Buslee.
HHH
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