Interview with Pat Matthews Clemens at her home within Glacier View Meadows on October 8, 2021. Includes many years about the Red Feather Historical Society.
Interview and transcription by Linda Bell
Table of contents
Retirement — back to Colorado
Childhood in Littleton
Teaching Career in Arizona
Evolution of the Red Feather Historical Society
Newsletter and Tours
I came to this area in 1996. The house was finished in 1998. During that time I lived with Dick and Lois Stroh…. I lived with them for a year, and then I moved to the little house over here — the little dome house. That’s when Matt came up to help. He came for two weeks because he had a vacation — he was working in Hawaii then. I don’t remember why I contacted him, but you know how builders are up here, I had big problems building this house. I said, “Come and help me build this house — April will be OK”. He came for two weeks in April and he trudged through the snow and he couldn’t do much because it was snowing. But then he came the next year.
I met Matt in 1990 or 1991. He was my neighbor across the street in Phoenix, Arizona. We dated for two or three months but he was lot younger, so I said, “I’m going to retire.” And he’s not. He got a job offer in Hawaii where he lived and worked there for seven years. After coming that April, he decided to quit his job in Hawaii and come back to Colorado. In Hawaii he had his own truck plus a company truck. He was in charge of all the framing. He left all that, taking a real big pay cut…. After he came here, he never left, so we eventually got married.
In 1998 we moved into our house. I bought the property probably in 1994. I moved to Colorado in 1996. I wanted to come back to Colorado since I did not like Phoenix. I knew I wanted to live in the mountains. When I was visiting my mom during the holidays, I asked her where the Strohs were living. They were neighbors of my mother’s and they were good friends. My mother said, “they moved up someplace — and it’s like heaven up there.” I asked her to call them up so we could come up and visit. They showed us around telling us about this parcel which was originally 40 acres, and they had bought 30 (acres) of it. (Don) Weixelman owned the property which he divided up. Strohs got the 30 and there were 10 acres left. When I saw the property, I just said, “Oh wow.” Then I made an offer on another piece of property which was close and in Glacier View. I can’t remember the names of the owners. But luckily people that lived right next to that property bought it. So I made an offer on this. It was 10 acres — 10.8 acres — or something like that. I made an offer, a cash offer. Weixelman said, “We love cash!” So I got 10.8 acres for $30,000. And I’m not in Glacier View. It’s an inholding.
I grew up in Littleton. I was born in Kansas City, Missouri, because my dad had to go there for the war. My parents both were from Littleton. My whole family had lived there forever. I say I was born in Missouri, but I say I was conceived in Colorado just because I wanted to be a native of Colorado, right? When I was five, we moved back to Littleton.
My mom was the horse person, not my dad. She got involved in all these riding clubs. Some of her best friends did hunt jump, hunting and jumping at the Phipps Ranch. I participated in a lot of hunt jump events throughout Colorado. We had five horses. The one that was a really good jumper was a standardbred. He was the kind that would come to a jump and then hop over. But he could hop over anything. He always thought the grass was greener on the other side, so he would jump over fences. He did that when he was out in the pasture.
If you do hunt and jump, you have to have a horse that “looks the part.” Mother bought a horse off Centennial Race Track where she used to work mowing the hay in the infield. She had a partnership with a guy. He did the baling and she did the mowing. That’s when it was in Littleton. So she bought a horse off the race track because it couldn’t race anymore. The fetlocks were broken down. He was a little crazy too, but he “looked the part” and he jumped “okay.” He was high strung but I could handle him. When I went away to college, mom rode him on the hunt. Phipps Ranch used to be a hunt jump place. They had a regular hunt every Sunday where they hunted coyotes, not fox. They had the dogs and the whole works plus you had to dress the part.
We were all poor kids in the pony club. But we had to dress up for the hunt. Most of us didn’t have a way to get our horses there, so we rode to Phipps Ranch from our houses. We rode over there and put our horses in the barn Saturday night so we could ride in the hunt in the morning. I couldn’t find much of anything in the way of pictures of that. The Phipps Ranch is now Highlands Ranch. Every time I go by, I say, “Mr. Phipps is turning over in his grave.” He wouldn’t have liked all those houses on his property. He had thousands of acres over there.
I actually started teaching in Albuquerque in 1964. I went to Fort Lewis College — that was a two year college — and I met my ex-husband there. He lived in Albuquerque. So I went to UNM and got my BS and MA there. I taught four years at what was considered to be the worse school in the system because it was in a bad area of town. Ernie Pyle (Middle School), but it was alright. I didn’t see anything wrong with it. Then I applied for a fellowship in 1968 to go to Arizona State University. It was a two-year fellowship. If you taught in an underprivileged or minority school — underprivileged is what they called it then — or disadvantaged, you could apply. There were 20 of us, all in home economics. We were selected from all over the United States. It was really fun. Since I had my master’s when I went there, I started working on my doctorate. I had all my hours completed, I just never did my dissertation. Well, I had to go to work.
My masters was in education. The bachelor of science was in home economics.
The PhD was going to be in education. After you teach and you try to get a degree … well, when you are a professional and you have those educators sitting there telling you how to teach, they don’t know what they’re talking about. The reality was totally different from what they were teaching. I really didn’t need that doctorate.
Evolution of the Red Feather Historical Society
I’ve been president of the Red Feather Historical Society since 2006. I was on the board before that when Debra (Hawkins) was president. I joined in the early 2000s. I’m not sure what year. I was going on tours, and Debra probably recruited me to be on the board. They needed a board member I guess. I don’t remember how that came about.
The culture of the Red Feather Historical Society has definitely changed over my tenure. (When I became president) it had about 20 -25 members. More people went on the tours than there were members. They didn’t require them to be members to go on the tours.
Linda (Gorton) and Jody (Dahlstom) started it. They started it and ran the tours. Dick and Lois introduced me to the tours. After I bought this property I would come in the summer and they would take me on the tours with them. So that’s how I got introduced to the Historical Society. And I thought the tours were great since you learned about the history of the area where you’re moving to.
When I did get involved, they weren’t using a computer or anything. There wasn’t a “Next Door” (social media site), but I’d get peoples’ names when they went on tours, and I would send them information. That’s what I did when I got on the board. A lot of people in those days didn’t really use a computer that much.
After teaching in Albuquerque for 4 years and Phoenix for 30, by the time I retired I was teaching computer fashion design. So I knew how to use the computer, while people up here didn’t at that time. I would start collecting peoples’ emails. That’s how they communicated, not by using FaceBook and all that kind of stuff. Dialup was so slow back then. Also people didn’t want to learn how to use (computers). There are still people up here who don’t want to use computers.
So I started sending out emails. And then I started joining all the clubs, and I’d tell them they needed to join the Historical Society. I also made a list of the membership. I think we went from 25 or 35 people to over 100. Also, they were just doing Red Feather Lakes so we added Glacier View (Meadows) and other areas. When we drew up our mission statement, we included all the areas. That increased membership. It just needed to be spelled out. I am a social person and I went to parties, meetings and events and met people. I would tell them they needed to go on the tours. So we grew to whatever we are now, about 130 or so.
It’s gone down only a little bit over these COVID years. It’s a strong core. And now we have all kinds of ways to advertise what we do. The more people you draw in the harder it gets, but we want them to come visit Red Feather and see what we do.
I’m not against networking, because that’s how we expand our knowledge. I do give presentations in Fort Collins and there are people that belong who live in Fort
Collins. I have presented at History Colorado. René (Lee) and I have gone to Wyoming and made presentations there. I belong to a number of history organizations. I get a newsletter every month and that gives me a lot of good ideas for speakers and tours and programming.
There was a visioning workshop for the board quite a number of years ago. Jim Hutfilz was in charge of that. He was our treasurer at the time. That’s when we decided a real museum was not feasible, it would cost way too much. We had that property in the village, across from the library. We had $30,000 donated before I even got here. And they wanted to build a museum and they wanted to build it on the property we owned. We didn’t own all of it yet. We had to buy some more to even consider it. Part of the property acquisition was during my tenure, but not all of it. We had two lots to begin with. And then somewhere in there we bought two more lots, and then an additional two more. The storage shed was constructed in 2001-2002. The (Robinson) cabin was moved up from the (then Rocky Mountain Dharma Center) Shambhala Mountain Center in June 1995. The cabin was donated. Bill Jefferson was in charge of moving the cabin up to Red Feather and placing it at the current location. The property in Red Feather was also donated by a couple of people before then.
The Red Feather Historical Society incorporated and changed its name in 1997. The original incorporation was in 1985 under a different name. Linda and Jody did the original paperwork. It was called the “The Red Feather Society, Inc.” It still had 501c3 status as a private nonprofit. It was amended to read “Red Feather Historical Society, Inc”. So the word historical was inserted in 1997. I wasn’t involved in any of this.
A museum was going to be subject — about this time Larimer County started paying attention to what was happening in Red Feather Lakes — to building inspectors and all that. We sat there and discussed that with $30,000 how are you even going to level the property, put in all the services. There’s no septic, and no room for a septic system. The amount available was going to go nowhere to build a museum. We voted on it at one of the meetings — on April 24, 2008. It was also a question of employing someone, or having volunteers staff the museum. We didn’t feel it was feasible to pursue. It was also voted on at the annual meeting that year.
We changed the donation policy in 2011 and we changed the fiscal year. Jim Hutfilz did a lot of this. He and his wife Rachel were our neighbors.
We used to send out our annual newsletter piggybacked with the library newsletter which went to every address in the library district in a low cost postal patron mailing. Then the library decided not to send out their newsletter anymore.
After the Society gave up the idea of a museum, we moved more online, to a virtual website. We’ve always needed a photographer. I forget to take pictures on the tours. And I can’t be everywhere. Over the years, we’ve had photographers, and on tours, I’ve asked people who were taking pictures to send them to me.
Newsletters — when did the newsletters start? The Gazette, I have all of them going back to 1987-88 when Linda and Jody were in charge. Then Debra (Hawkins), when she was president, she continued (the newsletter). It was not mailed to everybody. But we did use the postal non-profit service to send it. Then Gloria Hedstrom did it for a while. Then I took it over. Judd (Adams) was in charge of the website.
I was vice-president for a number of years before becoming president — from 2000. I probably have been involved with the RFHS since 1998-99. Once the house was done, Lois got me involved in all the organizations. She took me to Mountain Gals, got me to play bridge. We had a sewing group and a quilt group. Glacier Gals — everything. The newsletters tell a lot of stories. I have them on a memory stick or on my other computer.
My favorite tours I try to repeat. Trails End, Schrader’s Ranch, is one of my favorites. Always has been, especially when Lafi Miller was there. Glendevy Ranch was one of our favorites to visit until they sold. It was very historical — others, the Laramie River Ranch and The Nature Conservancy’s Phantom Canyon, and Rabbit Creek Ranch, the ranch Jon Thiem wrote about. The tours are always interesting. All in one way or another. We’ve been really lucky on the tours. I’m the only one who ever needed help, and that was this past summer (2021) when we went to Phantom Canyon and I fainted hiking up from the river.
When Jim Hutfilz was on the board we got to worrying whether people might sue us, so he checked it out. He found the waiver form we use. We were also switching over insurance, and we wanted to make sure we were covered.
Before I really got involved, Vi (Osborne) and Della and Dennis Frydendall were running trips that were two or three days. One of the first tours I did with Lois and Dick was the Oregon Trail in South Dakota. That was the year before I got involved on the board, they went to South Dakota. Then two or three years later they went the other way, west through several states along the Oregon Trail. I got involved in that one. My mother and I went to Silver City for the night on one of the tours.
A lot of the tours we can’t do anymore. The properties have changed hands, or people have passed away. Things always change.
Click here for Addendum #1 – pictures
Pat’s Life Adventures
(Addendum #2)
Years – 1942-1946
I was born Patricia Kay Waller in Kansas City Missouri, since my dad had to go there to work for the war effort. Memories include:
– Milk being delivered by horse
– Eating oatmeal since it was less expensive
– Falling off a picket fence and suffering a concussion
Years – 1946-1956
Lived in Littleton on a five acre farm
Rode horses for all those years participating in jumping & hunts
Participated in Coyote hunts at Phipps Ranch now Highlands Ranch
Participated in many horse shows including Little Britches & National Western
Went to St. Marys school from 4-8 grade & then Littleton High School
Years – 1956-1960
Lived in Littleton off of Santa Fe drive at a larger farm where father and mother built their own home on the Platte River.
Went to Littleton High School.
Favorite Classes were Gym, Home Economics & Art Classes
Years – 1960-62
When to Fort Lewis College and majored in Home Economics. Met my first husband Jim
Years – 1962-1968
Went to University of New Mexico
Married James Matthews
Received BA in Home Economics from UNM
1968 – Received a Master of Arts in Education from UNM
1964-68 – Taught at Ernie Pyle Junior High for 4 years grades 6-8th
1968 – Received Fellowship to Arizona State University in a program for teachers who taught in underprivileged schools
Years – 1968-1987
1968-69 – Went to ASU for two years working on a Doctorate which I did not complete
1969-70 – Taught Home Economics in Scottsdale at a Junior High for 2 years
1970-89 – Taught Home Economics at in the Phoenix Union High School district
1972-76 – Girls golf coach
1974 – Received outstanding Vocational Teacher of the year for teaching Bachelor Survival and outstanding teacher in the AZ Home Economics Association
1976-1978 – Moved to Denver for Jim’s work & remodeled 1902 home
Moved back to Phoenix
1981 – Built Adobe home
Years – 1987-1996
1987 – Divorce James Matthews
1989 – 1996 – Metro Tech – Teaching Computer Fashion and Interior Design
1991 – Received outstanding Home Economics Teacher for AZHEA – for computer program development in Fashion Design
1990-1991 – Meet Matt Clemens who was my neighbor in Phoenix. Dated for awhile until he moved to Hawaii to work
Years 1996-Present
Moved to Colorado the day after I retired to build my own home in Glacier View
1998 – Matt came to help build house for a couple of weeks in April. He came back in summer to help finish the house and he stayed. Moved into new home
2006 – Married Matt Clemens 8/12/06 at the Chapel in the Pines pavilion
1997 – Got involved in several organizations and the rest is history