Classification Talks
Kris worked for Hitachi Power Tools as a PR and Web Specialist and as a Consultant for Conocer, a public leadership consulting firm, before she became CEO of Exodus Moving & Storage in 2003. Kris is very proud of Exodus which "Provides Peace of Mind, All in One Piece" to residential and commercial clients moving locally, nationally and internationally. Exodus has been locally owned and operated in Ft. Collins for over 10 years and was voted the #1 mover by the Ft. Collins Chamber of Commerce members. She met her husband, Ilan Levy, in 2002 and moved to Ft. Collins, CO where they live together in Greyrock Cohousing. They have four children, Aidan, Brielle, Madison and Anika. Kris says that Greyrock has offered her and her family a wonderfully close community experience. Kris Boesch is a Bahai and is very active in the Bahai community. Kris says that she is dedicated to the main tenant of the Bahai Faith, unity of humankind, and has found its guidance and teachings to be invaluable. She has been impressed with how much Rotary's values and her Bahai beliefs are similar. In her free time, Kris enjoys reading Latin American Literature, hiking in Lory State Park, dancing, Bikram yoga and walking her dog Lola."
Doug said, "I thought I had enough hobbies to keep me busy when I retired. I have been an amateur radio operator since 1956 and that has been a great hobby my entire life. I like woodworking, especially cabinet making and precision kinds of woodworking. I also enjoy reading and the mountains, but a funny thing happened on my way to retirement. I spent three and a half years writing a column in the Coloradoan and going to council meetings and then in 2005 I ran for Mayor. So now here I stand delighted to have the chance to give back to the city that I love. I am delighted to be a Rotarian."
I have to say that (1) there will be no power point presentation; I am technologically challenged. And, (2) I’ve been told that I don’t know how to be funny so I won’t. This will all be straight forward and dry. However, when I was preparing these remarks, it struck me as interesting if not unusual, that this girl who grew up in Brooklyn, where, as you know, only one tree grows, should end up with the classification “agriculture”; it gets worse, as I tell people I was actually born in Newark, New Jersey and my family upgraded to Brooklyn. Then I reflected that I have had three careers, three husbands and this is the third Rotary Club in which I have been an active member. I’m not sure that there is any connection. Nevertheless, I am prepared to give you the short version of how I came from Brooklyn to the classification “agriculture”. I attended Erasmus Hall High School, the oldest High School in New York City. I graduated with 1500 other students. Among those distinguished graduates were names you might recognize: Lainie Kazan (who played the mother in “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” and Doug Moe who served a stint as head coach of the Denver nuggets. I continued my education at Barnard College, part of Columbia University, where I majored in philosophy, with a minor in political science (all in preparation for my later immersion in “agriculture”). I commuted on the subway from my home in Brooklyn to 116th Street and Broadway because all the scholarships and monetary awards that I received still would not enable me to live on campus. All through high school and then while at Barnard I worked in my aunt and uncle’s furniture business in Long Island (career # 1). I married my first husband, the father of my two children and I continued to work in the furniture business to support him through his last two years of Law School at Columbia. Thirteen years later, my then lawyer husband determined to move the family to Colorado, after attending a seminar in Colorado Springs. This prompted the sale of the family business and, in 1972 we arrived in Lafayette, Colorado and I started Law School at Boulder. The summer of my second year in law school I had been offered a summer internship with Monfort. That summer I became enthralled with the company. When I graduated, there was no room for me at Monfort. Finally, the company reorganized and I was asked to come back to Monfort as Staff Attorney (Career # 2). I advanced over the years from Staff Attorney to Associate General Counsel and finally, to Group Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Monfort of Colorado and held them until retirement in 1990. In 1979 Monfort experienced many serious problems. A side effect of working extraordinary hours and being under enormous stress, my marriage fell apart and Ken Monfort’s marriage did likewise. Suffice to say we were married in 1982 after our divorces were finalized. (thus, Husband # 2). We were married for 18 ½ years until his death, February 2, 2001. When Kenny’s health deteriorated, we started a Foundation in Florida because Kenny believed that wherever you lived you had to give back to the community. When Kenny died he left the bulk of his estate, after providing for his and my children, to the Monfort Family Foundation and the Kenneth and Myra Monfort Charitable Foundation and today, I am still a Trustee of the Monfort Family Foundation and the President of the Kenneth and Myra Monfort charitable Foundation. I sometimes think that my real vocation is Rotary. I joined the Rotary Club of Sarasota in 1996. My classification then was “prior service”, as Rotary was then opened to retired persons. I have held many positions in Rotary, both in the clubs and district wide. I have always tried to do something somewhat reckless on my birthdays which got me into riding horses, buying horses and building a horse ranch near Windsor reservoir. We now have six mountain horses—registered Rocky Mountain and Kentucky Saddle bred. Our horses can be seen on our website—Highland Horses.com. This new career has provided new learning experiences and challenges. It is definitely a business and not a hobby. I breed fine horses and expect to sell them.
Who am I beyond that? I'm a 3rd generation Chinese-American. My grandparents immigrated here illegally decades ago. The Chinese have been the only group in US history to be federally barred from entering the United States - unless they were already a US citizen. My grandparents bought birth certificates and citizenship papers and assumed new identities to immigrate to the US in the late 1920s. In 1972, as many of you know, Nixon changed the law and my grandparents became true citizens. Having visited one of my ancestral villages in 1988, I am eternally grateful that they endured what they did to come to California. I am a wife and mother. My eight-year old daughter is a source of wonder, consternation, and joy. My husband and I celebrated 19 years together last month. I enjoy cooking and baking, reading, and family time. I spend some of my free time in at race-tracks while my husband races his vintage race car. I enjoy Fort Collins…I'm learning to enjoy the outdoors. Until I moved, enjoying the outdoors meant a glass of wine on the deck…now it's a bit more energetic than that. I also enjoy making a difference and I do that through my work at the Coloradoan.
Anne graduated from the University of Wisconsin at Green Bay, worked in construction and housing development, doing "beaucoup jobs". She then had a tile company in Asheville, NC, before becoming a business broker. Later she sold components to small businesses for a boss "who couldn't truly pass the 4-Way Test". She met a business coach, decided this was the path for her, and has been a business coach for 5 years.
He has degrees in Electrical Engineering and Physics, paid for by the Dutch company Philips. After working as a true Engineer he changed course and worked in Argentina in an applied area for English Electric. He returned to England to work for RCA and then moved to the US with the same firm. Later he owned a scientific and medical instruments manufacturing company until he retired. |
Kris Boesch was born in Boulder, CO and has also lived in Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis, Atlanta and Mexico. She graduated from Fairview High School in Boulder, CO and then went on to the University of Colorado in Boulder and received bachelor degrees in Anthropology and Spanish. She received the honor of summa cum laude for her work in Spanish. She then went to Washington University in St. Louis, MO where she received her Masters in Spanish.
Jim Harper grew up in Yuma, Colorado, on a dairy in his family since 1933. The dairy was supplemented by both dryland and irrigated farming to raise livestock food. He graduated from CSU in 1960. His in-laws are the Herveys, well-known at CSU, and known to us as Art Wilcox’s second wife. Jim was a Lion until John Roberts persuaded to become a Rotarian. He and his wife have 3 daughters. The eldest contracted leukemia at age 11. The middle daughter is an ophthalmologist in Cheyenne and the youngest is involved in the film industry. They also have 5 foster kids and 2 foster grandchildren. They are enjoying their life in Fort Collins.
Doug Hutchinson was born in Billings, MT. His family moved to Ft. Collins
when he was 4. He completed his public schooling in Poudre School District.
He joined the military, specializing in intelligence and spent 23 years in the Air Force and retired as a Lt. Colonel in 1999. His education after Ft. Collins
High School included a bachelor's from CSU, a Master's from USC , and some
work at Colorado Technical University. He and his wife Cathy have three children, all living in Fort Collins, and six grandchildren plus one on the way.
Myra Monfort said she wanted to express her sincere appreciation for enthusiastically welcoming me into this Club. I am so pleased to be a part of this Rotary group.
I'm Christine Chin, you know I am president of The Coloradoan.
Amelia Streigel gave us her
classification talk using a Power Point presentation, a unique way. Born in Grand Junction, raised in Rangely before moving
to Wyoming all the moving because her father was a pipeliner and moved to where there was work. Amelia said she had a unique
background for our club because she was probably the only female who could operate a backhoe and drive a bulldozer. She then
had the opportunity to spend a year in Germany as an exchange student and told us how much that experience meant to her. She
graduated from CSU with a degree in Chemistry, worked for Honeywell as a software tester, moved to Munich, Germany to
work for Wacher-Chemie as a translator. She moved back to the U.S. to be nearer her close nit family and to go back to
CSU to get a Masters degree in Biomedical Sciences. She now works with the Molecular and Cellular Integrated Neuroscience
Program at CSU. Her research involves studying fruit flies. She said she has been dating her boyfriend for four years and
would appreciate any help she could get for him to take the plunge, because she is not getting any younger.
Anne Alexander, a Business
Coach, characterized herself as a "classic American Mixed Breed Mutt". Her Polish mother, a teacher, married her
American father after emigrating to the US with her family. Her grandmother worked as a domestic, her grandfather on the
railroad. Her husband's father was a member of the RAF, turned entrepreneur and founded Newsweek Magazine. Her
great-grandfather was Chairman of the Board at Harvard. 
Alan Bennett gave a unique classification talk. He said that he was born some time ago on an island
off the coast of France, an island colonized by the Italians in 46 ad. He was born in what the Italians called Londinium, London.
The two themes that run through his life are airplanes and international connections. His grandfather, an american, flew for the
RAF in the First World War. He returned to England and maried a Spaniard whose parents were German and English. Alan's father
managed a small airline so Alan grew up among pilots.