Minutes of The Windsor-Severance Historical Society
April 28, 2025
The Windsor-Severance Historical Society met in person on Monday, April 28, at 10:00 a.m. at the Windsor History Museum Train Depot. In attendance were Kristie Melendez, Sue Buxmann, Gary Martin, Tammy Boehler, Sam Sedoryk, and Judy Firestien.
Call to Order – Kristie called the meeting to order at 10:07 a.m.
Monthly Reports/Approvals
March Minutes – The Minutes from the previous meeting on March 24, 2025 were reviewed and approved as presented.
Treasurer’s Report – The March 19th bank statement showed the balance in checking was $7,680.13. The balance in savings was $14,837.30 and the balance in the CD was about $20,000. Several bills had been paid as detailed in the previous minutes totaling $1,1997.50. The WSHS also rejoined the Severance Chamber of Commerce. They now have the WSHS logo and website information. There could also be a ribbon cutting on the patio of Vecinos to give recognition to the group and do some outreach. Information on the WSHS would be included in the Severance Chamber newsletter. Kristie would check to see what dates might be available for a ribbon cutting or business after hours event. A July or August date might work well; maybe near August 23rd which would be the weekend of Severance Days. This might get the WSHS more involved in the Severance community.
Membership Information
May Membership Drive – A third party has been used for several years for printing, labeling, and mailing out membership materials. Letters with return envelopes included for convenience could be mailed out to approximately 40 existing members with postcards sent to Windsor Chamber contacts; cost previously has been around $1,000. After some discussion, Sue moved and Judy seconded the same as last year be done again this year – letter and envelopes to members and postcards to Severance Chamber and Windsor Chamber contacts – with cost not to exceed $1,200. Motion carried. Upcoming events such as the 50th Anniversary could also be mentioned in these materials. Kristie will have some materials created for review by the Board.
Old Business
2026 Memorabilia Items – Memorabilia items could be available at upcoming events such as the car show at Severance. Kristie has reached out to K & W Printing to see if they can find the files of historic sites drawn in black and white that could be used for memorabilia items. Sam had also provided some mockup ideas at the previous meeting. It would be best to make some decisions by May on what we would like to have, number of items to have made, and places where items could be sold. It would be great to have items available by November 1 for Christmas gifts; packages could be created to include a shirt and book or hat and book, etc. Local companies might allow the group to order small amounts of items to start with. Sam would price out the shirt with pocket and sugar beet, hats, and tote bags. Kristie could create stickers again also.
2025 Family Farm Tour – Tentatively scheduled for Friday, October 10th. The Museum should be doing fall scheduling in May/June so a date could be confirmed soon. We will want to identify
partners and reach out early. Judy would provide a list of previous participants so they could be sent an invitation to participate again and given an idea of the number of participants so they can prepare. Sam mentioned he has a friend who is an interpreter at the Centennial Village Museum in Greeley who he would contact. A cute T-shirt design for little kids and youth could be fun to have available for sale; might even tie into the sticker or have a cute saying like “I love history”. Gary suggested Greeley or Severance Chamber might want to participate. It would be great to include the Severance FFA again. Kristie could let the ALA charter school know also. Time has been 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Schools could also be staggered according to time periods. Merchandise might be sold downtown and at the Museum. Square or other point of sale applications might be used.
2025 Legends and Lessons – November 9th is the proposed date for the Legends and Lessons event to tentatively be held at the Dickey House/Halfway Homestead.
New Business
Electing a New Treasurer – Elaine will be taking on some new responsibilities at Bank of Colorado and is resigning as Treasurer for the WSHS. Responsibilities include paying bills, depositing membership dues, and filing annually with the IRS. Kristie does the annual filing with the Colorado Secretary of State and pays with the WSHS debit card. Monthly time commitment is probably not more than an hour per month, except during the membership drive when more checks will need to be deposited. Kristie Melendez moved and Judy Firestien seconded that Tammy Boehler be appointed Treasurer of the WSHS. Motion carried. Kristie would let Elaine know and Tammy would meet with Elaine to get information.
Severance Liaison Replacement – A replacement will most likely happen naturally when a new Board member is appointed to the Board and takes over the responsibilities of that Board seat which includes Severance Liaison to the WSHS.
Windsor News – Sam mentioned the Eaton House is about 90% complete. Poudre Heritage Alliance will be moving in next week and the house should be open after that for the summer. The Dickey House has also been painted. Sam also mentioned movies will be shown outdoors at the Halfway Homestead – “Hollywood at the Homestead”. These will be movies that were shown at the historic movie theatre in Windsor such as Wizard of Oz, Parent Trap, and Charlotte’s Web. Sam would need to confirm, but the WSHS might be able to set up a small booth before the movie starts. Movie nights would be the third Saturday during the summer; June 21st, July 19th, and August 16th from 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Kristie asked that Sam tell Maya she is doing a great job with the social media posts. Kristie will have the invitation to join during our commemorative year available for posting also.
Severance News – Gary reported on a new development that has been proposed for Severance; Northgate Lake, which was discussed at a lengthy meeting recently with both positive and negative views on the development being expressed.
Next Meeting – The meeting was adjourned at 10:58 a.m. The next meeting will be on May 19th, 2025 at the Depot. This meeting is occurring early due to Memorial Day.
Respectfully submitted,
Judy Firestien, Secretary