Minutes of The Windsor-Severance Historical Society
June 23, 2025
The Windsor-Severance Historical Society met in person on Monday, June 23, at 10:00 a.m. at the Eaton House. In attendance were Kristie Melendez, Sue Buxmann, Gary Martin, Laura Browarny, Tammy Boehler, Sam Sedoryk, and Judy Firestien. Museum intern, Soloman, also joined the meeting.
Call to Order – Kristie called the meeting to order at 10:07 a.m.
Monthly Reports/Approvals
May Minutes – The Minutes from the previous meeting on May 19, 2025 were reviewed and approved as presented.
Treasurer’s Report – Tammy had met with Elaine and collected a folder from her which included financial information and some pictures from Helen Casten and other information from Gene Morey. Tammy reported from the May 19th bank statement that the balance in checking was $7,009.79. The balance in savings was $14,864.74 and the balance in the CD was around $20,000. Kristie would give Tammy all the bank statements for the year so far.
Membership Info – May Membership Drive status – Kristie reported that 21 memberships had been received to date. Most people who renewed used the return envelope that had been included with the membership renewal letter. We might want to consider sending a letter with return envelope to all the
names on the mailing list to make it easier for people to return their membership renewal; especially since we have an older audience. To date, $1,604 has been collected in memberships which covers the mailing cost of around $1,000. Kristie keeps a record of those who renew their membership in an excel spreadsheet which she would share with Tammy. The online link for membership fee payment is broken and needs to be repaired. A goal would be to get 50 members for the 50th Anniversary. Kristie will continue to push out information on membership. It might be nice to reach out to people to let them know about upcoming events also.
The Stromberger family would be good oral history interviewees; Ruth might want to contact them. Also, Stan Detterer and Hettinger contact (currently living in Nebraska).
Old Business
2026 Memorabilia Items – Sam had presented some ideas on shirts, hats, tote bags and stickers previously. There is currently a gift shop run by the Poudre Heritage Alliance at the Eaton House, and the Museum has talked with them about possibly having merchandise there also. People have already shown interest in a t shirt with the sugar beet on the pocket. Books could be sold from the gift shop also. Items could also be made available for purchase at the Farm Tour and Legends and Lessons. There was additional discussion on items, number of designs, and cost/pricing. Kristie would get a quote from her source in Severance for T shirts. Vista Print or 4 Imprint might also be used. There is also a local company called Chroma that the Museum has used for hats. We would probably need 200 tote bags for the Farm Tour this year and they could also be sold. It would be nice to use the four-color logo on promotional items. We might also get a sponsor and put their logo on the bag also. There was additional discussion on process for collecting payment with use of Venmo, Square, or PayPal and collecting and submitting sales tax. PHA might need to purchase inventory from WSHS and then sell it from the gift shop. It might be better to sell at or through the Museum rather than at the Eaton House. There are still details that would need to be worked out and it might be good to test the interest and then make a greater effort to sell next summer during the anniversary.
Tammy moved and Gary seconded the Society spend up to $1,500 to order a sampling of memorabilia items. Motion carried. This would allow the Society to have small quantities to test the interest. Kristie would get some pricing for items.
2025 Family Farm Tour – The Homeschool Farm Day has been scheduled for Thursday, October 9th from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 or 3:00 p.m. and has been added to the Windsor Recreation Activity Guide. Judy will reach out to participants from last year to see if they are interested in attending again and put together a list and also contact the Severance FFA again. The age group that usually attends is mostly first to fifth grade/elementary age; older kids are not as interested. Kristie mentioned American Legacy Academy now has a bus for transportation and would like to bring kids out and tie that into an agricultural experience. Homeschool day is specific to the Museum, so this will need to be discussed further. Kristie will suggest that ALA talk to Heidi directly about what is available to schools at the Museum. Windsor second graders usually visit the Museum. Kristie will start on stickers and promotional items. It might be nice to have more pictures from the Farm Tour and a video. Judy had been in contact with an education reporter, Morgan Mckenzie, from the Greeley Tribune. She would be a great contact to cover the event. Windsor City Lifestyle (Misti) is always looking for events to post on their calendar or Be Local (Monica Yates).
2025 Legends and Lessons – November 9th is the proposed date for the Legends and Lessons event to be held at the Dickey House/Halfway Homestead. Laura added they are running a series of programs at the Dickey House called “Halfway Home” and she suggested looping in Legends and Lessons as part of that series and cross promote. The Society still needs to think about people to honor. Possibilities were Todd Vess, Arlen Stromberger, and Ruth Firestien.
Kristie also mentioned she had received an email from Sharon Danhauer who is a local historian and active in several organizations in Northern Colorado. She is offering historical education programs for $100 for a one-hour presentation. She has presentations entitled “Great Western Sugar”, “Alphabet Soup”, “Carnation”, “Star Spangled Banner”, “History of Fort Collins” and others. It might be nice to have a program at the Legends and Lessons event next year to tie into the anniversaries of 2026.
WSHS YouTube – Judy may have gotten access to the old WSHS YouTube account but is waiting on a verification. Laura added videos might also be able to “live” on the Town of Windsor YouTube channel and they would create a separate, specific list. Ruth has purchased the card reader for $9.99 to help with videos. Sue added that she had attended Wilma Swanson’s memorial. Many pictures had been thrown out and could not be used for a slide show, so instead, part of her oral history video was played at the service.
New Business
Severance Ribbon Cutting Chamber Party – The Ribbon Cutting Party has been scheduled for August 1, Colorado Day, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. on the patio at Vecinos. The Town of Severance is asking residents for old photos. Kristie is creating an invitation for the general public. Appetizers will be provided at cost of $100-200. Attendees will be responsible for their own drinks. The Mayor and Town Council will also be invited. Severance Chamber will also help to promote.
Windsor News – Laura mentioned they are starting to plan for next year and are thinking about a weekend event to celebrate the Depot’s 50th anniversary. Laura hopes to bring WSHS and HPC together to meet. She will look into maybe a Wednesday or Thursday evening at Peculiar Ale. Kristie wondered if Great Western would bring the historic rail car out for the Depot celebration.
Next Meeting – The meeting was adjourned at 11:37 a.m. The next meeting will be on July 28th, 2025 at the Eaton House.
Respectfully submitted, Judy Firestien, Secretary