Minutes of The Windsor-Severance Historical Society
September 22, 2025
The Windsor-Severance Historical Society met in person on Monday, September 22, at 10:00 a.m. at the Dickey Farmhouse at the Halfway Homestead. In attendance were Tammy Boehler, Laura Browarny, Sue Buxmann, Judy Firestien, Gary Martin, and Kristie Melendez.
Call to Order – Kristie called the meeting to order at 10:10 a.m.
Monthly Reports/Approvals
August Minutes – The Minutes from the previous meeting on August 25, 2025 were reviewed and approved as presented.
Treasurer’s Report – Tammy presented a brief Treasurer’s report showing total account balances were about $42,000. She reviewed the August transactions which included revenues received for membership fees and royalty payment and expenses paid out for website update, food for the ribbon cutting, po box rental, and postage. She would get the current balance of the CD. Kristie mentioned for September there would be a bill for annual web hosting of $378 and another $97.50 fee for the website for something that needed to be updated.
Membership Update – Kristie reported there are 30 members to date with membership dues collected totaling $2,699. This total now includes recent memberships and donations from Connie Hill ($230) and Sandy Lee ($300). There is also a small royalty check to be deposited ($38.51) and another membership for $50. The tote bags have been ordered at a cost of about $400; ordered in blocks of 50 in blue, black, green, and orange. The stickers have arrived; cost was around $100.
Old Business
2025 Family Farm Tour – October 9, 2025 – The totes should be done on Wednesday and would be ready for putting give away items in them to include a sticker, seed packet, small water bottle, and other items received from CCWCD and WGCD. A few copies of the farm tour booklet would be available at the welcome table. Kristie would also have a couple of foam core boards for display at the Farm Tour to encourage membership or donations. Brochures would be available nearby. WSHS would also provide bottled water, lemonade mix, and some sort of pre-packaged snack. The Museum would provide water in dispensers. A time could be set for next week to get together and put items in tote bags at Judy’s Farmhouse. Kristie will have the invitation for the Legends and Lessons event ready to be shared at the Farm Tour. Judy would update the booklet. The Museum (Heidi) would forward an ad with info on upcoming events for inclusion. The flyer created by the Museum would be shared on Facebook. The sticker design would be cute on a t shirt for kids. Early elementary is the main audience; ages 5 to 8.
Partners are set up. Things will be similar to last year. FFA students will help again. Set up time is 8:30 a.m. The Town will bring 2-3 canopies, the picture board could be on display, Kristie will bring the WSHS canopy.
2026 Memorabilia Items – Time Capsule – Kristie reported a calendar has been started. T shirts are a great idea, but there are challenges with logistics and process; selling, sizes, colors, etc. A time capsule could be a fun idea; items for inclusion would need to be decided in addition to finding a container and deciding where it would be placed. Kristie would contact Austin Weishel to see if he had any ideas for an art piece that could be incorporated into a structure to list the Legends and Lessons names in addition to having a place for a time capsule. Laura added the landscape renovations near the pioneer village area will be starting in November. There will be small open areas for plantings along the new sidewalk areas; there are several areas and this might be a place for adding something. Arts Commission has a sculpture they have commissioned for the space. There is an artist who is taking old farm equipment and transforming it into a giant 8-foot rooster. There is about $10,000 available for the WSHS project. There are several artists who could be asked for their thoughts; the idea would be to replicate something in history. Paul Brandt is the artist doing the Arts Commission project (brandtmetalworks.com). There was additional discussion on the time capsule. The book and calendar might be included in addition to other items; maybe a centennial license plate. This would be a good project and maybe others would want to partner or there could be a fundraiser.
2025 Legends and Lessons – November 9, 2025 – Halfway Homestead – 3:00 to 5:00 p.m.- Names have been selected for honorees to include Ruth (Brug) Firestien. There was discussion over criteria for selecting honorees and suggestions for honorees; were they members of WSHS and did something significant and are part of the oral histories? Suggestions were the Berens family and Casten family. The Windsor-Severance Volunteer Fire Department was formed in 1976 and would be a good honoree for 2026. Additional honorees would include Kathleen Claus and Larry Jacoby (posthumously). It would be nice to honor both living and those who have passed. Laura mentioned the summer intern had done interviews with the Apodaca and Martinez families for a Hispanic Heritage Month display at the Rec Center. A running list could be kept of possible honorees. Refreshments for the event would be similar to previous years.
Historic Preservation Commission Meet and Greet – Tammy, Gary, Laura, and Judy had attended the meeting with the Historic Preservation Commission and thought it was great. There was a lot of good discussion, good ideas, and interest in the history publication. There are a couple of members who are historians and have capacity to write. Their focus is more on the buildings with the WSHS having a focus on the people and a collaboration between the two groups seemed natural. Laura mentioned there would be focus on collaborating on a big event next year with the 50th anniversary of the Depot and the 150th /250th anniversaries to be a two-day event at the opening of the Museum for the summer on Memorial Day weekend. May is also Historic Preservation Month. There would be new exhibits and the landscaping updates would be done. This would celebrate all the people involved in the Museum and would be a “Happy Birthday Depot” event.
Plans are still being developed. The first day might be a family festival. The second day might be a fundraising event to include adults. It might be fun to look at historic newspapers to review what had happened when the Depot originally opened. Laura thought there had been some sort of mini documentary done by a Denver television station when the Depot was
moved, but they hadn’t been able to find it. There may also be things added to the celebrations around Fourth of July and Harvest Fest focused more on the anniversaries of the State and Country. There had been discussion on creating a sub-committee to collaborate on the history publication. For the events, the Museum’s team would take the lead. The Historic Preservation Commission meets on the second Wednesday at 5:45 p.m. The Museum would start planning events once their budget has been approved.
New Business
Windsor History Publication
There are lots of great pictures in the “Images of Windsor” book and more have been collected since. A coffee table picture book might also be created as a follow up to the original book. Sue downloaded something like 800 photos. Laura added they had been given many photos by the Jacoby family and surviving members of the Dickey family in California. Sue mentioned there were many Jacoby photos that had been put on Pinterest by Sandy. Judy would try to find these and Sandy’s account.
2026 History Calendar – Kristie thought she might have something for the group to look at in the next 30 days.
Windsor News – Laura shared that they had just received a big donation from the Severance family and it is currently in collection storage. It is all the furniture from their original parlor and a bunch of other stuff. They received the marriage certificate for Mary Severance from the family in Texas and they brought a truck load of stuff to the Museum. They also will be receiving a piano in November that was bought by Eaton and sold to Charles Yancy and has been in his family for three generations. They have just started the restoration of the Halfway House. There was originally a 1.5 story addition on the back of the building.
Severance News – Gary mentioned Dr. Julie Kidd submitted plans for a new building for her vet clinic. The old building, where Town Hall had met and was the Lind farmhouse, would be taken back by the Town of Severance and possibly used for office space since there are some conservation restrictions on the building. Gary would check with the Severance Town Board to see if someone would be replacing Dan as liaison to the Board.
Next Meeting – The meeting was adjourned at 11:37 a.m. The next meeting will be on October 27th, 2025 at the Dickey House.
Respectfully submitted,
Judy Firestien, Secretary