An assortment of outlets can await a person after retirement: golf, bird-watching, or oil painting jump to mind.
For Peggy Sorenson, the passion of retirement involves volunteering in a myriad of forms. In fact, Sorenson became such an active volunteer that she was the recipient of the 2022 Jack Snow Outstanding Volunteer Award by the Colorado Tourism Office.
But that's the end result, it's important to also know the beginning.
Sorenson was born and raised outside of Houston, Texas, but found an early love for Colorado when she and her family would visit Durango in during the summers.
"Everybody enjoyed coming," she recalled fondly. "We came nearly every summer."
Her love of Colorado only deepened after she met and married her husband, Curt (a professor of geography at the University of Kansas), and they spent many wonderful summers at the University of Kansas's Field Camp located 13 miles outside of Cañon City near the Garden Park area.
The couple had originally planned to retire in Wyoming after their children had grown up and Curt had finished his work at the university but, as Sorenson would characterize it, "life happens."
They found themselves living in Colorado in 2007 and have had nothing but a blast living here.
"It's the greatest plan B ever," she said with a smile.
Sorenson spent 27 years as a high school teacher but retired early to help family in need -- a decision that proved both necessary and a blessing. She and Curt regularly see their one grandchild and daughter who live in Florence but that's just one part of life that keeps them busy.
Volunteer work has been an integral part of Sorenson's life since moving to Colorado and it's proven to be a valued aspect of retirement life.
She began her volunteer career in Fremont County and was on the Fremont County Heritage Commission alongside other well-known Cañon City residents, such as Carl McNew and Linda Carlson. Together, they established the beloved Spirits of the Past, a group of Fremont County residents, who dress up as local historical figures.
She was and still is, also a part of the Fremont County Historical Society and considers her magnum opus to be the restoration of the Historic Garden Park School.
The original school burned down in the early 1890s, but it was quickly rebuilt in the form of an adobe schoolhouse and functioned as a one-room school from 1895-1961.
Sorenson and her husband had been coming to the Garden Park area since the 1970s and watched the degradation of the building with heavy hearts.
"As educators, we were just broken-hearted to watch, every summer, this building go downhill," she said.
So, when they bought a home in Garden Park, they decided to save the school through historic preservation efforts.
"It has been, I'm going to call it a labor of love," she laughed.
After putting in a heap of work, they managed to win five grants to begin restoration work in 2008 and successfully added the school to the State Historic Register.
With the dedicated efforts from the Sorensons, and the wider Garden Park community, the schoolhouse has been successfully restored to its former glory and will continue to stand as a testament to the post-Civil War Colorado era.
Sorenson is also an active member of the Gold Camp Victorian Society in Cripple Creek, and they provide trolley tours throughout the summer, a Cripple Creek Spirits of the Past, and many other community events.
One of Sorenson's favorite volunteer outlets is her work with the Two Mile High Club, a Cripple Creek nonprofit founded in 1931. The nonprofit works to support the fabled wild donkeys that wander Cripple Creek through the summer months -- garnering local adoration and visitor curiosity alike.
"Cripple Creek was built on the backs of donkeys so it's important to give back to them," Sorenson said.
As treasurer, she actively partakes in the year-round care for the 15 or so equines, including feeding them in the wintertime and administering year-round care.
Perhaps one of her favorite activities is the annual Donkey Days Derby as she sees it as just one way to keep the past alive and well in the present.
"Giving back is just so important," she said about her volunteer work.
Sorenson was surprised by the Jack Snow Volunteer Award but holds it close to her heart as proof that she's doing what she's supposed to do with her life.
"It was such a wonderful evening," she said. "It's really an award for everybody. We do work very hard volunteering."
In her spare downtime, Sorenson thoroughly enjoys gardening and hopes to take an adventure to Denmark with her husband.
But wherever she is, Sorenson knows where her heart lies.
"I'll just work harder and longer and more," she said.
No comments:
Post a Comment