CHRONICLE
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January 5, 2012 I The Lovell Chronicle I 3
Senior center director a busy lady
BY BOB RODRIGUEZ
When it comes to her job as director
of the North Big Horn Senior Center in
Lovell, Denise Andersen lists her priority
as people, not paperwork. Oh, she does lots
of paperwork, but people come first.
Perhaps that's why she is so highly re-
garded and why in October this year she
will mark 20 years inthe position. She be-
gan work at the center in February 1992
as a secretary, but eight months later was
hired as director. For Andersen, who came
with a varied employment background in-
cluding radio broadcasting and food ser-
vice, her current post is a labor of love.
She is quick to point out that all the
jobs she held previously helped prepare her
for what she does now. "I wear a lot of dif-
ferent hats," she said in reference to her
varied duties, adding that the job contin-
ues "to be a learning experience."
Because of her radio background in
college and commercial stations in Boze-
man, Mont., and Rock Springs and Jackson
in Wyoming, she became adept at public
speaking and thinking quickly to deal with
most any situation. She recalls developing
a "good news" segment that became quite
popular. And her people skills also were ex-
panded from her time working at the Wyo-
ming Boys School in Worland.
Andersen is highly complimentary of
her staff, which consists of approximately
13 full- and part-time employees. She has
no hesitation in stating that she knows
that they can handle any matter that aris-
es. Most of her full-time staffhas been with
her for 15 to 20 years.
"It's so important to have good people,"
she said, adding that, "The people here are
excellent." Besides working with them and
coordinating operations, she often links
with the public health and WIC offices
BoB RODRIGUEZ
Denise Andersen greets all visitors to the North Big Horn Senior Center with
a smile, which reflects her upbeat attitude toward her job and the seniors she
serves.
housed in the senior center, which is owned
by Big Horn County.
In dealing with her responsibilities,
she feels blessed to possess a good sense of
humor and the desire to never cast a dark
cloud on anything. "Besides that," she ad-
mits, "I am highly competitive, so I'm al-
ways working to make what we do here
better than ever. Plus, I determined from
the get-go to never lay gloom on anyone.
I've never wanted to be a bummer."
Her outlook for the Lovell area also is
bright, as she sees more retired persons,
and others with gray hair, moving in. "And
why wouldn't they?" she asks. "We have
so much to offer, from a hospital and oth-
er amenities and attractions, to just being
a lovely place." As well, she feels that the
senior center with its meals, activities and
services also is a factor.
She points out that during the past fis-
cal year, which concluded at the end of Oc-
tober, the center served 13,417 meals in its
dining room and 13,519 meals were deliv-
ered to homes. "It's astronomical and we're
proud of that," she said with a smile. She
figures that based on statistics the center
is serving 89 percent of the population at
least once a year, not including the New
Horizons Care Center.
"Mine is a multifaceted job," said An-
dersen. "There's lots of politics involved, and
I've had to hone my skills learning to write
grants. It's a huge matter involving the abil-
ity not only to write, but to show the need
and budgeting and so much more. But I've
learned that." She's also learned to be a
jack-of-all-trades at the center, doing what-
ever it takes. In fact, she feels that shovel-
ing snow should become an Olympic event.
She feels especially good about her and
the staffs accomplishments of daily help-
ing someone whether with transportation,
a meal or other aspects. "It's such a positive
feeling to go home at the end of a day know-
ing that you have aided someone," she said.
"And we truly benefit from having such a
supportive community. Sometimes aid
comes anonymously; it's such a great com-
munity. The staff and I do our work will-
ingly because we feel such a close connec-
tion to the people."
The director also is extremely grate-
ful for the continued community support
to keep the senior service district funding
alive with "yes" votes when the item is put
before voters. "It's a godsend," she said,
"that allows us to keep our services going,
and we see a good future."
Andersen and her husband of 11 years,
Clarence, who is a custom hay farmer, live
in Lovell. When not at the center, the Cody
native enjoys helping her husband, plus
gardening and visiting nearby family mem-
bers. As for her nearly 20 years at the se-
nior center as director, she states, "I still
have a lot to learn."
Senior Chatter
Come try
dominoes
BY
PHYLLIS BRONKEMA
A happy and prosper-
ous new year is wished
to all from the North Big
Horn Senior Center.
The Newcomer's Club
met at the senior center
on Thursday, Dec. 29. The
card game winners that
day were John Nickle in
bridge and Garnet So-
rensen in pinochle.
The center is offering
a dominoes group begin-
ning Jan. 5 at 2 p.m. The
game will be held every
other Thursday on weeks
opposite of the weeks
the Newcomer's group is
held. The hostess for the
first meeting will be Ver-
na Hawkins, who hatched
this novel idea.
Come learn different
games, such as Mexican
train, chicken foot and oth-
ers. The group is still in
the planning stages, so de-
tails are being worked out.
For more information, call
Verna Hawkins at 217-
3602.
Discount spay
and neuter
clinics offered
The City of Powell,
along with participating
veterinarians, is sponsor-
ing a 20 percent discount
spay, neuter & vaccination
clinic, all in 2012.
Feb. 1-29: Big Horn
Animal Care Center, 754-
4192
Feb. 6-10: Chadwick
Veterinary Hospital, 527-
7213
February : Lovell Vet-
erinary Service, 548-2452;
Greybull Animal Clinic
(spay and neuter only),
765-9294
Feb. 13-17: Saam Vet-
erinary Clinic, 568-9305
Feb. 21 and 23: Tharp
Veterinary Clinic, 347-
2358 (discount on spay
and neuters only-two days
only)
Appointments must be
made in advance and the
number of surgeries may
be limited. Full payment
is required the day of ser-
vice.
Byron News
Skating, skiing and
the bobsled run
E, DENNEY NEVILLE
548- 7829
nevilleart@tctwest.net
In Byron, ice skating
was an available winter en-
tertainment when we were
young and bored. We skat-
ed on the frozen edge of the
Shoshone River, the sag-
ging ice sheets of the Sidon
Canal and the swamps or
beaver ponds below the
Johnson farm.
The beaver ponds were
the premium choice, but
required a three-mile trek
through the tangle of trees
below the south bluff and
the river. The return march
on twisted ankles, tired
legs, and done in the fog
of mild brain concussions,
was awesome to see.
On our dull and of-
ten unmatched skates we
streaked over the ice and
leaped the dams.with the
grace of a one-legged pi-
rate on a rubber crutch.
Our landings were usu-
ally a graceless choreogra-
phy of flailing appendages
punctuated with occasional
dull thuds when we lit on
our noggins instead of our
skates. We often left DNA
samples of hide and hair
freezing to the ice. So it was
with the Pseudo-Olympic
Ice Team of Byron.
Another of the great
winter sports in Byron was
barrel stay skiing. An un-
skilled person, hereafter
referred to as skier, would
slip each foot into a single
strap nailed to a slight-
ly curved barrel stay. He
would hold on to the end of
a long rope tied to the horn
of a saddle wherein sat a
friend soon to be blamed for
the reckless endangerment
of the skier. The choice of
a power supply for forward
movement was a horse,
generally a spooky-eyed
one easily made skittish by
human screams mixed with
irresponsible human lan-
guage.
I saw one such inci-
dent as a young, impres-
sionable pre-teener when a
skier, being yanked along
by a large, black, wild-eyed
horse, turned a corner at
high speed, causing the
skier to follow in a wide
arc too excessive for a city
block. He landed directly
amid a big ditch filled with
weedy trash, ice and crusty
snow.
For but a brief moment
the skier's athletic prowess
distinguished and enabled
him to execute a series of
what appeared to be non-
professional but entertain-
mg maneuvers. He then
traveled in a horizontal di-
rection that degraded rap-
idly into an abrupt, feet-
first plowing of ice, ditch
trash and snow. The skier
then abruptly vaulted in a
cartwheel-like manner be-
fore settling into the ditch-
-motionless- resembling
a large lump of unclaimed
laundry.
Neither horse nor rid-
er seemed to understand
the skier's narration of the
event as it occurred, nor did
I. The language was above
my minimal vocabulary at
the time. I left the scene
quickly and do not recall a
funeral that winter, so I am
led to believe that the skier
survived.
There are many rea-
sons for which something is
said to be either infamous
or famous. Our bobsled run
was an event neither infa-
mous nor famous.
We located a suitably
challenging hill at the edge
of a garbage dump covered
with a deep crust of frozen
snow strewn with discard-
ed obstructions of garbage,
gravel and sagebrush. It
looked ideal for a fast bob-
sled run because of its steep
incline. Now all we needed
was a bobsled.
It took a few hours of
scrounging parts and some
radical engineering to pro-
duce our Olympic-looking
bobsled. One major prob-
lem when the construction
was complete was that the
sled was heavy and about
a quarter mile from the se-
lected site of our garbage-
dump run.
It took the better part
of an hour to get our sled
into position. With great
anticipation, we set our
sled ready on the precipi-
tous edge. The decision
was made that I was stu-
pid enough to try it first.
With dubious courage, I
crawled into the cockpit of
our Olympian prototype
and readied myself for the
heroic ride, imagining that
I would expertly dodge the
lumps of sagebrush and
sail gracefully over rocks
and lumps of garbage with
as professional skill I had
seen in the movie news-
reels.
My friend laughed with
an evil grin, reassuring
me that something would
go wrong, and it did. He
shoved me over the edge,
and I wish I could tell
you that I had an exciting
ride down the slope mak-
ing graceful curves around
sagebrush, garbage ob-
structions and boulders,
descending at more than 70
mph, being airborne a few
times and that the Olympic
Committee wanted to adopt
our design. But it did not
work out that way.
Our overweight klunk-
er rocked over the crest of
the slope and nosed into the
crusty snow, stalling there
at a severe angle at the top
of the run, descending but
about three discouraging
feet, and it would not budge
another inch because it was
so embedded in the crusty
snow. There it stayed, mo-
tionless, like Noah's Ark
framed in ice on Mount Ar-
arat. The spring thaw soon
would return it to the dump
from which came its parts.
Thus was the end of the
Olympic Bobsled Team rep-
resenting Byron.
We learned much sur-
viving our failures.
Cowley News
Talented Snell family
touched many
DRUE T£BBS-MEEK
548-6901
I recently received an e-mail from Ned Snell, who
grew up in Cowley with his parents, Jay and Freda Snell,
and lived in a huge white house located where Linda and
the late LeRoy Parker raised their family. The Snell fam-
ily was large, content and amazingly active.
Mrs. Snell was an educator and her husband worked
construction as I recall. Their children were J.C. Snell,
Lee, Linda, twins Bill and Beth and the youngest, Ned.
We grew up with them and Ned worked at the Tebbs fam-
ily farm in the summers hauling hay with me as the driv-
er. He was tall and skinny and I cannot believe the way
he could throw bales.
Sometimes it was so hot during the hay-hauling that
Ned and I jumped into the canal about every hour with
our clothes and shoes on just to cool down. We had to do
this out of sight of my Granddad Tebbs, who didn't like
slackers, but oh, that cool water was fine. Ned is quite a
few years younger than me, but even with the exhausting
difficult work, we formed a friendship and enjoyed those
days on the farm.
The e-mail I received was a news release stating that
N. Colwell Snell, formerly of Cowley, recently won second
place in the Utah Art Council's 53rd annual writing com-
petition for his collection of poetry titled "Withdrawal."
There were 320 entries in seven categories, with a total
of 18 winners.
Snell's entry won in the poetry category. He is the
past president of the Utah Poetry Society. He was named
Utah Poet of the Year in 2007 for his book, "Hand Me My
Shadow." His poetry has appeared in many journals and
anthologies, including "Weber Studies," "Comstock Re-
view," "California Quarterly," and most recently "Fire in
the Pasture." He was nominated for a Push Cart Prize in
2007. He and his wife live in Salt Lake City.
All of the Snell family members are successful sing-
ers, writers and educators. They are extremely poetic.
Linda followed in her mother's footsteps and became an
English and drama teacher in Montana. Lee also was an
English teacher and last year he won the Utah Poet of
the Year award. Bill is also a poet and a singer. Beth is
not only beautiful, but married and lives in Bozeman and
writes with articulation.
JC worked as a salesman, a construction man and
had many talents. Sadly he died and all of us who knew
him miss him dearly. After her husband died at an ear-
ly age, Mrs. Snell moved to Montana and taught school
for many years. She and her husband are interred in the
Cowley Cemetery.
what great memories this family has instilled in our
hearts. What a wonderful history we all had in our grow-
ing years and we formed lasting friendships.
It is now 2012 and the weather is quite mild for this
time of year until the wind blows. Families gathered for
dinners and house parties and some went to Cowtown
for that restaurant's famous New Year's Eve dinner. The
place was packed and yesterday when we were in there
having breakfast, the owners said that they sold all their
food and they all looked tired, but happy.
Soon the college students will be leaving for their re-
spective universities and the students from Laramie have
had a month off. We're going to miss them. May all of us
have a good year. Last year is now in our memory banks
and we press on.
Please recycle this newspaper
