Board of Directors Nominee Bios

Barb is a semi-native (30 years) transplant from Wisconsin. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin with a degree in Agriculture Journalism, she remained on staff for 20 years before moving to Colorado. Now, she's a dyed in the wool “Westsider.” History has always been her passion and she enjoys sharing her enthusiasm with History Center visitors where she has been volunteering her services since becoming an OCCHS member. This is her second year as a Board member and serves as President. She authors the “President’s Report” for West Word, serves on several OCCHS committees and Old Colorado City Partners. In addition, she is a 40-year volunteer for the Boy Scouts and for the District Attorney’s Youth Intervention Program.

Sharon has been an active volunteer with the Old Colorado City Historical Society for several years. She is a longtime resident of Colorado Springs and member of the Old Colorado City Historical Society. She and her husband Dave   have brought up four children, one girl and three boys (one deceased).   Sharon has actively supported the OCCHS through her volunteer work with the society's archives, bookstore, as event coordinator and character actor (where Society members dress in the attire of the period to represent Colorado City historical personalities).  She has helped manage the Society's activities as a member of the OCCHS Board of Directors and has served both as President and Vice President of The Old Colorado City Historical Society. Her other accomplishments include authoring two books: - “The Story Behind the Clay” (Van Briggle) and “Historic Photos of Colorado Springs”

Barbara was raised on the Jersey Shore and moved to Orlando, FL in 1971 where her son and his daughter still live. Barb also has a grandson in the Air Force who is stationed in Texas. She moved to Colorado Springs in 1997 after working a total of 45 years in public health in Florida and El Paso County.  She is married to Mike Medvar and they have 2 Australian Cattle Dogs. They love to go hiking, camping, visiting art galleries, and they absorb as much history about the Pikes Peak Region as they can find. Barb and Mike spend a lot of time on the Westside. Barb has been an OCCHS member for about 18 years now. She has during that period volunteered in almost all OCCHS volunteer activities at one time or another. In addition to her many years of volunteer service, Barb is actively involved managing the Society’s affairs as Secretary of the Old Colorado City Historical Society.

Fred and his wife Barbara have three grown children and five grandchildren living in Virginia, Colorado Springs, and Australia. Fred graduated from Rutgers University with a BS in Mechanical Engineering after which he entered the Air Force directly out of college. His initial assignments dealt with nuclear missile weapon systems. He earned an MBA while performing missile duty. Fred spent the second half of his military career involved with the procurement of Command, Control, Communications and Computer (C4) systems. After retiring from the Air Force, he worked several years in private industry before establishing his own Small Business consulting firm. Fred is a Board member and does research for the OCCHS Board of Directors.

Rita moved to Colorado Springs in May 2019. Previously she has worked: (1) Providing Work Training and Independent Living Skills to Developmentally Disabled Adults. (2) Providing Educational and Employment Training to Single Parents, Displaced Homemakers, Single Pregnant Women and Teens in Non-Traditional Occupations. Rita has great organizational and time management skills. She has worked with numerous administrative and departmental teams and communicates effectively with people from all walks of life. She has always practiced flexibility, open mindedness, and confidentiality in her work. Since becoming a member of the Old Colorado City Historical Society, Rita has been an active OCCHS Volunteer. She has managed the OCCHS Bookstore and Museum and provided valuable administrative assistance to the Old Colorado City Historical Society Board of Directors.

Ashley moved to Colorado Springs with her husband and two dogs in 2018 to pursue her graduate degree in History at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. A native of the Denver Metro area, she received her undergraduate degrees in both History and Cultural Anthropology at Metropolitan State University of Denver in 2015. In 2008 she began volunteering at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, where she delved into teaching guests about Dinosaurs and the evolution of our planet in the Prehistoric Journey Exhibit. It was here that she discovered her love of teaching and museum education. She continued volunteering at DMNS for 10 years, where she found herself working on the maintenance and creation of displays, and educational programs, as well as facilitating tours and hands-on experiences in Prehistoric Journey and several Temporary Exhibits. More recently, she began an internship at OCCHS in 2019 where she worked on the digitization and transcription of OCC Oral Histories. Ashley continues to volunteer at OCCHS, maintaining their online presence, social media accounts, West Word, and a multitude of other fun projects. Fun Fact: Her favorite dinosaurs are the Dreadnoughtus and the Stygimoloch.

Judy moved to Colorado Springs in 2018 from Rantoul, Illinois to be with her daughter. She is interested in becoming more involved in the community and believes OCCHS provides a wonderful service in sharing the history of Old Colorado City. Her work experiences include Financial Director for Restoration Urban Ministries, a faith-based non-profit in Champaign, IL, Labor Liaison with United Way in Champaign. Judy is retired from the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana. She has been a Letter carrier, Postmaster and has owned and operated two weekly newspapers. Since joining the Old Colorado City Historical Society this past summer, Judy has been an active volunteer, working with the OCCHS Treasurer. She has drawn on her organizational and financial expertise to assemble a small cadre of software experts with financial backgrounds to analyze and modernize the OCCHS financial accounting system.