KOTO Radio: Friday Live with Sherry Rose

Description

A KOTO Radio show, called Friday Live, that aired on October 24, 1980. Jerry Greene interviews Sherry Rose about her life and career as San Miguel County Treasurer. Sherry was born in Eckert, Colorado and moved to Telluride, Colorado when she was just 10 months old. She was raised in Telluride and then went to Ft. Collins, Colorado to attend Colorado State University (CSU) where she earned a secretary degree. Sherry then got married and moved to Cedar, Colorado to live and work on a cattle ranch. Her husband of 8 years passed away in an automobile accident, so Sherry decided to return to college (CSU) and she earned an administrative degree at age 28. Sherry grew up in Telluride in the 1930's, 1940's, and 1950's (she graduated from Telluride high school in 1954). The mine was very active in the 1950's and most people worked for it, except for the business people that worked in town. Also, in the 1950's, there were 3 grocery stores and 3-4 service stations. Most people did their grocery shopping in Telluride, as the roads to Montrose and elsewhere, were not very good. Telluride residents also ordered goods, that they could not get from Telluride, from the Sears or Montgomery Ward catalogs. After Sherry left Telluride, the town went down (economically). Rose mentions that her father was a miner and she would like to see mining come back as she believes it is a stable industry and a good way to keep residents in Telluride and avoid all of the worker migration that Telluride now has. Mining would also help to increase the income of the town. However, Sherry does mention that she is glad that Telluride now has better road conditions so that people can leave every once in a while and not get stagnant. The conversation then focuses on Sherry's job as the county treasurer. Her main job involves collecting taxes and distributing this money to the various districts in the county (the library, cemetery, etc..) She also invests money for the county. Another aspect of Sherry's position involves public trustee records. Sherry releases any deeds of trust for real estate and she is involved with foreclosures. She mentions that there have been more foreclosures recently because she believes that people have borrowed money at too high of interest rates and they cannot pay their mortgages, so they end up loosing their homes. Rose helps to facilitate the selling of these homes as part of her position as county treasurer. Sherry also serves on the Mountain Medical Clinic board. She feels like the medical board has made progress with the medical clinic. Sherry can remember when Telluride offered no emergency services and patients had to travel all the way to Montrose or even Grand Junction for medical emergencies. Rose had her tonsils out at the Museum (when it was a medical facility). She recalls there were 3 nurses and only one doctor. Why did Telluride residents stay when there were no medical emergency services? Sherry believes people liked their jobs and they had stable careers. Residents did not have TV back then, just radio. Sherry saw her first tv show in college, at CSU! Rose feels like she missed out on extracurricular activities while at Telluride High School. Sherry and Jerry then discuss the changes that have happened in Telluride. Sherry likes them. She enjoys the ski industry and the tourists. She does not like the fact that many senior citizens have moved away recently. Did Sherry grow-up skiing? No, she says it wasn't popular in Telluride then. Girls didn't ski then--it wasn't appropriate. They didn't have the proper equipment and the rope tow was difficult for girls to use. Only maybe 10-20 people skied during these times. Sherry would like to see gradual growth in Telluride. She wants working families to be able to afford to live in Telluride, and not just the wealthy that want to invest in real estate and profit. Finally, Sherry states why people should vote for her as the county treasurer in the upcoming election. Sherry is honest, likes people, can do the job, and has learned a lot about the job. Supported in part by an award from the Colorado Historical Records Advisory Board, through funding from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), National Archives Records Administration