Adam Williams ties a bow on the We Are Chaffee podcast in this episode, talking once more with Andrea Carlstrom, who, as director of Chaffee County (Colo.) Public Health, has supported the show for the entirety of its more than three years and nearly 100 episodes.  They talk about the value of community stories, resiliency and advocacy, and the new programs within the larger We are Chaffee storytelling initiative. They also talk about the goings on with Chaffee County Public Health and its continuing to be a cornerstone of well-being in the Chaffee County community.

Becca Williams wears many hats in the tech world these days, including being the founder of the startup Menopausey, which, as the name suggests, is related to perimenopause and menopause. But she’s also been a newspaper and magazine photojournalist and owned a wedding photography business. She’s been a high school Spanish teacher and a middle school art teacher. She’s traveled in the world extensively and was an HIV/AIDS educator in the Peace Corps in Malawi, in Africa. She was a ski instructor at the National Sports Center for the Disabled in Winter Park, many years ago, too. She’s an artist. ... She’s been and done many things. With those stories in mind, she and Adam Williams talk about the seasons of life, including the midlife stage and perimenopause. As founder of Menopausey, Becca is working on an area of women’s health and education that seems to be rising in public awareness right now. But the information that’s out there often is not accurate, not to mention the myths of menopause that are perpetuated in pop culture, makes this a topic that is in need of attention. Becca shares some of the dozens of symptoms of perimenopause and other information that many of you – and those around you – will find relevant, sooner or later. This stage of life affects us all in one way or another, men included.

Dr. Erika Altneu, geriatrician, talks with Adam Williams about the art and science of geriatric medicine. They talk about how she helps her patients pursue a good life and, when it’s time, a good death. They talk about the community connection and creative problem-solving that accompanies being a physician in a small, rural community versus a large urban area like Denver, which has more resources. Erika and Adam also talk about normalizing conversations about death as a matter of life in “death cafes,” and the who, what, when, where and how of the medical aid in dying process. Among other things.

Tommy Gram-Ahlene owns and operates two outdoor adventure businesses in the Arkansas Valley (Colo.): Whitewater Attainment and BV Mountain Adventures. He has built an extraordinary outdoor life and career resume during the past 20 years. He has become a go-to resource and instructor far beyond the valley, too, including teaching swiftwater rescue, kayak instructor training, packraft instructor training, avalanche education and wilderness medical courses. He’s a backcountry guide, as well.  Tommy and Adam Williams talk about the “wicked learning environment” that the wilderness can be, and about taking to heart the life-and-death responsibilities of being a guide and instructor in those spaces. They talk about how Tommy came to have so much experience and knowledge in the larger-scale mountain wilds of Colorado, having grown up in the upper Midwest. They also touch on Tommy’s perspectives on climate change and what might lie ahead for the outdoor industry and his businesses, which are dependent on seasonal snowpacks and river flows. Among other things.

Melanie Roth is a historian who has been a huge part of historic preservation efforts in the Buena Vista, Colo., area, working on many projects during the past nearly 50 years. She talks with Adam Williams about the history of St. Elmo, now known as a ghost town. One of the last full-time, year-round residents of St. Elmo was Melanie’s godmother, Annabelle Stark, who would go to town in October and buy enough food, beer and cigarettes to outlast the high alpine winter. They talk about the 2002 fire in St. Elmo, how it got started, why it became the subject of national news reports that suggested it was due to a meth lab in the ghost town, and why she describes the seven outhouses that burned down, along with several buildings close to Melanie’s heart, as historic treasures.

This is Adam Williams’ annual summer update episode, where he catches his breath in the recording schedule and takes a few minutes to summarize where the podcast has been and where it’s going.

Nathan Ward is the Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker behind “The Rider & The Wolf,” which dug into the legend of mountain biking innovator Mike Rust — and his mysterious disappearance and death. Nathan also is a writer and photographer who has spent many years roving the farflung corners of the globe, in pursuit of adventure and stories. He talks with Adam Williams about some of the influences in his early years that led him out into the bigger world, seeking adventure. They talk about how he went from his first job out of college, in the financial district in Hong Kong, to opening doors for himself as a writer and photographer with no experience. They talk about bikepacking in Mongolia and elsewhere, living in Kathmandu, and the fire Nathan still has in his early 50s for that creative, traveling life.

Lara Richardson is a rancher in Salida, Colo., and author of The Table, a memoir that dives into her and her family’s life on the ranch, growing hay and raising cattle, and connecting deeply as a multigenerational, extended family. She talks with Adam Williams about The Table. They also talk about the daily risks and rewards of working on the ranch, and how constant learning and innovations are critical for ranchers to thrive. And about the dramatically increasing value of agricultural land – monetarily and otherwise – and the increasing pressures of land development. Among other things, including some eye-opening stories from Lara’s memoir.

John and Coleen Graybill, of the Curtis Legacy Foundation, are doing their “life’s best work” in retirement. Through the Foundation, they are focused on raising awareness of indigenous peoples and their cultures. They use the iconic work of Edward Curtis, John’s great-grandfather, to do that. They talk with host Adam Williams about their own lives in photography, as well as Curtis’ life more than a century ago and his 30-something years of documenting dozens and dozens of Native tribes in North America. They also talk about how they are extending that work through their Descendants Project today. Among other things.

MaryAnn Longwell had accrued a wealth of life experience when she made a career change in her early 50s. After years of teaching science and Spanish, she became a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and counselor.  She talks about the shaping influences in her life: her early years growing up in a blue-collar family in Bethlehem, Penn., with Ellis Island immigrant grandparents; how John F. Kennedy inspired her as a young woman to serve in the Peace Corps in Belize; and about when she and her husband moved with their teenaged kids from rural Colorado to live in Buenos Aires, Argentina.  MaryAnn also talks about her belief in our birthrights to grow, heal and evolve. She shares how we can plant seeds of hope and light, even when life feels dark and uncertain.

Reed Dils and his wife, Karen, were river outfitting pioneers in the Arkansas Valley (Colo.), in the mid-70s. They owned 4-Corners Rafting, the second outfit to establish itself in the area. Within a handful of years, there would be several dozen rafting companies.  It was a Wild West industry at the time. No rules, no training required, no permits, no insurance. Just put out a brochure, get some paying clients and head downriver. Reed was part of shaping the rafting industry that exists in the Valley today. He and others worked to create necessary regulations, to negotiate water flows, and to sort out the laws and shared opportunities for boating, fishing and other uses of the Arkansas River.

Johnny Buschmann was a 4’11”, 80-pound freshman at Columbine High School in 1999 when a mass shooting changed his life, and the lives of so many others. He talks with Adam Williams about that day, the aftermath and his healing – from the shooting, from unrelated family traumas and from his lifelong struggles with mental wellbeing.  This is an incredible, full-range human conversation. There are descriptions of the school shooting, family violence and suicidal ideation. There also is extraordinary grace and forgiveness, love and joy. There is humor and laughter, and there are wild stories of mischief with Johnny and his brothers. There also are some chickens named Chicki Minaj and Cardi Bird (“’sup ladiesss!”). And other good stuff.

Betsy Dittenber, executive director of the Chaffee County (Colo.) Community Foundation, talks with Adam Williams about her early experiences in nonprofit work and volunteerism in Boston and Guadalajara. They talk about what a community foundation is and how it fosters resilience, and how the CCCF has created a website that is the “Tinder for volunteering” with local nonprofit organizations.  They also talk about Betsy’s roller derby days in Las Vegas, where she was a founding member of the Sin City Roller Girls, and how that experience was transformative for her, personally and professionally. 

Josh and Maddy Chance were high school sweethearts. The persistent football star and the resistant cheerleader. Over time, they’ve traveled near and far with their shared interests in farming, until deciding to put down roots, start a family and begin building Headwater Farms in the Arkansas Valley (Colo.), in recent years. They talk with Adam Williams about their origin story together, their farming adventures in Hawaii and Europe, and the importance of community to their mission at Headwater Farms.

Jessica Oatman is an artist, teacher, coach and surfer, among other things. She also has three teenaged kids who have homeschooled their whole lives. As a family of five, they got rid of their stuff many years ago and moved into an RV and then a camper, and took the adventurous road. Jess talks with Adam Williams about the hardships and tragedy that inspired such a live now, live for joy mentality. They talk about the misconceptions people have about that kind of life – no trust fund here – and what the reality of her life as an artist, traveler and fun-seeker who spends 50+ days of the winter season snowboarding with her kids, for example, really takes.

Tracy Arthur Kachadourian is a professional mediator and an expert in facilitating conflict resolution. She and Adam talk about how to build more empathetic, accountable and resilient relationships, personal and professional. Among other things. Tracy grew up in a home where conflict and her mother’s mental health challenges led Tracy to live in and out of foster homes for years and, ultimately, fight for emancipation from her mother as a young teen. Tracy talks with Adam about those difficult early experiences and how they influence her as the conflict resolution facilitator and mediator that she is today.

Jordan Cunliffe is a soccer coach and mentor to students at an alternative high school in Chaffee County, Colorado. He also is a former Division I university athlete whose drug addiction cut short his career playing the sport he loved more than anything. Jordan talks with Adam Williams about growing up in a non-religious, non-traditional family in a heavily Mormon-influenced community in Utah. They talk about his move to New York to play at Iona University, and the decade-long spiral of addiction and self-sabotage that unfolded after an injury sidelined him from playing soccer. Among other things, like getting clean and finding his way back to soccer as a coach.

Krista Jarvis grew up in communist Czechoslovakia and witnessed the Velvet Revolution. By the time she was a teenager, the country split into two nations: Slovakia and the Czech Republic. She talks with Adam Williams about creativity under communist constraints and the pivotal experience when she became an artist. They also talk about the ways communism affected Krista’s family. Her dad fled to freedom when Krista was very young and her mom was a political activist hiding her religious faith. They talk about how it still affects Krista today and how it influences her parenting of two American boys so far removed from the experiences of her youth. Among other things.

Gina Lucrezi founded Trail Sisters, the leading women’s trail running organization in the U.S., if not world. This passion extends from her standout running career – track and trail – as a National Champion and 10-time All-American at DeSales University, then as a professional trail runner and as a gold medal-winning member of the 2012 Team USA World Long Distance trail-running team in Interlaken, Switzerland. Gina talks with Adam Williams about those experiences and shaping influences in her life, as well as her volunteer service and leadership for Chaffee County (Colo.) Search & Rescue North, her being featured in “The Candidate,” a documentary of her latest campaign for public office, and how she learned to harness the power in her experience of ADHD.

Matt Allen, D.D.S., is a formerly practicing dentist who now is the CEO and co-founder of DifferentKind, a tech venture focused on making healthcare more human.  He talks with Adam Williams about how, having been the valedictorian of his high school class in Prescott, Ariz., he almost dropped out of Pepperdine University only months later, to dive full time into his band in L.A. They talk about the relatively safe choice of becoming a dentist like his father, and then the risk of leaving it behind to start a tech company. They get into the wisdom of Father Richard Rohr and other philosophers, and talk about the “two halves of life,” which leads them into talking about how they see their roles as dads. They also talk about how Matt views DifferentKind as a force for good in the community. And Matt tells about the one thing he misses now that he’s no longer actively practicing as a dentist.