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By this time, we had put enormous
effort into public awareness and had
planned a summer camp to showcase
the benefits of Waldorf education.
Our camp, Waldorf at Windstar,
was also the best deal to be had in
the Roaring Fork Valley! For $100,
parents could send their preschoolers,
kindergarteners and first graders to
an all-day camp at Windstar for three
weeks, transportation from Aspen
included, thanks to Doug Sheffer.
Taught by Denver Waldorf teachers
Dana Fordham and Lin Welsh in the
kindergarten and Patty Doyle, freshly
plucked from RSC, in the first grade,
the camp was wildly successful by
every measure. In the midst of it, on
July 1, 1991, the Friends met on the
top floor of the Sardy House, which
housed Patty Fox’s office as execu-
tive director of the Aspen Writers’
Foundation. There, buoyed by full
enrollment in the camp and bonded
by a year of adventure and adversity,
twelve Friends voted unanimously to
open the Aspen Waldorf School in
September.
Our confidence was bolstered by the
fact that we thought we had secured
the services of two trained teachers.
Though inexperienced, Patty Doyle
was perfect for the first grade. She
had grown up in Aspen, graduated
from the University of Colorado,
and traveled in Europe, where she
had met Waldorf education. She’d
returned to the two-year teacher
training at RSC and when ready to
graduate, Rene Querido had told her
she really had no choice but to help
found a new Waldorf school in Aspen.
At twenty-five, Patty little suspected
what this meant and though full of
enthusiasm, she considered offers
from several established European
schools before she agreed to join us.
Stephanie Blevins, also a trained class
teacher, had moved to the valley with
her husband, Bruce, a biodynamic
gardener. She had assisted Dana and
had agreed to be our kindergarten
teacher but on the last day of the
camp, she delivered a heavy blow.
Uncertain of our enrollment, she had
decided to accept a teaching position
with the new public Waldorf school in
Milwaukee. We couldn’t blame her for
having doubts, but who could teach
our kindergarten? There was one
teacher among us and Dana pointed
to Patty Fox, who had ten years of
teaching experience and a master’s
degree in education. With Dana’s
promise to mentor, Patty took up the
work of the kindergarten. CP (Patricia)
Kanipe agreed to assist her – but only
until her massage business picked up
at Thanksgiving.
Upper: Maureen Fox (front), Marina Kanipe and
Melinda Engleman in Bill Fordham’s Windstar
classroom
Lower: Dana Fordham’s Waldorf-at-Windstar
kindergarten
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