Immigrant Stories: Recent Episodes
Walter Gallacher
What would it be like to be an immigrant, to leave your home, family, culture, and country to face the unknown in a strange land? Join host Walter Gallacher as immigrants from around the world tell their stories of survival, alienation, persistence and triumph.
Haregewewoin (hahrah go ween) Woldemariam (wole demaar iam) grew up in Ethiopia, a country that has struggled with war, instability and corruption. She reflects on how the love her mother and father showed her as a child has carried her through life's worst hard times.
Ho Jin Chee known to his friends as H.J. remembers how his parents had toflee the South Korean mafia leaving him asthe sole provider for his younger siblings at the age of sixteen.
Tune in as Dr. George Mizner remembers when he was eight years old watching the Nazis goose step down the street in front of his apartment in Austria. He knew, even then, that his life had changed forever.
Tune in as Kurt Bresnitz remembers the Spring of 1938 when he was preparing to graduate from high school until Hitler stormed into his country and made him an Austrian refugee, seeking asylum in the United States.
On this months episode of Immigrant Stories, host Walter Gallacher interviews Misheel Chuluun. In 1991, Misheel Chuluun was eleven and living in Mongolia when the Soviet Union collapsed and brought her country's economy down with it. Tune in as she remembers her family's struggles to survive.
Klaus Obermeyer celebrates his one hundred and fifthbirthday this month. Tune in as he describes how he madehis way from immigrant day laborer to winter sports icon.
Kaziemierz Kozak grew up in the 1930's in the Polish countryside. Life was good, until the day World War II came to his little farm. Tune in as Kaziemierz remembers life on the front lines.
Wafa Saeed talks about her mother country, Sudan, and the Sudanese people's ongoing struggle for independence.
Mercedes Garcia was fifteen when El Salvador's civil war came to her village. Tune in as she remembers her childhood and her perilous journey to the United States.
On this month's episode of Immigrant Stories, Kathleen Fitzsimmons, a frontier mining historian and Leadville, Colorado native describes the life of Irish immigrant miners during Leadville's silver rush of the 1880s.
On this month's episode of Immigrant Stories, Diana Higuera, the founder and director of the Rocky Mountain Welcome Center in Denver, remembers the Venezuela of her childhood and talks about why millions of Venezuelans are fleeing what was once the richest country in South America.
On this episode of Immigrant Stories we hear from Elizabeth Boomhower who grew up in the Netherlands in the 1930s when her country was known as Holland. She remembers the summer of her nineteenth year, 1940, when the Germans jumped out of the sky and took her country.
On this episode of Immigrant Stories, Spany Mburunyeme describes how his family escaped the chaos of civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, when he was a child.
On this episode of Immigrant Stories, host Walter Gallacher speaks with Minani Theoneste. This April marks the 30th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide. Tune in as Minani Theoneste remembers his family's escape from the violence and their search for home.
On this month's episode of Immigrant Stories, Gloria Perez reflects on her journey from Mexico to a life of community service and leadership in Leadville, Colorado.
This month we revisit a past episode of Immigrant Stories. Tune in as Pat and Tony Tonozzi talk about how they fell in love and sustained it for seventy-five years.
On this episode of Immigrant Stories, Jose Miranda water buffalo rancher and former resident of the Roaring Fork Valley describes the desperate conditions in Venezuela that forced him and his family to flee in 2014.
On this episode of Immigrant Stories, Part 2, host Walter Gallacher speaks with Traolach O'Riordain, director of Irish Studies at the University of Montana, Missoula. He remembers growing up in Ireland and describes how Irish immigrants changed life in the United States and Ireland.
On this episode of Immigrant Stories, host Walter Gallacher speaks with Traolach O'Riordain, director of Irish Studies at the University of Montana, Missoula. He remembers growing up in Ireland and describes how Irish immigrants changed life in the United States and Ireland.
On this episode of Immigrant Stories, Yoal Ghebremeskel talks about growing up in North Africa's Eritrea and his work at east Denver's Street Fraternity where young men, many of them immigrants and refugees, gather in the evening for conversation and recreation.
On this months episode of Immigrant Stories, host, Walter Gallacher, describes his family's journey from Ireland to the United States and shares stories from recent immigrants from Central America.
On this episode of Immigrant Stories, Walter Gallacher speaks with Antonio who remembers his perilous journey to the United States from Mexico when he was five years old.
On this episode of Immigrant Stories, host Walter Gallacher interviews Victor Gabossi as he describes his family's journey from Northern Italy to the coal mines of Colorado and his decision to leave mining and open the Roaring Fork Valley's first hair salon.
In this two-part installment of Immigrant Stories, host Walter Gallacher interviews Tom Casey of KILI Radio on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Like KDNK, KILI is also celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2023.
In the second part of this two-part episode of Immigrant Stories, host Walter Gallacher continues his conversation with Tom Casey of KILI Radio on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Like KDNK, KILI-FM is also celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2023.
On this episode of Immigrant Stories, host Walter Gallacher interviews Jim Walsh, a professor of American History at the University of Colorado, Denver about his Irish ancestors and describes the journey of the thousands of Famine Irish who came to Leadville in the late 1800's to work in the mines.
This special award-winning edition of Immigrant Stories—featuring Glenwood Springs High School Principal Paul Freeman—took home the Colorado Broadcasters Association's Award of Excellence for Best Public Affairs Program of 2022.
David Dominguez was born in 1928 in Delcarbon, a coal camp near Walsenburg, Colorado. On this episode of Immigrant Stories David talks about the hard times of the 1930s and the fifty years he spent mining coal.
For three generations, the Nieslanik families have been tireless stewards of the land. On this month's episode of Immigrant Stories John Nieslanik and his brothers Paul, Bob and Ray talk about growing up in a farming and ranching family.
On this episode of Immigrant Stories Bill Groethe reflects on his life as a photographer and the iconic photos he took of the Sioux warriors who survived the Battle of the Little Bighorn, better known to many as Custer's Last Stand.
Tune in as former valley residents Kelsey and Tess Freeman, talk about their book, No Option but North, and share the stories of refugees they met at a migrant shelter on our southern border.
This December, Klaus Obermeyer turned one hundred and three. Tune in as Klaus describes coming to America and working his way west to a little known place called Aspen.
On this episode of Immigrant Stories, Paco Nevarez-Burgueño, the Director of the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet Folklorico dance program, talks about the twenty years he has spent teaching students about life through dance.
Tune in as Annie Stephens remembers her childhood in England and her journeys to the United States and Africa.
On this episode of Immigrant Stories, first recorded in 2011, host Walter Gallacher interviews Melania Ullerick. She reflects on the years she spent in a Romanian orphanage and the impact that had on her life.
Tune is as Laurie Loeb reflects on life in the Roaring Fork Valley when she arrived in the Sixties and how Carbondale's Mountain Fair was born.
Tune is as Laurie Loeb reflects on life in the Roaring Fork Valley when she arrived in the Sixties and how Carbondale's Mountain Fair was born.
On this episode of Immigrant Stories Mercedes Garcia reflects on her childhood in El Salvador surviving the civil war and fleeing the gangs that filled the void of war.
On this episode of Immigrant Stories, Klaus Penzel remembers being drafted as a boy soldier into the desperate and retreating German army, during the last days of World War II.
Tune in as Paul Freeman, principal at Glenwood Springs High School, reflects on growing up, an Irish immigrant boy, in England and managing a high school during the pandemic.
Tune is as John Tripp reflects on his long life and the harrowing years of World War II frightening alongside his band of brothers in the Tenth Mountain Division.
On this episode of Immigrant Stories, host Walter Gallacher interviews Ilias Satouev as he recounts his journey from his home in war-torn Chechnia to the Roaring Fork Valley just after the Russian-Chechnian War in 1996.
Tune in as Peter Seibert remembers his father, Peter Seibert Sr. and his quest to create the world class resort we now know as Vail.
Tune in for a program from Immigrant Stories 2016 archive. Dorothea and Doug Farris reflect on their sixty years together and the love that has sustained them through the challenges they have faced.
Tune in as Autumn Rivera, Glenwood Springs Middle School science teacher and Colorado's Teacher of the Year for 2022 talks about her life and teaching in a pandemic.
Tune in as Kathie Weaver remembers her late husband Jim "Doc" Weaver and the history of the Jess Weaver Trail.
Calvin Lee, artist and retired Roaring Fork Valley attorney and the son of Chinese immigrants, talks to host Walter Gallacher about Lee's parents' journey to the United States.
Fifty-one years ago, Alexandra Yajko was forced to flee her native Poland. Tune in as she reflects on being a refugee as a child and the impact that has had on her life.
Valley natives Kelsey and Tess Freeman discuss their book "No Option But North" and share the stories of Central American migrants Kelsey interviewed during her nine months at a Mexican migrant shelter.
Host Walter Gallacher explores the reasons for our border crisis through his Irish roots and interviews with Central Americans who fled to the United States twenty years ago. Pictured: Left to right top row - José Mendoza Turbin, Ismael Argueta, Ana Ariza. bottom row - Mercedes Garcia, Lizbeth Jacobs, Tony Mendez
Colorado Broadcasters Association awarded this story a Certificate of Merit for Best Public Affairs Program in KDNK's statewide market in 2020. Listen again: John Goodwin is a career peace officer and retired professor of Criminal Justice at Colorado Mountain College. John reflects on his life, the death of George Floyd and the importance of community-centered police work.
Julie Olson is the Executive Director of the Advocate Safehouse Project, based in Glenwood Springs. On this episode of Immigrant Stories, she reflects on her Minnesota roots and her 30-year career assisting victims of domestic violence and abuse.
This month on Immigrant Stories, hear from Jasmin Ramirez: a Roaring Fork School board member and cofounder of Voces Unidas, a Latino-led advocacy non-profit. She talks about growing up Latina and her commitment to social justice.
This month on Immigrant Stories, hear from Chas and Marco Salmen, who grew up in the Roaring Fork Valley and went on to work as doctors at North Memorial Hospital in Minneapolis. Here, they reflect on working in medicine during the pandemic and the death of George Floyd. This interview is in two parts. Click this post to hear both.
For the last seven years, Elizabeth Velasco, a medical translator, has been helping Spanish speaking members of our communities navigate hospitals and clinics. This month on Immigrant Stories, she describes how the COVID pandemic has impacted the Latinx communities in Garfield, Pitkin, and Eagle counties.
Brisa Chavez is Garfield County's 2020 recipient of the Humanitarian Award for Community Empowerment. Here she describes the challenges and threats the Coronavirus poses for immigrant families in the County's communities.
Ernie Gerbaz is the grandson of the Gerbazs and the Arbaneys who came to the Valley in the 1890s. Here he remembers growing up in Coal Basin and the life of Italian immigrants in the early 1900's.
Eric Petrocco was born during the pandemic of 1918 in the mining town of Lime, Colorado. He grew up in Marble and was drafted into the Army in 1941. In this interview, Eric remembers his life in mining towns and his near death experiences as a soldier in World War II.
Roz Turnbull died on July 4th. She was a woman with a generous loving spirit. This month's Immigrant Stories honors her memory with an episode from the archives, speaking with Roz' mother Ditty Perry.
John Goodwin is a career peace officer and retired professor of Criminal Justice at Colorado Mountain College. John reflects on his life, the death of George Floyd and the importance of community centered police work.
Beatriz Soto is and architect, environmentalist and Latino Outreach Coordinator for Wilderness Workshop. She recently co-founded Voces Unidas, a network of Latino and Latina leaders in Garfield, Pitkin and Eagle counties. Beatriz talks about traveling to the US with her parents as a two year old and adapting to new places. She also talks about work with Wilderness Workshop, Voces Unidas, and the impact of COVID-19 on the valley's Latinos.
Lucia Ponce Campbell grew amidst the Nicaraguan Revolution and started teaching literacy classes when she was thirteen. Today she teaches young immigrant students English at Glenwood Springs Middle School. Tune in as she describes how she and valley residents help students learn English using their journey stories.