The Ghost Town Club of Colorado is an active and energetic group of people with diverse backgrounds who share an interest in the history of the west, especially Colorado. We honor the significant contributions of many people throughout history with our strong desire to study, learn from, and preserve ghost towns and the memory of the people who built and lived in them. Most importantly, we enjoy getting out, socializing, and having fun!
A GHOST TOWN CLUB IS BORN
On October 21, 1957 the Colorado State Historical Lecture series presented Mr. Francis Rizzari in a program titled “Ghost Towns, Then and Now”. The crowd in attendance that evening was so large and enthusiastic that Mr. Rizzari was asked to repeat his lecture the following year.
When Mr. Rizzari returned for the encore on February 17, 1958, he was met with an equally large and enthusiastic crowd. As the lecture concluded, the crowd was asked who among them would be interested in the formation of a “ghost town club” and that they should remain seated. Nearly everyone did! Mr. John Farr asked that everyone sign up for a mailing list, and said that information regarding the first meeting would be mailed to them.
A small group then met at the home of Dr. Gerald Coon to decide who the club’s first officers would be. In attendance were Jerry Albright, Gary Balliett, Robert Brown, Connie Hauser, Pete Heiney, Chas. Moffat, Jack Morison and John Farr who acted as chairman.
The first officers were elected as follows: President, Dr. Gerald Coon; Vice President, Jack Morrison; Secretary, Connie Hauser; Treasurer, Gary Balliett. The others would serve as the first Board of Directors. It was decided that the first official meeting would be held on March 3, 1958. The meeting was announced on public radio by Pete Smythe and was also printed in the Rocky Mountain News. The first program was by Bob Brown, and featured his videos, “San Juan Holiday” and “Jeep Trail to Timberline”.
The club’s name would be decided within the first three meetings, and in December 1963, the Club was legally incorporated with the Colorado Secretary of State.
2026 OFFICERS & BOARD OF DIRECTORS
The Ghost Town Club of Colorado Board of Directors consists of eleven club members. The five officer positions are typically elected to serve single-year terms and are Directors ex officio. Six additional Directors are elected and serve two-year terms.
Gary Wallden
President | Director
Gary is a Colorado native. His grandfather immigrated from Sweden and homesteaded on property east of Parker. Gary is a graduate of Douglas County High School, and the Colorado State University Pueblo, and holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering as well as a teaching certificate.
Gary served 2 years in the US Army, worked for Aspen Airways for 14 years, Wien Air Alaska for 2 years, and Fed Ex for 28 years.
Gary’s major interests include flying, airplanes, ghost towns, railroads, and trains. He has been lucky to have lived on property that included the Denver and New Orleans Railroad, Smoky Hill Trail South, and Butterfield Overland Dispatch Stageline.
Gary has been a happy member of the Ghost Town Club of Colorado since 2018.
Megan Falzon
Co Vice-President | Recording Secretary | Director
Megan comes from a pioneer family that has a homestead outside Greeley, CO. She grew up traveling the country and spending time in South Park. Her love of Colorado history started with a class at the University of Colorado at Denver.
As a fairly new member (2022), Megan attends field trips and enjoys club meetings and functions. She volunteers with several other community organizations around her hometown, and in her spare time, she is an avid traveler and adventurer having been to over thirty countries and forty-nine states.
Megan holds a bachelor’s in Business Administration and a Master’s in Accounting as well as several industry certifications as a financial manager with the Department of Defense and American Society of Military Controllers. She is currently pursuing a fellowship with the American College of Healthcare Executives.
Bill Lettow
Co Vice-President | Website
Bill’s passion for history, lost places and vanished civilizations was sparked in childhood when he was given a book about the pyramids of Egypt. Colorado ghost-towning in earnest began one scary night on Hagerman Pass in 1972. Since then, he has been to all the western states and has photographed hundreds of old mining towns.
A Chicago native, Bill has a degree in Ancient History from Northwestern University. Before retirement he repaired professional cameras, managed photo-related IT networks and worked in computer graphics and programming.
Bill learned of the Ghost Town Club of Colorado through Robert L. Brown’s first book, Jeep Trails to Colorado Ghost Towns and is now overjoyed to at last be around people with similar interests. Bill also has a large collection of antique radios and is a member of the Colorado Radio Collectors Club. His other interests are traveling, cooking, archaeology and music.
Pegi Emmett
Treasurer | Director
Pegi is a third generation Colorado native. Her grandparents knew Buffalo Bill and her grandfather opened a mercantile on 16th and Larimer in 1906. Pegi’s love of Colorado originates from her many years of snow skiing and her four summers as an overnight counselor at a camp in the Mount Evans valley.
Pegi’s career as a Clinical Laboratory Scientist included 45 years managing clinical and clinical research laboratories. In retirement, she teaches part time on-line for Colorado Community colleges.
Olive Collier
Corresponding Membership Secretary | Director
Olivia “Olive” Collier grew up in Atlanta, GA, and moved to Colorado in 2018. Olive has always had a love for the outdoors, and is happiest camping and hiking in the mountains in her free time. Her interest in ghost towns and historic preservation began as a happy coincidence while discovering old structures and artifacts on hiking and camping trips when she moved to Grand County in the summer of 2018. Olive began collecting all information she could on ghost towns, learning the significance, history and the lore of the people who used to live in some of her favorite places in Colorado.
Olive is grateful to have found the GTC and meet other Colorado history enthusiasts! She is fascinated by fellow members’ historical knowledge and the stories from some of the club’s oldest founding members. She has been an active member since December 2022, and enjoys the club’s summer expeditions and participation in the Preservation Committee.
Olive is an Architectural Designer and has been practicing architecture in Colorado since 2018. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Architecture at the Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD), with a minor in Dance, and her Master of Architecture degree from the University of Colorado, Denver. She hopes to contribute her architectural skills to help the GTC Preservation Committee on future projects, and give back to Colorado in other ways through preservation work.
Angela Messing
Publications Editor | Director (2025-26)
Angela is a Colorado-based experiential graphic designer with over a decade of experience, specializing in educational exhibit design. Originally from a small Iowa town of just over two hundred residents, Angela’s rural upbringing fostered a deep appreciation for history and storytelling. She spent her childhood exploring abandoned structures, piecing together the lives of those who came before – a passion that continues to inspire her work today.
Angela’s love for history spans local, national, and global perspectives, finding beauty in the narratives that shape our world. An avid outdoors enthusiast, she thrives on hiking and camping adventures, always with her camera in hand to capture the essence of nature and ghost towns alike.
With a Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design from Iowa State University, Angela brings a unique blend of creativity and technical expertise to her work. Whether through design, photography, writing, or art, she is dedicated to crafting compelling stories that connect people with the past and inspire curiosity for the future.
Jason Messing
Preservation Chair | Director (2025-26)
Jason is a third generation Colorado native with a strong appreciation for western history and preservation. A childhood trip to Mesa Verde National Park helped inspire him to become an architect and also began for him a lifelong interest in history and preservation. He is a registered architect in Colorado with over 17 years of experience and currently practices with Form+Works Design Group. Jason is also an accomplished wood-crafter, having owned his own company for over 25 years.
At his core, Jason is a volunteer and philanthropist. He has served on the HistoriCorps Board of Directors, and has also been a grant reviewer for the Colorado Preservation Saving Places Program. Jason joined GTC in 2018 and has been a highly active member, having served on all committees, former Vice President, former Website Chair, and Preservation Chair.
Jason holds a Bachelor of Environmental Design from The University of Colorado, and is an FAA certified drone pilot.
Paula Martinez
Director (2025-26)
Paula is an active member of the Ghost Town Club, where she channels her enthusiasm for history into preserving and restoring Colorado’s historic sites. She loves being part of efforts that keep the state’s stories alive, ensuring that its unique and vibrant history remains celebrated for years to come.
With a BA in Sociology and Psychology from Western Colorado University, a past of being in law enforcement, Paula is a nationally registered EMT. She currently works remotely as a project manager for a cloud service company, balancing her professional life with her love for Colorado’s history and heritage preservation.
Josh Robinson
Public Relations | Director (2026-27) | Past-President
Josh was born in Pennsylvania. His passion for the West, and Ghost Towns specifically can be pinpointed to an American Heritage article he read as a child. Josh studied architecture, urban planning and architectural archeology in Italy and gained a deep passion for the study of the built environment while there.
Josh is a Senior Designer at KEPHART Architects, an instructor at the Denver University Enrichment Program, President of Docomomo Colorado, and is known for his talks and activities relating to Preservation and Modernist architecture across the city and state. In his spare time, Josh is restoring a 1955 modernist home in Westminster designed by master architect Norton Polivnick.
Josh holds a Bachelor of Architecture from the Pennsylvania State University.
Chris Smith
Director (2026-2027)
Karen Ireland
Director (2026-27)
2026 COMMITTEE CHAIRS
The club’s committees are truly the backbone of GTC. While Committee Chairs are not considered Officers, they may at times simultaneously serve as an Officer and/or on the Board of Directors. As such, photos and bios for some of our current Committee Chairs may be found in the Officers and Board of Directors section above.
Archivist/Historian Audio/Visual Calling Greeting
House Merchandise Sales Preservation Program/Trip Planning
Public Relations Publications Editor Refreshments Website
Merrill Emmett
Archivist/Historian
Merrill was invited by former club member, Cyndi Trombly, to attend his first Ghost Town Club meeting more than 40 years ago and has been hooked ever since. Merrill grew up in New York and was taught about Peter Stuyvesant in the 1600’s. However, the closer-to-the present time Colorado and western histories revealed by Ghost Town Club meetings and events are much more interesting, exciting, and relevant to his interests. Merrill is grateful for the many friendships he’s acquired while in the club.
Merrill is a retired professor, having taught a wide variety of biological science courses at varied local colleges, written other courses, and conducted basic and clinical research at various local institutions.
Darrell Arndt
Audio/Visual
Darrell grew up near the “Railroad Capital of the United States” – Chicago, IL. He then lived five years in New England before moving to Colorado in 1971. Through his travels over the years he has been to 49 of the states exploring all things scenery, history, architecture and transportation and has traveled just about all of the roads in Colorado of any significance.
Darrell belongs to numerous transportation museums, was a founding member and long time supporter of the Denver Tramway Heritage Society’s Denver Trolley and managed the restoration to operation of a 100 year old Denver electric inter-urban car. As an avid rail preservationist he has been a museum volunteer in Colorado and back east and orchestrated the saving of the Glenwood Canyon Dome Car Monument now at the Colorado Railroad Museum.
Darrell has been a member of the GTC since 1974 harboring fine memories of numerous club field trips and meetings. He retired in 2006 from the Colorado DOT after 31 years of service. His passions include travel, photography, contra dancing, large scale outdoor trains and railroad maintenance motorcars.
Happy anniversary to the Ghost Town Club of Colorado!
March 2026 marked the 68th year of the Ghost Town Club of Colorado! Over the years, the club has been host to nearly 1,000 wonderful members. THANK YOU to all of our current members that have shown dedication to GTC!
[ member name, year first joined ]
5-10 years
John Farr, 1961
Chuck Morison, 1979
Kay Aaro, 2005
Marti Holmes, 2014
Donna Mackelvie, 2014
Kevin Jochems, 2015
Chandra Chuvarsky, 2016
Dwight Jessop, 2018
Karen Jessop, 2018
Jason Messing, 2018
David Richmond, 2018
Josh Robinson, 2018
Gary Wallden, 2018
Jack Kleinheksel, 2019
Jim Akers, 2020
Paula Martinez, 2020
John Mullhouse, 2020
Ann Mullins, 2020
Charles Russell, 2020
Julie Wallden, 2020
11-15 years
Emily Andrykowski, 2010
Rory Andrykowski, 2010
Leslie Simpson, 2010
Jane Elliott, 2011
Shannon Kanan, 2011
Jim Palsmeier, 2011
b j Noland, 2012
Don McCubbin, 2013
Bob Pulcipher, 2013
Kem Barney, 2015
16-20 years
Ronald Cattany, 2004
Linda Evans, 2008
Connie Martinez, 2008
John Martinez, 2008
21-25 years
Don Kramer, 2004
26-30 years
Shirley Miller, 1996
Jane Whiteley, 1997
Lee Whiteley, 1997
Lee Dahl, 2000
31-40 years
Merrill Emmett, 1981
Jim Bell, 1984
Jo Ann Bell, 1984
Larry Jones, 1984
Zona Fowler, 1988
Kay Jones, 1989
Keith Kirby, 1989
Tom Caldwell, 1991
Nell Coffey, 1991
Shirley Kramer, 1991
Pegi Emmett, 2006
41-50 years
Karen Ireland, 1977
Sally Alt, 1978
Joanie Fields, 1979
Jane Engel, 1981
Roger Callender, 1984
Barb Dillavou, 1985
51-67 years
Ron Ruhoff, 1958
Ed Bathke, 1961
Gary Coffey, 1973
Jim Shepherd, 1974
Patricia Shepherd, 1974
Darrell Arndt, 1975
Get Involved
The efforts of each club member contribute to our success and fun-loving spirit! Join us today and help make a difference. You’ll get better acquainted, and you will be a contributing part of the vibrancy, well being, and longevity of the club.
“The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.”
~ Michelangelo
Header Image Credit: “Baker’s Dozen” by GTC member Angela Schmitz