Community Volunteer Award- Carolyn Newman

by Brian Manning
WALSENBURG — Carolyn Newman once hitchhiked across Europe and then went to England where she taught English at a boarding school. When she had enough of the cold, damp weather in England, she decided to move to Colorado for the better climate.
She took a temporary teaching job in Walsenburg and wound up staying when her future husband, Alfred Newman, talked her into it. They later married and had three children, two sons and a daughter.
While raising her family and working as a teacher, she became involved in volunteering. Today her volunteer accomplishments are almost too numerous to mention, but she considers herself as primarily a historical and tourism volunteer.
Newman loves history and many of her activities have to do with history. She lectures to groups such as the Colorado Education Association leaders and the Bessemer Historical Society in Pueblo and has been interviewed on Colorado Public Radio. She is on the board of the Walsenburg Mining Museum and a docent there and is currently working with the National Mining Museum in Leadville to help them establish a program there.
She enjoys doing research, is always willing to help people with research, and has helped several authors write books and articles. She has also edited a Walsenburg history book by Dorothy Rose Ree. She is also the manager of the Tirey Local History Center where she helps people do research on their family genealogy.
As president of the Huerfano County Historical Society Board, she writes History Detective for Huerfano World Journal as a means of interesting people in the county’s past. She also conducts local tours of historical sites. Newman is a real go-to expert about our county’s history.
When she worked as a teacher in the local prison, the inmates were very receptive because she was from the outside and a woman who cared enough to take time for them. They were very protective of her and she never felt threatened.
She taught high school English for 37 years and has not slowed down in retirement. In addition to her other interests, Newman is also on the board of the United Church in Walsenburg. She believes every volunteer brings a special talent or skill to make an organization great.
In addition to her very active volunteer life, Newman loves to spend time with her ten grandchildren.