Shirley Jose
Position: Neighborhood 6 Rep.

About my family: My husband, Bud, and I bought our house in Walnut Hills in June of 1965. We moved in August of 1965 with our two children, Steven age 6 and Lauren age 4. Steven and Lauren entered Walnut Hills Elementary when it first opened and Lauren went to Dry Creek Elementary the first year it opened. After Bud’s death 10 years ago, I continued to live in our home. In August, 2007, Steven, his wife Kelly, Josh their 5 year old son, and I combined households in order for Josh to attend Dry Creek Elementary. I am delighted to have them with me and find this summer, with Josh, to be delightful. He carries me into his world and I enjoy being 6 again.

I was born and raised in southern Colorado near Pueblo but received my BSN from Loma Linda University in California. It was in California that I met and married Bud and our son, Steven was born there. We moved to Pueblo, Colorado in 1960, where our daughter, Lauren was born, and eventually migrated to Walnut Hills. After graduating in 1969 from the University of Colorado with an MS in Nursing I taught Nursing for several years. In 1977 I went to work at the Denver VA Medical Center where I worked in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit, taught in Nursing Education for around 15 years and in 1995 became the first Clinical Applications Coordinator for Denver VA with the mission of implementing the computerized patient record system (CPRS) being developed by the VA. There I remained until my retirement in February of 2008. Working with computers and computer programs was a marvelous way to wind up my nursing career.

Present Occupation: As a recent retiree, I am still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. Currently, I am getting my pictures and slides organized and digitalized. Pictures aren’t too bad but slides are rather time consuming to scan. The organization of both will probably take me the rest of my life because previous organization consisted of tossing them into a large box. I am trying to improve my physical well being by doing aqua aerobics 3-4 times per week. I volunteered in Josh’s kindergarten class weekly after I retired and found this to be a most rewarding experience. I enjoy photography, reading, working crossword puzzles and poetry writing.

Changes that have happened in WH: Many changes have occurred in Walnut Hills and surrounding areas since I moved here. Hunters Hill and Willow Creek were unheard of at that time. There were prairie dogs, rattlesnakes and cactus on two sides of our yard and Dry Creek Road was just a barbed wire fence. There were no grade schools, no grocery stores, no filling stations, no park and NO STARBUCKS. Some of the streets were dirt and traffic on I-25 was minimal from Yale on south. We have definitely changed.

Concerns/hopes for WH: My hope for Walnut Hills is that we continue our goals as a community. My major concern is that as an aging neighborhood, we could lose the young people and children that help keep a community alive.