Meet Erma Bombeck
2025-03-10 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Denver) | Lone Tree Golf Course, 9808 Sunningdale Blvd, Lone Tree, CO, 80124, United States
Meet Erma Bombeck, portrayed by Susan Marie Frontczak.
With paring-knife-sharp humor, Erma Bombeck captured the daily life of a new American phenomenon: the suburban housewife. Having figured out from her own personal experience that if you can laugh at it you can live with it, she chronicled the housewife’s daily struggles in her column “At Wit’s End” three days a week. She eventually appeared in 900 newspapers across the country and in books such as I Lost Everything in the Post-Natal Depression and The Grass is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank. Bombeck brought to American awareness the life of women whose lives otherwise felt invisible and taken for granted. She let women across America know: You are not alone. In fact, we number in the millions. I, too, am an American housewife, and I will laugh by your side. Find out how Erma got started as a humorist. And chuckle along as she pokes fun at kids, husbands, and especially herself.
Susan Marie Frontczak has given over 850 presentations as Marie Curie, Mary Shelley, Irene Castle, Clara Barton, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Erma Bombeck across 43 of the United States, and abroad in her 22 years as a Living History scholar. She also works with both adults and youth to develop their own Chautauqua presentations. Susan Marie authored the Young Chautauqua coaching handbooks for Colorado Humanities and coaches students 3rd through 12 grades. In 2022 she joined the faculty of the new Chautauqua Training Institute run through North Dakota Humanities that is coaching a dozen new Chautauqua scholars from across the country.

Meet El Vaquero
2025-03-11 10:30 - 11:30 | Bethany Lutheran Church, 4500 E Hampden Avenue, Cherry Hills Village, CO, 80113, United States
Diego Martín, el vaquero, the Spanish colonial cowboy, is a true American hero. He was the first cowboy to ride the open ranges and sleep under the stars; the first cowboy to tame the wild horses of the plains and deliver vast herds of cattle across great distances; and the first master of the basic eternal cowboy skills-riding and roping. El vaquero was the repository of highly practical and effective Spanish wisdom and experience in the ways of horses and cattle, developed over generations on the open plains of European Spain and New Spain in the Americas. His language gave us the words we now accept as common cowboy “lingo.”
El vaquero is a composite character based upon traditional vaquero stories and histories. His story is the living history of the origins and development of traditional cowboy practices in the American West.
An award-winning author, educator, and storyteller, Angel Vigil is Retired Chairman and Director of Drama of the Colorado Academy Fine and Performing Arts Department in Denver. Angel’s. awards include the Governor’s Award for Excellence in Education, a Heritage Artist Award, a Colorado Council on the Arts Master Artist Award, the Mayor’s Individual Artist Fellowship, and the Colorado Theatre Educator of the Year Award. He is also the author of six books on Hispanic culture and arts and his book on the cowboy west is Riding Tall in the Saddle, the Cowboy Fact Book.

Meet Amelia Earhart
2025-03-12 12:30 - 13:30 | Front Range Community College Community Cener, 2121 Miller Drive, Longmont, CO, 80501, United States
Presented by Elsa Wolff: Arguably the most famous Aviatrix of her time, Amelia Earhart (1897-1937) was much more than a noted pilot. She pushed through social barriers and served as a role model and inspiration to many – both men and women – because of her courage, determination and spirit of adventure. In a time when girls were expected to behave like ladies, Amelia pushed through social expectations even from a young age. Overcoming a family who moved frequently and an alcoholic father, she continued to look for meaning and adventure in her life. Amelia’s life story reveals the developing world view from the turn of the century into the Great Depression, including: the development of the machine age and aviation; the rising role of women in unconventional careers; and the impact of marketing on public image. She became an American hero during a time when there was a national obsession with record setting/breaking as the world was suddenly looking at Americans as trend-setters, whereas for centuries America had been trying to emulate Europe. Amelia spoke out with passion on the issues of women striving for equality in education, career opportunity and wages. A supporter of the nation’s new airline industry, she also helped pave the way for people to look at travel by airplane as a viable and reliable means of transportation.
Storyteller, singer and speaker for over 10 years, Elsa Wolff, who enjoys bringing literature to life for children and adults alike, has recently developed the Character of Amelia Earhart for Living History Presentation. Elsa shows the same courage, poise and spirit of adventure as Amelia Earhart and will captivate the audience with her personable portrayal of aviation’s “Queen of the Air.”
