Immigrant Stories is an oral history project of the Community Integration Initiative-Aspen to Parachute that is gathering the recollections of immigrants and their families from Aspen to Parachute. The goal of Immigrant Stories is to foster thoughtful communication and understanding of immigrants past and present through personal story telling. We believe that immigrants’ stories have great value, and will help us all learn more about one another and our communities. If you have an immigrant story or know of someone who does please contact Walter Gallacher at (970) 945-4972.
Paul Freeman
In September of 2007, Paul Freeman, principal of Glenwood Springs High School, became a citizen of the United States. Paul was born and raised in Britain by his Irish parents who had immigrated to England in the 1950’s. Here Paul talks about how his childhood experience convinced him of the importance of education.
Listen to Paul's story
Sabrina Ferguson
When Sabrina Ferguson left Venezuela for the United States she was leaving with Daniel, a man she had met four months before on the internet. She was trusting that Daniel was the man of her dreams, but she had her doubts along the way.
Listen to Sabrina's story
Lupita Piña
In 1979, Lupita Piña came to the United States on a Fiancé Visa. She was sixteen years old and in love with a blue-eyed American. Here she talks about how she dedicated herself to learning English.
Listen to Lupita's story
Antonio
Antonio was five when his father brought him to the United States. Those first few weeks were the beginning of a long and difficult journey. Now, fifteen years later, he reflects on his first days as an immigrant.
Listen to Antonio's story
Juliane Heyman
Juliane Heyman’s parents were jailed by the Nazis for being Jewish. They were eventually released and the family fled to Brussels, Belgium where they assumed they would be safe. One morning in May they awoke to find their journey to safety had just begun.
Listen to Juliane's story
Ana Ariza
When Ana Ariza was five years old war broke out in El Salvador. For the next ten years, she and her brothers and sisters grew up in the midst of what often seemed like a nightmare. Finally, when she was seventeen, Ana’s mother was able to get visas for her children and bring them to the United States. Here she describes childhood in her war torn homeland.
Listen to Ana's story
Abraham Baeza
Abraham Baeza came to the United States on a work visa hoping to utilize his Masters Degree in business and eventually become a U.S. citizen. Here he talks about some of the differences he sees between the United States and Mexico.
Listen to Abraham's story
Calvin Lee
Nearly all immigrant groups have experienced discrimination in America, but none have experienced it as dramatically as the Chinese. In 1882 the United States established the Chinese Exclusion Act and for the next sixty years, the Chinese were the only ethnic group in the world that could not freely immigrate to the United States. But the resourceful Chinese immigrant community devised a way around this injustice. They created “paper sons”. Here Calvin Lee describes his father’s experience as a “paper son” immigrating to America.
Listen to Calvin's story
H.J. Chee
H.J. Chee grew up in South Korea the son of a wealthy businessman. But when H.J. was fourteen the business failed and H.J.’s father fled to America to avoid loan sharks who were threatening his life. The family lost everything but their house and even the house was stripped to the walls. Two years passed and H.J.’s mother decided she had to go to America to help her husband move the immigration process along. So at 16, H.J. became the guardian and provider for his two sisters, twelve and fourteen, and his eight year old brother. It would be two long, difficult years before his parents could bring their children to the United States.
Listen to H.J.'s story
Paul Salmen
In 1907. Dr. Paul Salmen’s grandparents arrived in Minnesota from Lebanon. During the next forty years they would raise 12 children, send 8 of them to college and six would serve the United States during World War II. Here Paul talks about their five-year journey to America.
Listen to Paul's story
Meeta Goel
When Meeta Goel left India her grandmother made her make three promises. Meeta quickly discovered that those promises were impossible for her to keep in the new world she encountered.
Listen to Meeta's story
Jose Miranda
Jose Miranda and his American-born wife came to the United States from Venezuela in 2003. His wife had spent the last four years with Jose in the Venezuelan backcountry developing a 300 acre water buffalo ranch. It was time for her to be with her family, but it was also time to leave a country that was, according to Miranda, becoming more and more unpredictable.
Listen to Jose's story
Alexandra Yajko
In January of 1970, Alexandra Yajko came to America as a political refugee. Poland in the late 60’s had grown more and more anti-Semitic and after a series of incidents Alexandra’s parents decided it was time to go. The Rosenbergs were escorted, by the police, to the train leaving their home, their friends and most of their worldly possessions. But for all they gave up, Alexandra remembers there was one precious thing they gained.
Listen to Alexandra's story
John Scalzo
John Scalzo’s family came from Calabria, one of the poorest parts of Italy where many Calabrian families had to subsist on pennies a day. John describes how the strong sense of community and the ability to “make do” helped poor Italian immigrants succeed and prosper.
Listen to John's story
Klaus Obermeyer
Klaus Obermeyer came to the United States in 1947 looking for a career as an aerospace engineer. After a series of off jobs he quickly made his way to Aspen where the ski industry was burgeoning. It was the cold lift rides in heavy wool clothes and something his mother insisted he bring with him from Germany that inspired Obermeyer’s international clothing industry.
Listen to Klaus's story
Hanya Gottardo
Hanya Gottardo never intended to be an immigrant. She was content with her life in Sofia, Bulgaria. All that changed the day she logged on to the internet looking for someone she could correspond with in Spanish.
Listen to Hanya's story
Luz Ortiz Ford
When Luz Ortiz Ford left Bogata, Columbia she had just married an American from Kansas. She was leaving a very difficult life in a dangerous part of Bogata where few could be trusted. Her intense city life did not prepare her for rural life on the plains of Kansas.
Listen to Luz's story
Ashton Durrett
Ashton Durrett’s grandparents came to the United States in the late 1800s and many of their family members soon followed. Ashton recounts his memories of family and the place he calls Overhome.
Listen to Ashton's story
Stephen Bershenyi
Stephen Bershenyi’s grandparents left Budapest, Hungary in the early 1900’s as indentured servants bound for western Colorado. Stephen recounts their journey from indentured servants to cattle ranchers.
Listen to Stephen's story>
Henry Bosco
Henry Bosco’s father, Mike, came to the United States from Italy in 1904. Mike was twelve years old when he came through Ellis Island. He made the journey alone with ten dollars in his pocket.
Listen to Henry's story
Adriana Ayala
In 2005, Adriana Ayala was honored as Colorado’s Teacher of the Year. Colorado was recognizing what her students have always known-Adriana is devoted to helping young people succeed. Here Adriana describes how her experience as a teenager influenced her desire to help others.
Listen to Adriana's story
