Mary Ferguson

Beloved teacher and "town mother" of old Carbondale, Mary Ferguson hosted "This I Remember" on KDNK from 1983 until her death in 1999, collecting a treasure trove of oral history and historical reminiscences from a wide range of old timers in the area.

Excerpt on Mary from "Enduring influence: Three women’s legacy of true grit" by Jeanne Souldern in the April 17th, 2024 edition of the Sopris Sun:

Mary (Lamprecht) Ferguson (1906-1999)

In 1905, John and Maria Lamprecht, natives of Žiri, Slovenia, embarked on a journey to the United States with their four children. Upon settling in the coal mining camp of Spring Gulch, two more daughters, Mary, born in 1906, and Sylvia, in 1908, would join their family. The family moved to Carbondale, and in 1924, Mary was one of four Carbondale Union High School graduates. She went on to attend Western State College and Colorado University.

In 1927, she married Melvin Vernon “Jack” Ferguson, born in a small farming community in Kansas in 1901. The couple had four sons — Jack Harvey, Kaye Donne, Richard Noren and Marvin Vonne. Early in her teaching career, Mary taught in several Garfield County one-room schoolhouses, including the Larsen School, Divide Creek, Crystal Springs, Missouri Heights and Cattle Creek. In 1962, she earned her teaching certificate and bachelor of arts degree from the University of Northern Colorado (then Colorado State College) and taught at Carbondale Elementary School from 1963 to 1976.

After retiring from teaching, she volunteered for the Near New Store in Carbondale, the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program, the Mt. Sopris Historical Society (now the Carbondale Historical Society) and the Carbondale Public Education Foundation.

From 1983 until her death in 1999, Ferguson hosted a public affairs program on KDNK community radio called “This I Remember,” which showcased Mary and her guests sharing their reflections on the history of the Roaring Fork and Crystal River valleys.
In 2021, a collaborative project between the Carbondale Historical Society and KDNK compiled some of Mary’s shows into an online directory available at: www.kdnk.org/podcast/this-i-remember

In 1994, after 10 years of serving on the Carbondale Board of Trustees, she retired a few days short of her 88th birthday. Following her passing, the front page of the Valley Journal on March 18, 1999, featured a poignant tribute to Mary written by John Stroud.
Mary’s most enduring legacy lies in the multitude of students she guided. In Stroud’s piece, Mary’s longtime friend Ginny Lappala reflected on her teaching tenure, remarking, “I think 90% of Carbondale’s original population had her as a teacher.”