Name: Gwen Lapp Lien (2009)

Personal memories:

It doesn't seem possible that it's been 45 years since our high school graduation. After graduation and one year at the University of Colorado's School of Music, I married Roger Lien (Class of '62). In 2010, we will celebrate our 45th anniversary. In 1965, as Roger embarked on his 30-year career with IBM, I took on my new role as homemaker and later a stay-at-home mom with great enthusiasm. I feel fortunate to have been able to be at home all those years and wouldn't have traded that time for anything. In 1987, I began working as an administrative assistant for Boulder Valley Schools' Substance Abuse Prevention Project, a program funded through a federal grant with Safe and Drug-Free Schools. I regret that programs such as these don't have a greater impact on our youth of today. Our children, Tonya and Todd (40 and 38 respectively) have brought us joy and pride and have given us three delightful grandchildren. Tanner Rilee is eleven years old, bright and full of wisdom. Merrin Alexis is an active five-year-old, anxiously awaiting the start of kindergarten, and Justin Reid is two years old, filled with wonder and curiosity. We have been enjoying retirement since 1995, which has given us the opportunity to travel - from Alaska's Inside Passage to Canada's St. Lawrence Seaway, steam boating on the Mississippi to Mexico's Riviera Maya and the Panama Canal, touring eight countries of Europe and cruising the fjords in Norway, traveling beyond the Arctic Circle, breaking through the polar ice cap to within 600 miles of the North Pole - Norway being a place Roger had wanted to visit for years, since the archives at Oslo show his ancestry dating back to the 1700's. In 2008, we traveled to China, experiencing the country just before the Summer Olympics. What an adventure - Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, climbing the Great Wall, riding a rickshaw through the narrow alleys of Old Beijing, seeing the Terra Cotta Army, the Three Gorges Dam project, life along the Yangtze, and the bustling city of Shanghai. Having visited many parts of the world, there's still no place we'd rather call home than Colorado - Boulder being our home since 1964.

Loveland memories:

I believe growing up in Loveland was a privilege. It was a time of innocence with the small town atmosphere surrounding us. People genuinely cared about people. We were taught values, respect and responsibility. Families were important, and friendships were formed that would last a lifetime. Those friends are you!