Thursday, February 25, 2021

In Memory of Allene Winkfield Pera, 105 years


Taken from obituary by her daughters Donna and Trish

Allene Winkfield Pera, age 105 and a true Colorado pioneer, passed away February 22, 2021 at Mercy Hospice House in Durango, Colorado from injuries sustained in a fall. 

She was born July 17, 1915 to Floyd Jacob and Leafy Ellen Winkfield in Nucla, Colorado. 

As a child, she lived in numerous mining camps and towns including Ute Mesa, Nucla, Naturita, Dolores, Rico, the Doctor Camp and Pinon. 

Her life was simple, hardscrabble but rich in the memories made when poverty is a challenge.  Allene loved dancing and even played in a small dance band where the wages were meager and sometimes given in food. At one of those dances she met Walter Pera, a handsome Finn from Telluride. They married July 29, 1936 and moved to Telluride.

In 1939, Walter and Allene moved with their young son, Jack to the deserted mining town of Tomboy 3,000 ft. above Telluride. They were the sole occupants of the town while Walter operated the switching station for the Western Colorado Power Company. 

She coped by learning to knit, sew, quilt, cook, garden and preserve their own food. 

In her eighth month of pregnancy with their second child, the family made an arduous journey to Telluride for the expected delivery of the baby. 

They travelled on snowshoes to the Smuggler Mine, then ventured through the underground workings, going down 5 levels on long ladders to reach a lower level where they were transported by ore car to exit the mine. From there, they rode an open aerial ore tram to the Telluride valley floor. 

Two weeks after the birth of their daughter, Donna, the family of four reversed the process to travel back home to the Tomboy.

After moving back to Telluride, the family grew with the addition of daughter Patricia, and sons Walter Edward and Ronald. 

Allene loved to bake, especially breads, and soon became known as “The Cinnamon Roll Lady.”  She also prepared many picnics for her family’s favorite pastime of exploring the back country in the mountains surrounding Telluride. 

They also enjoyed spending time at their cabin at Trout Lake, which Walter built from discarded railroad ties.

In the summer of 1956, Walter and Allene transferred to Electra Lake, north of Durango. They lived in near isolation there for 15 years and then returned to their beloved Telluride until Walter retired. 

They then moved to Nucla, purchased a whole city block and developed it into a mobile home park. During their retirement years together, they enjoyed searching the hills around Nucla for petrified wood, dinosaur bones and rock art and travelling extensively in Europe, Canada and Mexico as well as the United States.

Walter and Allene returned to live in Durango through their final years.  They had been married 70 years when Walter passed away July 4, 2006 at the age of 92. After a short time with family in Texas, she moved to Sunshine Gardens Assisted Living Center where she continued to enjoy knitting and quilting, playing dominoes and cheering for the Colorado Avalanche Hockey team. 

In her later years, she completed her last quilt at the age of 103. From ages 95 to 102, she produced 156 knitted baby blankets for Project Linus. She celebrated her 100th birthday with a grand party attended by 64 members of her family. 

At the age of 101, she was interviewed by National Public Radio and the Rico Museum for her memories of early life in the Colorado Rockies. In 2018, at the age of 103, she was honored as the Grand Marshall of the Rico July 4th Parade.

Allene was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Walter, sisters Kathryn Penasa and Valera Tobin, sons Jack and Ron, grandson Travis Pera, and granddaughter Linda Gann. 

She is survived by daughters Donna Pera Burr of Durango; Patricia Pera John of Eugene, Oregon; and Walter Edward (Eddie) Pera of Salt Lake City, Utah, as well as 14 grandchildren, 33 great grandchildren and 10 great, great grandchildren. 

A family gathering in Durango in the summer will celebrate Allene’s life.

Donations in memory of Allene Pera can be made to Mercy Hospice House in Durango, Colorado.

Thursday, February 11, 2021

Nathalie Becquart: Nun will vote with bishops at Vatican

Sr. Nathalie Becquart
photo by Peter Potrowi via Wikipedia

One woman will be allowed to vote in the next Vatican synod of bishops in 2022.  Hooray!  

Her name is Nathalie Bequart, and she's a nun, of course.  She has been named an undersecretary in the Synod of Bishops office in Rome, and she's the fourth woman to become an undersecretary in various departments of the Vatican.  She's French.   

Thank you to RNS, the Religious News Service, which sent Nicole Winfield to interview her in Rome on Feb. 10 and wrote this report: "Nun named to voting position at Vatican praises 'brave' pope."

[There have been many] "calls to allow women religious superiors, who also participate in synods of bishops, to have the right to vote on proposals of pressing concern to the life of the church. The religious sisters are allowed to speak and participate in the bishops’ debate, but have not been allowed to vote.

Their calls took on public form during a 2018 synod of bishops on youth, with prominent nuns calling for the vote and a popular movement promoted by progressive women’s groups #VotesForCatholicWomen.

As a result, Becquart’s appointment has been met with praise but also some bitterness that in 2021 it’s actually newsworthy that a lone woman might be able to cast a ballot alongside hundreds of male bishops about the future life of the Catholic Church."

My friend Andre Berthou in Paris sent this news to me, knowing that I'd be interested:

La star catholique du moment, c’est elle : Nathalie Becquart, une religieuse française de 52 ans, promue, samedi, par le pape François, devenant ainsi la première femme à obtenir le droit de vote au Vatican.

Sr. Nathalie praised Pope Francis for his courage to move ahead in this daring way: "He is the one who is writing history, with the Holy Spirit of course behind him."

Ah, the crumbs we women settle for.  One woman voting with hundreds of men, bishops from around the world.  

One tiny step for woman, one giant step for humankind.  And other women will follow Nathalie Becquart.

I'm still betting that women will be ordained as regular priests in the Roman Catholic Church by 2050.

Mark my words.