Our star for the December newsletter is long time Spellbinder Sally Matchett. 

Sally grew up in a Chicago suburb until the end of 5th grade.  She was a self-proclaimed tomboy and played softball everyday with the boys during those years in Chicago.  Then Sally and her family moved to South Salem which is near the Connecticut border where she continued 6th through 12th grades and stayed until she left for college.  She went to Wellesley College for her B.A. and then taught elementary school for four years while gathering her courage to continue studies towards a Ph.D. in Philosophy. She completed her goal at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and went on to teach Philosophy at Mesa State College for 27 years.

Sally and her husband Ken traveled to many different countries until Ken's death in 1999.  Her favorite countries in order of preference include Iceland, Germany, France and Italy.  Since 1999 Sally has continued to travel to places like Bhutan, Patagonia and New Zealand. Her hobbies besides Storytelling include tennis, golf, farm work, reading and of course traveling.

Sally met Germaine Dietsch approximately 20 years ago when they were both serving on the Colorado Humanities Board.  Germaine encouraged Sally to start a Mesa County Spellbinder chapter and she planned to do that after she retired but in the meantime Jim Widdows started our chapter.... In Sally's words, "Thank Goodness."

Sally loves everything about Spellbinders...."the kids, the look on my cat's face when I practice my stories...oh,  and the hugs are pretty special....seeing kids in other places, like the grocery store is always fun!"

Many different kinds of stories 'speak to her' for various reasons and here are just a few of her favorites:  King Arthur, Mr. Toomey's Christmas The Mightiest Heart, The 'Spencer Iowa Library Cat', Master of all Masters, The Barking Mouse, The Bloody Head and The Paper Bag Princess.  Sally basically Tells to grades 1st through 3rd.

One thing that few people may not know and Sally may not even remember but many many years ago when our kids were quite young and I was a real neophyte learning the world of showing horses Sally was kind enough to help us and openly shared her knowledge of the proper tack for English riding. 
 

I have never forgotten her gentle manner and encouraging words.  A kind gesture that I have carried with me when I think of her and now, so many years later she was the one of the first Tellers I shadowed when I began Telling.   Guess what, her depth of kindness has expanded along with her infectious smile. 

Thank you Sally for being the unique person you are and for your continued commitment to Spellbinders.

 We've heard some terrific stories so far this year, and October brought us even more fun!

Steve Skoglund told us a great" jump" story called "Jack and the Haunted House."  This story can be found in Ready to Tell Tales by David Holt and Bill Mooney.  This version is by Elizabeth Ellis.  Young, poor  Jack is challenged to spend the night in a haunted house and to win a treasure if he succeeds. 

Body parts begin threatening to fall out of the chimney as Jack sits there afraid but building courage...."Fall then" he shouts and causes the listener to jump as well! what fun to hear this story! Thanks for telling it Steve! 

Susan Bilbo  told a great "scary" funny tale for younger children. "Turn Me Over"  is the title and the phrase repeated throughout the story as the listener follows an eerie sound through a spooky graveyard.  At the end we find a helpless hamburger waiting to be flipped over on a barbeque grill.  The story can be found in the collection Scared Witless:  Thirteen Eerie Tales to Tell by Martha Hamilton.  Thanks for sharing this one, Susan!

Scott Fairbanks entertained us once again with lively  and very funny telling of Uncle Remus' Brer Rabbit stories. He grew up hearing stories at family gatherings and told us a combination of several brer rabbit adventures including Brer fox's Peanut Patch and the Tar Baby story and did a great southern dialect!   Thank you Scott!  

• recruitment, maintenance and succession planning
• effective chapter meetings
• increase sharing among chapters
• understanding the history and development of each chapter