NEDERLAND — Nederland Area Seniors (NAS) member Jeanette Smith is the group's Senior of the Year.

Smith was honored at NAS's first in-person senior luncheon of the year on Wednesday, January 7, 2026, at the Nederland Community Center.

After lunch and an update on the 2026 schedule of events and programs—which will include movie meetups, art and travel programs, and a new pool club hosted at Covered Wagon—NAS Director Reba Mitchell and award sponsor Jim Navratil announced Smith as the 2025 Outstanding Nederland Area Senior. 

Jeanette has been a part of Nederland since she was nine years old, when she would travel from Denver up to the mountains to attend Camp Montrita, a camp for Catholic girls run by the Junior Catholic Daughters of the America and held within the historic Antlers Hotel. 

At that time, Jeanette and the other girls would enjoy horseback riding to the shores of Barker Reservoir, snipe hunts through the old cemetery, sunbathing, hiking, square dancing, riding bikes downtown for candy and ice cream, attending cowboy cookouts, and catching frogs, crayfish, and salamanders.   

From 1955 to 1962, Jeanette gave birth to six children, Joe, Mark, Jim, Diane, Pete, and Sheila. In addition to being a full-time mother, Jeanette also worked as a teacher’s aide for 29 years, teaching Nederland Elementary School kids how to read.

Over the decades she has organized and managed town events like Old Timers' and Miners’ Days, took part in the Red Hat Society, formed a bible school with collaboration from Nederland’s churches, wrote and edited the joint church newsletter, taught religious education after Sunday Mass at St. Rita’s—where she also played the pipe organ—and volunteered at the Nederland Mining Museum. 

In addition to being an active member of NAS, Jeanette has also been involved with local writing groups, with her church, and with the Nederland Area Historical Society (NAHS), where she has shared some of her historical keepsakes, as well as priceless knowledge of Nederland’s storied past as a volunteer tour guide at the Gillaspie House Museum. 

And, in August of 2024—10 years after the Smith family was selected as the Grand Marshal Family in the Old Timers’ Parade—Jeanette was named the Grand Marshal of Nederland’s Sesquicentennial celebration, and was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by NAHS. 

Jeanette’s amazing story, “A lifetime in pictures,” was published in The Mountain-Ear on March 28, which earned a first place award from the National Newspaper Association for the category of preserving local history.

“Thank you so much,” Jeanette said to the crowd of peers at the NAS luncheon. “I’m sure there are many people in this room who deserve this more than I do.”

The crowd applauded and thanked Jeanette, reassuring her that she was more than deserving of this year’s award. 

For more information about Nederland Area Seniors and their In-Person meal programs, visit mountainpeaklife.org.

If you are interested in attending a lunch, email at info@mountainpeaklife.org or call (303) 258-0799. Please RSVP the Monday before lunch by 5:00pm. A $5 donation is suggested for all those aged 60 or older. Guests under 60 pay $15.06.