Barbara Lawlor, Gilpin County. After 25 years of being a pharmacist, 10 of those in his Rollinsville building, Mark Smith is leaving the business but staying on his land, which he believes is sacred Ute ground filled with Ute prayer trees and innumerable historical artifacts.
He is ready to continue his exploration of the land and be with his family, especially his mother, children and grandchildren. Leaving the community he has served for so long hurts him, but it is time.
This month celebrates Mark’s 25th anniversary of opening a pharmacy in the Nederland/Gilpin area. Born in West Virginia in the ‘50s, he remembers growing up in a wonderful place, having a great childhood. When his mother became sick, he spent time with his grandparents on their farm, growing up rural, a combination of redneck and hippie. A bit of both cultures helped him understand much about people, which is beneficial when one becomes involved with the often distressing health issues that are discussed in his transactions with his customers.
There were nine children in Mark’s family. By the time he moved back home in the summer when he was six, it was time to help with the chores. He spent the summer working and the winter in school. He enjoyed helping his grandfather plant tomatoes. They filled the root cellar with vegetables and then shoveled dirt on top, digging the food up as they needed it. He watched the signs for right times to plant, he tipped over cows when they were sleeping and caught snakes for fun. It was a simple life that settled into his soul.
When he finished high school, he was thirsty for a bigger world, and knowledge, and enrolled at West Virginia University to study physics and chemistry.
“I wanted to help develop fusion power, hydrogen atoms fused; a clean no byproduct, unlimited source of power.”
He came to Colorado because he loved it here, with all of its Native American and mining histories, and finished his pharmacy degree at CU. In 1979, he moved to Rollinsville, in love with the piece of land near Tolland Road, the sparkling stream that became the name of his business, Medicine Springs.
“It was during the Reagan years in Boulder and the only job I could get was helping them figure out how to fix the space shuttle.”
Understanding chemistry and math and with a degree in pharmacy, Mark worked for 12 years for King Soopers, learning his job on the all-night shift, getting to know the habits of the night owls.
“Some of them would come into the supermarket for a glass of water and then steal a can of hair spray and cover the water with the spray. Then, they would scrape the oil off the top, drink the water and get drunk.”
Mark wanted to work closer to where the people were more like he was, so in 2000, when the Nederland Pharmacy in the shopping center was for sale, he bought it and worked on turning it into a place everyone would like.
In 2008 Mark developed cancer which required surgery and drained all of his funds, and for a while, his energy. He couldn’t afford to keep the pharmacy in Nederland open. It was time to move on.
“My friends and neighbors, people from Rollinsville, got together and helped me buy the building in Rollinsville and Gilpin County was supportive in starting the business.” Since then, for the past 10 years, Mark has served the community, going above and beyond the business, getting to know and understand the needs of the community. If someone needed a prescription after closing hours, he’d wait for them. He offered reasonable prices, saying he wouldn’t charge the downtown prices. He often threw in a cold drink for free.
Over the years, he has helped people with life-threatening illnesses and injuries and helped people make better decisions about over the counter products. He has befriended locals, watched them age, get sick and pass on.
“It has been the greatest honor for me to serve our military people, our veterans, like Margaret Pitman, Bills Ewing, Bob Flick, old timers in our community, a tough group of people to learn from.”
Mark says he knows he did his part by just being here, being open for the people who didn’t want to, or couldn’t, go to the flatlands.
“But now no one is left to help my mother and I can’t justify not helping her myself. It is time to go back to West Virginia and get her living situation figured out.”
However, he is not moving from his sacred land outside of Rollinsville or from the silent history that is all around him. Prehistoric stone tools have been dated at 12,000 years old by the CU Anthropology Department and his land is one of the most plentiful sighting areas of Ute prayer trees.
These culturally scarred trees are usually Ponderosa Pines, which live to be quite old. There are several types of these Ute trees, and they are labeled according to their function; Medicine/Healing Trees, Prayer Trees and Burial Trees. These living artifacts are a precious resource, linking modern culture with the first inhabitants of the area and they are considered to be an outdoor, living museum.
As Mark walks around his pharmacy property he points out one of these sacred trees with his pharmacy in the background and says he guarantees that if you look for the ancient prayer trees, you will find them.
They are the odd-shaped trees, the bent over trees, the trees whose branches have wrapped around the trunk, shaped by the Utes that believed in them.
“But family is the most important thing. I am sad at heart that I am closing the doors of our pharmacy.”
Mark says he is working on setting up his customers’ accounts with a Boulder pharmacy and even exploring the tele pharmacy.
Mark will help with the transition as soon as he has determined how the change will take place. He says he is not sure just yet what the building will be used for, but if anybody wants to own a pharmacy or has any other ideas, he would love to hear about them.
He says the pharmacy will be closed at the end of this week.
