Born a Cornhusker and spending the rest of her life in Colorado, Kathy Kelly has been a Gilpin County resident for the last 38 years. After running her own home daycare business then working for Black Hawk Station (now named Sasquatch Casino), she accepted a position at Gilpin County School teaching first and second grade in the year 2000. Her three daughters graduated from Gilpin High School and four of her eight grandchildren now attend classes at Gilpin Schools.

Kelly’s profession has enabled her to be close to her family members. She also feels a strong bond to her students. In fact, when discussing the relationship between herself and her pupils, she becomes emotional. They mean everything to her. Kelly always says hello to every student she knows when she sees them and they return the greeting. They are as connected to her as she is to them.

Now working at the school as a librarian and teaching intervention reading, she brings kids who are struggling in that subject up to grade level. Kelly is probably most recognizable to the rest of us as the gatekeeper at Gilpin County sporting events. On the job for over 22 years, it is her smiling face that greets people at football, volleyball, and sometimes basketball games. Payment is nominal; she does it because of her love of the school and its kids.

When asked what it has been like enduring decades of the at times cold wintery weather at football contests, she shrugs it off in a “glass is half full” rather than “glass is half empty” answer typical of her personality: “We only sell tickets until halftime. After that, I’m able to go inside and get warm.”