WEEK OF MAY 1, 2025
VOLUME 20 | ISSUE 44
FREE
2024 Arvada Man and Woman of the Year
NEW ARVADA CITY MANAGER NAMED
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2024 Arvada Woman of the Year Barb Stolte. PHOTO BY RYLEE DUNN
Barb Stolte Lifelong community figure has been involved with many local organizations VETERINARIANS FACE MASSIVE MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS P10
GUILTY VERDICT IN ROCK-THROWING MURDER TRIAL
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BY RYLEE DUNN RDUNN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Everyone who’s known Barb Stolte agrees on one thing — she’s always working to make her community better. Since moving to Arvada from southern Illinois in 1960, Stolte had made her mark on numerous aspects in the community, including local schools, the Arvada Harvest Festival, the faith community — and this very newspaper. Now, she is the 2024 Woman of the Year. “The reason this award exists is because of amazing people like Barb,” Arvada Visitors Center Executive Director Jean Gordon said. “She wants to help because she can and knows how to get things done...not because there might be any sort of recognition for it.” Stolte’s community work began in 1973, when she got involved in the PTA at Secrest Elementary, where she helped put on the school’s first book fairs, which were not common
VOICES: 8 | LIFE: 10 | CALENDAR: 13 | SPORTS: 16
at the time, she said. Stolte then helped establish a scholarship fund for Secrest students (which is still awarded today) and a program to facilitate extra programming within the district called EXCEL. “It was a program to help teachers and the schools for extracurricular activities,” Stolte said. “Like if they wanted to take a field trip to the zoo or if they needed someone to come and do something about science or whatever, because teachers don’t have time to do that. So, that’s what we did.” Soon after, Stolte started working for local orthodontist Sam Callender, where she started the company’s first-ever computer system. After a short spell working as a realtor for her father-in-law’s company, Stolte caught the bug that would dictate the next few decades of her professional pursuits, marketing. Stolte’s first role in a long career in newspapers came at the Arvada Sentinel at a time when she was unfamiliar with the business. “Prior to that, I didn’t know anything about newspapers at all,” Stolte said. “And they said, ‘Yeah, but you know how to organize a sales staff.’ Then I said, SEE STOLTE, P23
Keith Cowling has been named the 2024 Arvada Man of the Year. COURTESY PHOTO
Keith Cowling
After a long career at a credit union, Cowling found his calling in helping others BY RYLEE DUNN RDUNN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Some people find themselves in the right place at the right time, and while that hasn’t always been the case for Keith Cowling, it certainly describes how the 2024 Arvada Man of the Year found himself at Mission Arvada. In 2022, Cowling had retired from his role as the CEO of the Credit Union of Denver and was looking for volunteer opportunities to pursue with his wife, Karen. Residents of Arvada since 1992, the Cowlings became acquainted with The Rising Church in Olde Town, which at the time had recently started its homeless ministry, Mission Arvada. As the church took on added responsibilities, its financial liaison fell ill, which happened to be right around the time Cowling came into the fray. “We needed someone to do the books because the person who was doing the books
was in ill health,” Steve Byers, the former pastor at The Rising, said. “And (Cowling) just took it over and did a great job with it and is doing a great job with it. He just stepped in and found his niche, and it was something that was really needed.” When Mission Arvada was getting started, its scope was relatively minimal. The ministry had about a dozen clients and mostly provided meals and temporary shelter. Now, the nonprofit serves hundreds of people each year and provides services including housing navigation, mental health services, cold weather sheltering and healthcare assistance. When Cowling first came on board, the nonprofit was not quite in a position to be able to expand into what is today. Nevertheless, Cowling said he felt like God put him in a position to take on the challenge. “There was stuff that needed to be fixed or reconciled and some things that needed to be done, so it was sort of a weird thing,” Cowling said. “And I really feel like God opened the door, and the timing was when the church needed and Mission Arvada needed a finance accounting person. SEE COWLING, P23
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