July 13, 2026
Children Singing the New Millennium: Songs of the 5th City Preschool (2000), edited by Karen Bueno
Karen Bueno has been in my life for more than 40 years. I think I met her in 1980, not long after my family moved to Denver and started hanging out at the ICA house. She was a member of the ICA Metro community, a school teacher, which resonated with my mom who was the same. The two of them became friends, and I guess they really supported one another through some challenging times with adolescent children, family dramas, personal identity and everything in between. It’s safe to say that Karen and Oliveann were the closest of friends for all those years.
As a teenager and 20-something graduate student and whatever else, I was fairly oblivious to my mom‘s world. I knew they were friends, along with Burna Dunn, referring to themselves as “the salty old women“. And I knew they found a sense of worldly mission, solidifying the ICA community long after the house closed down. In later years, they would make real contributions to the huge effort of curating ICA archives, travelling to Chicago. They also both worked to bring about the “Accelerating Neighbourhood Climate Action“ (ANCA) movement in Denver. Through all those years of family, friendships and career, the salty old women never let go of a core identity of service and commitment to improving the world for future generations.
Sometime in the early 90s Karen bought a mountain house and made it clear from the outset that she intended that treasure to be shared with her friends. She wanted the house on Lyons Lane to be a second Home for her own family, but also available to those she held dear. I have to say as a child of OliveAnn, I have been a lifelong beneficiary of that gesture. My brother became an important ambassador to make sure the house was in good repair, problems fixed, and advice given. He took seriously the responsibility to “give back“ in response to Karen’s wonderful gesture of making it available to his family. One look through the guest book will show you how many lives she has touched with that special place. And I believe my family will feature as one of the most favored of recipients. I was always careful to leave signatures and statements in the book, and I think the guest book should be preserved as a testament to Karen’s vision. We spent New Year’s Eve of the millennium up there, often bringing our girlfriends, boyfriends, eventually husbands and wives and children for the unique experience that was “staying at Karen Bueno‘s cottage”. My own children grew up with that place occupying a special part of their hearts. My son Julien (a budding filmmaker) spent all of last Christmas documenting every nook and cranny, even starting up a documentary film titled “Karen Bueno‘s cottage“. In 2001, my fiancée and I decided to have our wedding at the YMCA of the Rockies in Winter Park — a place that I would never have discovered unless we had been staying at Lions Lane over the years. Karen volunteered her mountain house as a place for some of us to come up early and work on decorations, food and connecting with friends and family. Karen attended the wedding and played a special role, serving strawberries and champagne to visitors as they arrived at Columbine point.
Nothing lasts forever. Even, sadly, human life. Those who are near to us eventually pass away, leaving sadness and an emptiness behind. Karen was a dear family friend. She and my mom were with each other through every phase of life, and because my mom died first, Karen was able to be there for her at the end, leading a memorial service and supporting my dad. My mom can’t be here now for Karen or her family, but I want to remember Karen in my mom‘s eyes: the most important, most treasured, and most loved of friends. Lives woven together, inextricably, with threads continuing now and into the future.
Karen’s impact on the world was clear, and her love and value of her own family undeniable. But her place within the tapestry of my own family is indelible and valued. I am sad in learning about her passing. I’m sure that Life will never be the same for her kids and grandkids, just as we’ve experienced in the loss of OliveAnn. I wanted to take a few moments to appreciate Karen, and the special relationship that she nurtured with my mom and Burna over the years. This was a product of love and friendship in its highest form, and a testimony to the power of salty old women.
~~. Jim Slotta