Connecting our Stories, Part Two

Who is your hero?

"Definitely my grandfather, Ed Mock. He started our company, Mock Realty, 52 years ago in 1965, and is the greatest man I know. He is just a giver. He gives back to his community. He has touched so many people’s lives. We actually just found out he has about two weeks to live, so it is a very pertinent question right now. He’ll be 94 in July, and he’s had a great, long life. He’s the most nonjudgmental, giving, loving person. He has taught our family how to give back to the community. I see it in my father. I see it in my brother and I. He’s my hero."

— Natalie (Boulder, CO)

Why do you love living in Boulder County?

My favorite thing about living in the mountains, about living where I live...the trouble is there are too many things. One of them is the wild creatures that come and live in my backyard. I had a family of half-tamed foxes a few years ago. All sorts of stuff—deer, wild turkeys, and a bobcat two winters ago. I love the seclusion and quiet. I don’t have any neighbors except the critters.

I love the people I know around here. I love the friends I’ve made—and a lot of that happened more recently. I didn’t know a lot of people in town until the floods of 2013. I spent a lot of time up here during the flood doing what I could to help out, and that made a big difference in my life. I discovered how much fun it was to bust your ass helping other people.

— Lynwood (James Canyon, CO)

If you were having a dinner party after time travel has been discovered who would you invite?

Two of the people I would invite would be my mother and father, both of whom are not living. I would love to spend time seeing them again and learning more about them than I had the opportunity to learn while they were alive.

As far as historically I would love to see Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson and Teddy Roosevelt. Those three presidents have been very interesting to me over the course of my reading.

The other was a mentor to me, his name is Merle Taylor. I followed him around when I started out in business and he just taught me a lot of lessons that I carry through my employment and life.

I'm a huge baseball fan and the two baseball players would be Mickey Mantle and Pete Rose. I would love to have them still at my table.

And the last person, in the field of science and health, would be Jonas Salk.

Those would be the people I'd love to have a dinner with.

— Ed (Boulder Heights, CO) ⠀⠀⠀

If money, travel, time, and responsibilities in your life were not a consideration, what three destinations would you make as your travel itinerary?

1. Scotland: because I’m 98% Irish and 2% Scottish. We would wrap the two countries into one trip.

2. New Zealand: because the pictures that I have seen are amazing and I hear the people are awesome.

3. Shelter Island: a really cool place at the end of Long Island, I think pirates used the island as a hiding spot. It’s secluded from the world, with only about 2,000 residents. I would take my own cabin cruiser to the mainland for food and grog. The place to get all of our supplies is an old whaling town called Sag Harbor founded in the early 1700's!

— Regis (Boulder, CO)

What was your favorite childhood experience?

We used to go on family vacations. We would rent a little trailer and all five of us in the family would go somewhere. It was just a little trailer that we pulled behind the station wagon, so you know, there was no bathroom. We’d be gone for 2 weeks or longer. I remember we went up to Yellowstone, and Utah, and down to California. It was a lot of fun! And one year we took an exchange student from Quito, Ecuador on vacation with us. We also had a beach house and a bay house and we used to go there and spend a couple of weeks every summer. Family vacations…Yeah, those were always good.

— Denise (Boulder, CO)

Where have you been that was your favorite place and what did you do there?

It’s probably partially my favorite place because I’ve been there recently, but New Zealand. We were there for three weeks. My favorite thing was we spent five days in Queenstown and it was so sunny and we went out of the town to hike. Going to New Zealand was on my bucket list for after I retired and we were fortunate to be able to go. So, that was last November, a little more than a year ago. I’m going to Spring Training next week, and will be going to Cuba in a few weeks, and Croatia in the fall, so in the fall I’ll only have three more left on my bucket list.

— Tony (Boulder, CO)

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