1977 to 1993: Civic Leader in Denver
I settled (as much as I settle) in Denver; our home was a hub of theological thought and social justice activism. My public involvement increased, even as I raised a family and earned a second master’s and a doctorate (Iliff School of Theology). I threw myself into initiatives focused on marginalized members of the community. Meanwhile, I found an enduring spiritual retreat at my ranch in the Kenosha Mountains, and my children became not just dear hassles but also a deep joy.
Natasha and Dostoyevsky were my companions in Denver and at our ranch, where we constantly hosted retreats for our foundation’s grantees.
Charles and I were a wild pair.
Rides in the Rockies led to new vistas and lofty ideas.
Family grounded me, and it still does...
…even though often we’ve faced in different directions.
A moment of levity with daughter Lillian, a devoted, long-time member of our board, now with her husband Rodney.
Even today, Colorado is my refuge and inspiration -- beautiful purple mountain majesty above the plain.
Pastoral Care
Soon after arriving from Heidelberg, in 1979 I became active in an ecumenical partnership of two congregations, Catholic and Presbyterian. My husband of a decade was Mark Meeks, preacher at Capitol Heights Presbyterian Church, where I served as Minister of Pastoral Care, visiting people in hospitals or other painful life situations.
Philanthropy
In 1981, My sister Helen and I launched the Hunt Alternatives Fund, guided by our great friend Vinny McGee. We gave away half our income — for me the first year was $35,000 — to neighborhood groups not typically funded by larger foundations. In 1987, I co-created the Women’s Foundation of Colorado, building support among other philanthropic individuals for grants to empower women and girls from all walks of life.
Here's Helen, only 14 months older, brilliant co-conspirator.
Vinny was a self-described “fund-lowerer,” helping people figure out how to share their wealth. He brought Helen and me together as philanthropists--a sisterly partnership that has continued for almost 40 years.
Here’s the not-so-secret cabal that created the Women’s Foundation of Colorado, a non-profit now with a portfolio of $20 million that has poured support into the community for decades.
Mayor Pena would become Secretary of Transportation, then of Energy. Ellen helped train me for my marathon (at age 39!); she became a world class triathlete. Charles, my conductor husband, had been a White House Fellow and guided me into the world of national policy.
At the end of my Denver years, I received appreciation far beyond what one person deserves.
I campaigned for Congressman Tim Wirth, who became Senator Wirth. Years later, when he was the State Department’s undersecretary for global affairs and I was the US ambassador to Austria, he inspired my work on the environment and human rights.
A New Ensemble
After my marriage to Mark ended, I proposed to Charles Ansbacher, a dashing symphony conductor whose music-making infused every part of my life. He would aid and abet my work for the rest of his 66 years. One of my greatest successes was to blend a family, with three children whose ages spanned 17 years. They have been each others’ best friends since day one.
Mental Health
I interned in a public mental hospital, then ran Karis Community, a residential program to keep young people from sliding into hospitalization. Seeing the dysfunction in the complexity of federal, state, and local programs, I cut my policy teeth on an improbable reform of Denver’s mental health system. It was both gratifying and terrifying.
Families and Children
Given my work across the community and across the years, in 1991 Mayor Federico Peña asked me to co-chair his Initiative on Families and Children to shape a unified agenda for urban citizens. Meanwhile, at home, my three children were constantly poking at my middle-age assumptions and my self-importance. Often they were right and I was wrong. They were becoming not only my inspiration, but also wise counselors.
Human Capital Agenda
In 1992, Mayor Webb tapped a community activist and me to develop a strategic plan for his work in education, health, safety, and employment, using a community-based decision process. I learned the importance of organizing diverse people in small groups with crystal clear objectives.
Housing and Homelessness
I pestered Governor Roy Romer until he told me to create and chair the Governor’s Coordinating Council on Housing and the Homeless. We comprised a cohesive initiative of municipal, state, and national government leaders, along with representatives from the business and non-profit communities — and homeless people, of course. As I grew in my understanding of the vital connection between policy and politics, I supported candidates whose positions were attuned to my values.
During a sixteen-year period in Denver, our foundation made grants to more than four hundred organizations. I emerged with experiences of giving—resources and self — worthy of Walt Whitman’s ‘noiseless patient spider.’ A web has remained, connecting me to points I never would have imagined.”S.H.
As board members of Hunt Alternatives Fund, each of us went on site visits to potential grantees, then advocated to the whole group for our top choices. This was anything but a rubber-stamp group.
A noiseless patient spider,
I mark’d where on a little promontory it stood isolated,
Mark’d how to explore the vacant vast surrounding,
It launch’d forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself,
Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them.
And you O my soul where you stand,
Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space,
Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them,
Till the bridge you will need be form’d, till the ductile anchor hold,
Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul.
—Walt Whitman