We are a diverse group of individuals and families creating a community together. Learn about some of our members below.
Angie
Angie moved to Denver from Washington, D.C., with her husband Jeff in August 2017. Aria Cohousing is their first home in Colorado. Angie is an associate professor of journalism at University of Colorado Boulder. Prior to that, she was on the journalism faculty of American University. Angie teaches and does research on race and identity issues in the news media, and also writes literary nonfiction and memoir. Her first book, The Four Words for Home, grew out of her post-9/11 reporting about a family with roots in the U.S. and Afghanistan, and parallels with her own Chinese immigrant family from Taiwan. Angie was a staff writer for The Oregonian, The Hartford Courant, and the Los Angeles Times. She was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition to writing and teaching, Angie likes to practice Iyengar yoga, explore her new home state by hiking and taking roadtrips with Jeff, as well as cook and bake, especially with and for her fellow cohousers.
Ann
After years of independent living, I wanted to know my neighbors better. Cohousing met my expectation of being with like-minded friends. After meetings to develop Aria for several years, the renovated convent in northwest Denver became our Aria Cohousing Community in August 2017.
I enjoy urban living and wanted to stay in Denver. It offers all the amenities I like, and has more I hope to enjoy. I like films, US & foreign. I'm in a few book clubs and volunteer weekly at a bookstore in my former neighborhood where I've been in a senior ballet exercise program for a long time.
Travels abroad have been wonderful, too. Now, Aria provides opportunities for me to be as involved as I'd been formerly. The people here have many of my values. I am fortunate to be in an inter-generational, diverse and accepting community.
Zia
I read books, ride my bicycle,& play basketball. I highly recommend a recent book by Ichiro Kishimi & Fumitake Koga called the “Courage to be Disliked”. Written in the form of a Socratic dialog between a skeptical youth and a philosopher, it asks ‘can each of us live our life to the fullest without making excuses”?
My bikes consist of a Cannondale road bike & a roadie made at Chocolate Spokes Bike shop by Gregory Crichlow. I love these bikes.
I play on a senior women’s basketball team called the Colorado Longshots and we compete at senior tournaments around the country.
I’ve worked for 20 years at Tattered Cover Books, currently at our Lodo store. I volunteer at the Rocky Mountain Land Library and have facilitated a Transgender 101 workshop at the Cherry Creek Diversity Conference for the past 12 years.
I really like to live at Aria because it’s got a great feeling of community that teaches me a lot about other people as well as surprising insights into myself.
Janet
My introduction to cohousing began when I was born the youngest of four girls. At Kansas State University I lived in a dorm and really liked seeing the same people daily. A dream I've had is to live on a campus. Another experience akin to cohousing has been to have various people for undefined amounts of time living with us. I was born and raised in Maryland by Kansas natives. I have lived in various places including: Kansas, Oklahoma, New Zealand, and just before Denver, we lived in Philadelphia, PA. Now retired, I am pursuing interests in: cohousing, tai chi, making a marimba, downsizing, singing, reading, walking, dancing, playing bridge and other games, knitting, weaving, spinning and supporting efforts for local sourcing and anything about water. My stepson, Jeff, lives with his Italian wife, daughter and son in Germany. Visiting them is another cohousing-like experience.
Hazel
I’m Hazel and am one of the early members of Aria. I retired in the fall of 2015 after 22 years as an advocate and administrator in the public mental health system, having previously worked in city and regional planning and small town administration. Born in a small town in south Texas, I grew up in San Antonio and went to college in New Orleans. I was married for a few years after college and have lived and worked in New Orleans, Los Angeles, San Antonio, Pueblo and Green Mountain Falls, CO, before moving to the Denver area in the late 80’s. One of my two adult children lives in Denver with his wife and the other lives in Charlottesville, VA, with his wife and their three children. After many years of caring for a small house and large yard landscaped with low water plants, roses, shrubs and perennials, I’m looking forward to living in a community of people with whom I can share friendship, laughter and common interests and from whom I can learn new skills and interests. Some of my currents interests include: historic preservation and archaeology, camping, social justice issues, travel in Spanish-speaking countries and my decades-long goal to become fluent in Spanish. Now that I have the time, I am exploring volunteer opportunities in those areas of interest.
Barbara
Born in Wisconsin, I grew up in central Illinois, Urbana being the place I call my hometown. I am the second-oldest of seven children that my mother had over nine years—so I guess you could say we’re all Irish twins! I matriculated at the University of Illinois in Urbana in 1964 and took time out from working on my bachelor’s degree to marry, move to Germany, and raise two boys. I returned to the U of I in 1971 and completed my bachelor’s degree in English and psychology.
I spent most of my parenting years living and working in Atlanta, Georgia. I completed my master’s degree in organizational development at Georgia State University and worked at a non-profit, The Georgia Conservancy, as a database administrator, then took a position at the Georgia Institute of Technology as a library systems analyst. I was hired by Hewlett-Packard as an information technology engineer in the early ‘90s and was relocated to Ft. Collins, Colorado in 2001. I was laid off at H-P about two weeks before the 9-11 terrorist attacks happened in New York and Washington, D.C. Those two events are what initiated my decision to become a Peace Corps volunteer—I was in my early ‘50s then. I was sent to Kenya by the Peace Corps and spent my two years
there in Western Province at Friends College Kaimosi where I taught information and communications technologies and business communications.
Upon returning to the U.S. in September 2004, I took a position with the U.S. Department of State as a contract specialist. I had the honor of being sworn in by the then-Secretary of State, Colin Powell. I worked at both the State Department and the Department of Defense procuring a wide variety of goods and services. I retired from the federal government in 2014 and moved west, to Denver, to be nearer my two sons and granddaughter, Ella.
I am fortunate to live near my family and get to see them often. One son lives part-time in Leadville, so I get to spend time with him at 10,200 feet, taking in the amazing mountain views that Leadville has to offer. My granddaughter is a freshman at Wheat Ridge High School and I get to attend her track meets and mountain biking competitions.
For me, though, the cherry on the top of all my good fortune was to have found this wonderful cohousing community called Aria. I was a bit late to the dance, having found my unit in March of 2017 when I received a call from Leslie telling me that a one-bedroom had just come available. It helped that I was already familiar with the cohousing concept and knew that that was where I would be happiest. I look forward to many happy years together with my Aria cohousers!
Elise
Elise Peterson is a California-born gal but has lived in Michigan, Chicago and Florida and now calls Colorado home. On her good days she can be found attending outdoor concerts, road tripping, hiking trails, and scoping out the latest restaurants, food trucks and breweries. On her bad days she is busy getting to all 50 states in the US, plotting her next international adventure, and trying to make the world a better place for her niece and nephew. She is a proud Wolverine (Michigan), Gator (UF) and Ranger (Jesuits or bust) alumna. She considers the best moves in her career to be teaching nursing students, being a travel nurse, volunteering on medical mission trips, and thriving as a nurse in the Pediatric ICU and PACU. Bookstores, networking, friendships, family and good conversation are her jams.
VICKI
Born in Chicago, I grew up as a military brat in various locations in the U.S., as well as in Japan and Germany. I’ve resided in Denver since 1971. After careers in architectural drafting, architectural history, and video production, in 1995 I took up stone carving and became a sculptor. Having given up my studio several years ago, I now consider myself retired.
Since I have no immediate family of my own, I think of my Aria neighbors as my family. The following is just one example of the benefit of cohousing and the wealth of expertise and helpfulness we share.
I recently published a book, One Step at a Time: Lessons for Living, about my sculptures and the life lessons they taught me. The impetus for the book came from a storytelling workshop that Trish, one of my neighbors, organized in 2019. Later, both Trish and Marna read a first draft of my manuscript and provided valuable feedback. Adam and Joe helped me with technical issues, and Don scanned the photos and sent them to the publisher. Zia took the photograph of me for the back cover, and Mary refined the cover design and offered suggestions for the interior layout. All right here in the Aria community!
I am a Laughter Yoga leader as well as a sometime political activist. I value creativity in all its forms and enjoy walks with my dog and conversation with my friends.