SPECIAL EVENTS
The Otero Museum holds two special events as fundraisers each year.
The Annual Wine Tasting is held in April or May of each year. Scheduled for April 25, 2025
The Annual Chuckwagon Dinner is scheduled for Saturday, September 28, 2024.
The Annual Wine Tasting is held in April or May of each year. Scheduled for April 25, 2025
The Annual Chuckwagon Dinner is scheduled for Saturday, September 28, 2024.
Author Margie Keck Smith
Book Release and Signing
Sunday, June 15th
2:00 to 5:00 Open House
at
The Otero Museum
3rd and Anderson Avenue
La Junta
Book Release and Signing
Sunday, June 15th
2:00 to 5:00 Open House
at
The Otero Museum
3rd and Anderson Avenue
La Junta
About the Author:
Margie Keck Smith, a retired Speech Language Pathologist, holds a B.S. from Colorado State University and an M.S. from the University of Oregon. She grew up in La Junta and graduated from La Junta High School in 1963. She now lives in rural SW Washington, where she enjoys life with her husband, dog, and farm animals.
Margie is the daughter of Frances Bollacker Keck, who wrote two nonfiction books about the history of Otero and Crowley Counties and the JJ Ranch. She grew up in Ordway and lived most of her life in LaJunta. She served on the Board of Directors of the Otero Museum, and was instrumental in the preservation of many buildings in the La Junta area. Many will remember her as their swimming teacher. Frances passed in 2013.
Margie is a sister to Barbara Kimball of Centennial, and cousin to Jay Bollacker who still resides in La Junta and Jerilyn Bollacker who lived most of her life in Hugo, Colorado.
Margie has just published her third novel “Dust and Dreams.” a historical novel that takes place in Ordway and is a story of her ancestors who farmed and ranched in that area. This is Margie’s third novel.
Margie Keck Smith, a retired Speech Language Pathologist, holds a B.S. from Colorado State University and an M.S. from the University of Oregon. She grew up in La Junta and graduated from La Junta High School in 1963. She now lives in rural SW Washington, where she enjoys life with her husband, dog, and farm animals.
Margie is the daughter of Frances Bollacker Keck, who wrote two nonfiction books about the history of Otero and Crowley Counties and the JJ Ranch. She grew up in Ordway and lived most of her life in LaJunta. She served on the Board of Directors of the Otero Museum, and was instrumental in the preservation of many buildings in the La Junta area. Many will remember her as their swimming teacher. Frances passed in 2013.
Margie is a sister to Barbara Kimball of Centennial, and cousin to Jay Bollacker who still resides in La Junta and Jerilyn Bollacker who lived most of her life in Hugo, Colorado.
Margie has just published her third novel “Dust and Dreams.” a historical novel that takes place in Ordway and is a story of her ancestors who farmed and ranched in that area. This is Margie’s third novel.
Book Synopsis:
Fiercely independent and passionate about living life, Edith Case was born on the prairie with the grit she needed to help her family survive. Watch her grow in a microcosm of dust and dreams—a story inspired by the author’s ancestors.
At just 14, Edith Jane Case works as a ranch hand on her father’s cattle ranch in Colorado, sharing the workload with her siblings. She deeply admires her mother, who struggles with prairie life but remains dedicated to her family, and has a complex, tension-filled relationship with her father, who is demanding, controlling, and struggling to let go of Edith.
Longing for love and independence, Edith sneaks off the farm to meet a boy she’s interested in—but it ends with aggressive advances from the beau she has to fight off. She escapes, but her father’s grip tightens even more.
Despite this, Edith has hope for a life outside of chores and the ranch. Before long, she falls head-over-heels for another man: her father’s close friend Milton Bollacker, a dark-skinned German, a member of the Evangelical church, and twelve years older than her.
Her father staunchly disapproves of the relationship, but Milton is a good man—and Edith confidently follows her heart. Despite knowing nothing about being a wife or mother, Edith rises to the occasion when it comes to building a life and partnership with Milton.
Through disappointments, the Dust Bowl, and the Great Depression, Edith keeps her eyes set on what’s most important to her: building a life worth living with the people who mean most to her.
Dust and Dreams encapsulates accessible historical fiction. It’s a family saga anyone can pick up and relate to, with each page and chapter stitched together with a range of emotions and relationships.
Fiercely independent and passionate about living life, Edith Case was born on the prairie with the grit she needed to help her family survive. Watch her grow in a microcosm of dust and dreams—a story inspired by the author’s ancestors.
At just 14, Edith Jane Case works as a ranch hand on her father’s cattle ranch in Colorado, sharing the workload with her siblings. She deeply admires her mother, who struggles with prairie life but remains dedicated to her family, and has a complex, tension-filled relationship with her father, who is demanding, controlling, and struggling to let go of Edith.
Longing for love and independence, Edith sneaks off the farm to meet a boy she’s interested in—but it ends with aggressive advances from the beau she has to fight off. She escapes, but her father’s grip tightens even more.
Despite this, Edith has hope for a life outside of chores and the ranch. Before long, she falls head-over-heels for another man: her father’s close friend Milton Bollacker, a dark-skinned German, a member of the Evangelical church, and twelve years older than her.
Her father staunchly disapproves of the relationship, but Milton is a good man—and Edith confidently follows her heart. Despite knowing nothing about being a wife or mother, Edith rises to the occasion when it comes to building a life and partnership with Milton.
Through disappointments, the Dust Bowl, and the Great Depression, Edith keeps her eyes set on what’s most important to her: building a life worth living with the people who mean most to her.
Dust and Dreams encapsulates accessible historical fiction. It’s a family saga anyone can pick up and relate to, with each page and chapter stitched together with a range of emotions and relationships.
Updated May 22, 2025 Contact webmaster at [email protected]
Otero Museum NEW Email Address: [email protected]
Otero Museum NEW Email Address: [email protected]
