Up
Here
Mary Stigall
Western Reflections.
Reviewed by Carol McDermott
From the bustle of St. Louis, Missouri, to the nestle of Lake City, Colorado, Mary Stigall sees it all, and she shares her vision in “Up Here”. Stigall was on Webster University’s faculty when she first visited Colorado. She and her family camped above Lake San Cristobal with another couple. It was 1971, when the world was looking for meaning and worth. Mary Stigall found it.
“I was hiking down Henson Creek Road one day when life snapped into focus. One could breathe going downhill; the sky was that shocking deep blue, almost purple behind the peaks. Aspen leaves twirled and chimed, the sparkling creek laughed all the way downhill, that damp-pine smell floated in the air, the mountains suddenly surrounded, guarded and embraced me.” (9)
In “Up Here” Stigall collects many of her observations of life in Lake City, where she took up permanent residency in 1987. She includes incidents reflecting both the mundane and the sublime. She devotes one chapter to the Alferd Packer exhumation of 1989, and another to the murder of Hinsdale County sheriff Roger Coursey in1994.
Stigall’s style is comfortable and reflective. Her adjustment to Lake
City altitude is mirrored by her attitude, which leapt from big city indifference
to small town neighborliness. Her acclimation to climate and culture is
evident in several chapters, as well.
“Up Here” benefits greatly from husband Bob’s photographs. He captures
with his lens what she records with her pens.
Mary Stigall writes for the local newspaper, founded both The Lake City Arts Council and the Cabin Fever Players, a community theater troupe. “Up Here” was published by Western Reflections and may be purchased through their store in Montrose, or any fine book seller.
115 pages. Soft Cover.