The people who bring you the news

The Left Hand Valley Courier has been fortunate to have devoted staff members who bring you the news every week. We profiled many of our staff members a year ago, and have had some new valuable additions this year, and thought you might want to know who is reporting what you like to read.

Karen Sherlock

Well into her sixties (but yet very young!) Karen Sherlock is still trying to decide who she wants to be when she grows up.

After pursuing a degree in English literature, she made a sharp turn into the field of geosciences where she spent thirty-five years as a petroleum geophysicist, working and living in many different countries from Latin America, Holland, Britain, and Thailand, to Oman and Austria.

Then to fulfill a lifelong dream, she went back to school for a Masters of Divinity degree and became a hospital chaplain until she was sidelined by the United Methodist Texas Conference at the onset of the Covid crisis.

Moving up to Colorado to help her kids during Covid with an under two-year-old and a new baby, she and her husband found a house they wanted to make a home earlier than expected in their timeline for retirement.

So Karen stayed in Colorado with the full-time job to perform major renovations on their forever home while her husband continued to work and commute back and forth to Houston.

Now reunited and living together in Boulder, Karen and her husband continue their travels together with vacations biking around the world. To date they have biked through Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Germany, Alsace, Ireland, Sweden and Portugal. Next year, 2025, will be their biggest adventure yet with four separate trips scheduled for New Zealand (with many family members and friends), South Africa, Normandy and Umbria, Italy.

When home, Karen is active at the local Niwot United Methodist church as a Sunday School teacher, preacher and choir member as well as being a dedicated Nana to her grandkids and kids. She loves hiking, biking, writing, photography, cooking, singing and playing her piano when she isn't gardening or decorating their new home.

Karen joined the dedicated team of reporters at the Left Hand Valley Courier in March. She has inherited the monthly Book Review while she also tries to keep the public up to date with local transit news, including the Front Range Rail Project, the CO119 Mobility Project and related weekly road impacts and closures as well as news regarding local Open Space trails and events and other local news of interest.

Karen has been a strong believer in the power of the media ever since serving as a board member of Houston Public Media. She says, "Now more than ever, at a time when local newspapers are either going out of business or being gobbled up by bottom-line focused conglomerates, we need to offer and consume local news that keeps us in the know and helps us hold our local government to standards of integrity and public service.

"It is an honor to be part of the team at Left Hand Valley Courier. I aim to do everything I can to ensure its continuation and success as well as provide what the Niwot-Gunbarrel area so desperately needs, which is fact-based local news of interest to all its residents."

Jennifer Wagner

Jennifer Wagner is an avid performer and educator based in Greeley, Colorado. She graduated with her Master of Music in vocal performance in 2024 from the University of Northern Colorado. Originally from Pennsylvania, she graduated in 2022 from Manchester University in Indiana with a Bachelor of Arts degree in vocal performance and biology-chemistry.

A trained classical performer, Wagner enjoys performing in operas and as a recitalist. She also enjoys performing in plays, musicals, and as a princess party performer. Her favorite roles include Lady Valerie from Amy Beach's "Cabildo," Lauretta from Puccini's "Gianni Schicchi," Queen Aggravain from "Once Upon a Mattress," and Elsa from "Frozen."

In addition to performing, Wagner currently teaches Music Together classes and voice lessons at Flourish Music Academy in Greeley and is an Instructor of Music at Front Range Community College in Fort Collins. She enjoys freelancing with the Left Hand Valley Courier in her free time.