June Shaputis

June Shaputis lived in Chaffee County, Colorado for 35 years, serving as a local historian with a weekly historical column,Over The Shoulder, published in the Chaffee County Times in Buena Vista. She is author of several books, including Chaffee County, Colorado, Burials and Where The Bodies Are (1995) and co-author of A History of Chaffee County. For the past 20 years, she has been a public speaker on Chaffee County history for the U.S. Forest Service, public and private schools, groups and organizations.

June's forte is researching the lives of people buried in the county and telling stories about them. According to June, "Rich or poor, everyone is unique and has a story to tell. All contributed to this area in some way."

June was born in Fresno, California and traveled extensively as a child with her traveling salesman father. As she puts it, "I attended 7 different schools in 7th grade in 7 different states!"

She moved to Buena Vista in 1963 with her husband Larry Shaputis, who worked at the Climax mine for 28 years. June has participated in many melodramas and community theater groups in Chaffee County. Her favorite role is that of villianess. June now lives in Ely, Nevada.

Her book, Where the Bodies Are, is about the infamous and violent Lake County Wars, the Vigilantes and their victims, some of whom are buried almost shoulder to shoulder in two cemeteries in Centerville and Nathrop. June writes:

I have tried to personalize the lives of everyone buried there as well as tell the story of the Lake County War which began in 1874 by the assasination of George Harrington by an unknown person. A vigilante mob formed to revenge Harringtons murder. This murder was the direct cause of Judge Elias Dyer to be himself asassinated in his Granite courtroom in 1875 by members of the mob. Other unsolved murders occurred during the next few years.

June has received many awards for her work, including:

• Citizen of the Year - 1982 - Buena Vista, Colorado
• First Lady of Chaffee County , Colorado - 1989
• Curator Emeritus of the Buena Vista Heritage Museum - 1996

FourteenerNet is pleased to offer June Shaputis' Chaffee County to the World Wide Web.