Category: Member Spotlight

Denali, age 6
by Aurora, age 11

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Do you have any pets?

Denali has one pet, a dog named Pickles.

What games do you like to play? 

Denali likes to play a game called “Splendor.” Basically you have different gem tokens and you use those to buy “Noble Tiles.”

Do you play an instrument?

Denali likes to play piano and her favorite song to play is “Short Story.”  She has been playing for 2-3 years. Denali likes that you don’t have to bring it anywhere ;P

Do you like to do art?

She has recently done a watercolor of a pumpkin getting into the fall spirit. Her method was to begin with the outline in pencil, then the green paint of the grass, and then the pumpkin ridges in oranges.

What is your favorite food?

Her favorite food is tacos and sushi. She would have sushi for her birthday, but it’s a special treat because she only eats it once or twice a month.

Do you do a sport?

Denali doesn’t do a sport currently but she used to take dance lessons.

What are you most excited about Cohousing?

Denali is most excited to always have a friend right out her door to play with.

Hometown & current location:

I grew up in Kansas and then my family moved to Forsyth, MT my senior year of high school.  I’ve been living in Bozeman since early 2003.

What does your life look like now?

I met my husband in 2005 while we were in college, we got married in 2011 and had our first (and only) child, Annaliese, in 2015. I have been a stay-at-home-mom since we brought our little bundle home. We also have a 12-pound princess of a dog, Schatze, a Maltese Yorkie mix.

What is it like to walk in your shoes every day?

When we aren’t homeschooling, I am running errands and doing lots of experimentation in my kitchen. I love to cook and bake and try new recipes – or tweak old ones. One of our favorite pre-Covid days included hopping on the Streamline bus and going downtown to the library and to parks and trails. Or we would swim at Bozeman Hot Springs, visit the Museum of the Rockies, go on hikes, or meet up with other families for play dates. Homeschooling has been a great way to fill our days now and it’s been fun to learn (or re-learn) alongside my daughter. Though some of the best days are ones when we stay at home and just play or relax. On the weekends we usually do home projects or go on longer family hikes. 

I am hopeful that my daughter will amass social and emotional gains by growing up in a neighborhood like this. I love the idea that she will have neighborhood friends and can have hours of unstructured play.

— Megan Welborn

What drew you to cohousing?

My family doesn’t live close enough to see as frequently as I would like. And like many college towns, the friends you make during that time in your life who become your family, often move away. I miss the camaraderie of frequent, shared experiences with friends. Once I became a mom, I realized more than any other time in my life I needed and wanted community. There are so many benefits to living in a cohousing neighborhood but having a community of people who are invested in one another is important to me. Also, as a mother, I want to make sure my daughter is raised in a safe, supportive and nurturing environment. I love the idea that she will have neighborhood friends and can have hours of unstructured play doing things like riding bikes on the pedestrian pathways or splashing around in the creek. 

What is something that makes you hopeful for the future?

I am hopeful that my daughter will amass social and emotional gains by growing up in a neighborhood like this. I like that she will develop a broader sense of the world by living with and learning from a diverse group of people. 

What do you feel is one of your greatest strengths that you have to offer the world?

I feel I am at my best, that I have a sense of purpose and satisfaction, when I am helping others. I enjoy working collaboratively or on my own. 

What do you hope to be doing 10 years from now?

Living the cohousing dream with my family and friends! We love Bozeman, so I can’t picture ever leaving.

A role model in conservation leadership

Originally from Virginia, Will first discovered Montana at age 17 when he took a job on the Sargent Ranch in the Cinnabar Basin near Yellowstone. Montana captivated his heart and he spent the next three summers working for the Park Service in Yellowstone. Will found his way to Montana permanently through the circuitous route of Arizona living and nine years in Latin America.

By the time he returned to Montana in 1994, he brought with him his partner, Kimberly, and two young boys. Missoula is home right now where they live on a large lot with a big garden and three lawn-mowing-sheep. Will works in conservation doing river and stream restoration projects. The non-profit writes grants, develops partnerships with local government, Forest Service, other non-profits, and landowners, and then designs and builds projects that improve water management and stream health.

 I have been interested in community living for a long time, and in cohousing for about 20 years. I know that the work of cooperation and collaboration pays off in good relationships…

— Will McDowell

He sees retirement as a time to pass on his conservation knowledge to the next generation. Will plans to create new opportunities for middle-school youth to learn in-depth about our natural world, in hopes that they will provide conservation leadership for the future. We cannot wait to have him as part of our community. Will, can you start teaching our young ones now?

Kathleen Owkes is one of the founding members and visionaries of Bozeman Cohousing. She works tirelessly on everything from membership to finance while also raising her kids, Denali and Lochlan, ages six and two. Kathleen originally hails from Michigan.  She earned her PhD in Mechanical Engineering from University of Colorado, where she met her husband, Mark. The Owkes moved to Bozeman in 2014 for Mark’s job as a professor at MSU. In addition to helping build this incredible Bozeman neighborhood, Kathleen homeschools her children, spends time skiing, hiking, and camping around Bozeman, and also manages a large family garden.