Meet Dave Krieves

When Dave Krieves and his wife, Katie, moved to Evergreen in 2000, he wasted no time in getting involved in the local community.

Born and raised in Oregon, he was exposed to a sense of community responsibility from an early age. “There were two sides to my family,” he explains. “The poor and relatively uneducated side, and the medical side — relatives who are doctors. My grandmother, who was from the poor side, was, at age 99, still cooking dinner nightly for her neighbor and looking after her… and the neighbor was in her 70s!”

Dave himself went on to study medicine and was a Diagnostic Radiologist in Bend, Oregon for nearly 30 years. “I handled all of those things with goofy letters in them— CTs, MRIs, USs, and NMs,” he jokes. He focused particularly on the latter two: Ultrasound and Nuclear Medicine. “But my main interest was patient contact; I love being around people.”

He has a particular memory of providing care for a terminal cancer patient. “I performed over 50 drainage procedures on her lungs over the course of a year and a half. We spent a lot of time together, and I got to know her well. In fact, we laughed over the fact that I was seeing her a lot more often than her regular doctor did. Experiences like that one have left a big impression on me.”

When both of their sons made the move to Colorado, Dave and Katie decided to follow, “Although we actually got here first!” Dave says. They selected Evergreen as their new home because they were friends with Ken Williams, pastor at Rockland Church, and also because another friend in Oregon had previously lived in Evergreen and encouraged them to check it out when they were preparing to relocate.

He began to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity almost from the first week he arrived. “I love to work with tools,” he says. “Although I’m doing less of that these days. But I do still spend some time helping by cutting down trees. I guess that’s the Oregon lumberjack in me.”

He’s a past president of Blue Spruce Kiwanis and he served as Co-Volunteer Coordinator and Parking & Transportation Coordinator for this year’s Big Chili Cook-off on September 10th. “Lots of people told me how much fun it was, and we received lots of donations this year—more than ever before. The Kiwanis are all about service, particularly geared towards kids. Blue Spruce currently has 58 members, and we’re always looking for more service-minded folks to join us. Anyone is welcome to attend the weekly meetings, which take place on Thursdays, 7am, at The Place on Meadow Drive.”

Dave also serves on the local board of Drive Smart, an organization he is particularly passionate about promoting. “If you’re going to highlight one particular thing in this article, I would like it to be the value and importance of the Drive Smart program.” Its mission is to save lives by preventing traffic related fatalities and injuries. “For me, it’s something of an extension of my medical career. As a doctor, I saw lots of bad things while treating people who had been involved in car accidents. Those experiences have made a lasting impression that always stays with me. It’s so much easier to prevent a crash than to try to help the victims afterward.”

Drive Smart offers four programs: Child Passenger Safety, Teen Motor Vehicle Safety, Motorcycle Safety, and their newest, an Experienced Driver Program. The goal of the latter is to help people keep driving safely as they get older.

Though officially retired, Dave also helps out in his son’s new business venture, 5280 Turf, where he does “some of the marketing and the heavy lifting!” He’s also a long-time runner and cyclist. In the winter months, he skis and snowboards. “I’m one of the original snowboarders,” he states. “I’ve been doing it for more than 30 years, back when we were all basically just using a piece of plywood with a slick bottom to get down the hill.”

He cites his wife as his inspiration. “I’m the lesser athlete in the family. She’s a triathlete, swimming, cycling and running. I just try to keep up with her!” It’s a typically self-effacing remark from someone who was reluctant to be profiled for Just Around Here in the first place. He only agreed in the hopes that such an article would bring attention to some organizations providing important services in the local mountain community.