Boulder is a great place to live and retire - there's always something to do

We are Judy Gunkler and Bill Rawsky, and are fortunate to live in one of the most beautiful spots in the world, Boulder, CO USA.  Our home is located within walking distance of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and the Boulder Mountain Parks.

Judy has been retired for a number of years from her career as a special education teacher with the Boulder Valley School District.  Since retiring, she has used her teaching skills volunteering as an English as a Second Language instructor.

Bill retired in February, 2007, after 13 years with  EMC Corporation, where he was a Systems Engineering Manager and Technical Business Consultant in their Federal Systems Division, providing consultation and technical training to Federal customers and business partners.

Bill has four children: Glenn and his wife Rebecca Smith live in Willoughby Hills, OH, along with their American Eskimo dogs, who compete in AKC Agility Trials, and their cat, Jasmine.  Blayne and his wife Karen Brungard are in Boulder, CO with our youngest grandson, Chayse, born in December, 2007.  Brett and his wife Dena live in Las Vegas, NV, with grandsons Cole, born in 2001, and Trey, born in 2005.  Daughter Melissa lives in nearby Thornton, CO, with our granddaughter, Katyana, born in 2023, and their two dogs.

Hiking, Snowshoeing, Cross-Country Skiing and Cycling

We both enjoy hiking, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing and bicycling.  We have volunteered in Rocky Mountain National Park, assisting park rangers with snowshoeing and GPS training activities.  We both enjoy back country skiing on the many trails in Colorado.  Two of our favorites are the Sourdough Trail near Ward, CO and the trail from Bear Lake to Lake Helene in Rocky Mountain National Park,   Camping throughout the United States and Canada, visiting national parks and monuments with our Jayco camper, is one of our other enjoyable outdoor activities.

European Travels

We have enjoyed many self-guided hiking trips to Europe in the past 35 years and have hiked in many areas of the Alps and the Italian Dolomites as well as many other European countries.  We recently enjoyed bicycle trips in Provence and Tuscany with the Bicycle Adventure Club (now People Cycling - www.peoplecycling.org), and have hiked in the Picos de Europa of Northern Spain, and Slovakia and Poland, guided by David Gerstel (wandermeister.eu)  We travel almost exclusively using public transportation in Europe, and are familiar with the transportation systems in a number of countries.  If you'd like to take your own self-guided vacation in Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland,, Slovenia, the Netherlands or Northern Italy, we'd be glad to offer suggestions from our personal experience..

Choral Music

We were founding members of the a cappella choral group Jubilate!, singing soprano and baritone respectively for 10 years.  A major highlight was a benefit concert for the New York City Coalition Against Hunger that we performed at Carnegie Hall in 2008.  More recently, we joined the Rocky Mountain Chorale, a community choir of about 80 singers.  The Chorale does a major performance and two or three “outreach’ concerts at retirement homes each fall and spring. In 2017, we organized a choir of 35 singers and traveled to the Dolomites to participate in the 20th annual Alta Pusteria Choir Festival, along with almost 3,000 singers in choirs from 80 countries.  We now sing with the Frasier Chorale and the St. Andrew Presbyterian choir in Boulder.

Remodeling and Woodworking

Bill enjoys remodeling projects and woodworking.  He and Judy have done all of the interior finishing and remodeling work on their Boulder home and cabin in Estes Park, CO.  Bill has also  built wooden model trucks and construction equipment for grandson Chayse.