Karleen Boggio-Montgomery was born in Trinidad, Colorado in 1941. Her grandmother, Lucia Cortese Boggio, who was from Valperga in Northern Italy, had operated a boarding house for miners in nearby Aguilar in the early 1900s.

Boggio-Montgomery said the mix of nationalities that stayed at her grandmother's boarding house included Italians, Polish, Slavic, Lebanese, Scottish, Welsh and Mexican people. This polyglot of miners and their families that eked out a living working underground for 12 hours a day provided an eye-opening perspective for the young girl growing up in Southern Colorado in the 1940s.

"If you can step into the shoes of these people you have a better understanding of who they are. I wish that more people had the opportunity to experience some of these different cultures, it would make the world a better place," she says.

It was during these formative years that shaped Boggio-Montgomery's desire to reach all kinds of people. As the television producer of Living Santa Fe and Getting that Second Opinion for the Santa Fe Community College, the 68 year-old interacts with people from all walks of life on topics as varied as politics to pain management.

"My mother died of breast cancer in 1960 and so much has changed in terms of treatment since that time. People don't like to hear that they have cancer but there's a lot they can do about it now. If our show prompts two or three women to get a mammogram then we've succeeded," she says. Boggio-Montgomery enlists the help of the medical profession to explore the options available to people suffering all types of illnesses on Getting that Second Opinion which is aired on Channel 16 at 7 p.m. on Thursday.

Her other show, Living Santa Fe, where she interviews artists, community leaders and politicians, airs on Channel 16 on 7 p.m. Sundays. "During the legislative session I make it a point to get opposing views from Democrats and Republicans so that the community will be better informed and make their own decisions on the different issues," she explains.

Boggio-Montgomery says persistence has always served her well. "I've been a member of the Marty Sanchez Links de Santa Fe board for several years and helped out with the project for 15 years that's how long it took us to get it done. We all worked very hard and today it's a wonderful recreational facility for Santa Fe," she says.

Boggio-Montgomery moved to Santa Fe in 1956 when her father was sent to New Mexico as a manager for Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. The only child of John Boggio and Emma Box, she graduated from Santa Fe High School in 1959 and attended The University of New Mexico for three years. After he mother died, she moved back to Santa Fe and got job in data processing for the New Mexico highway department where she worked for 26 years. She retired in 1987 as the department's public affairs director. It was at the highway department where she met her husband, Ed Montgomery. They were married in 1995 and spent their retirement sailing in Mexico, fly fishing in New Zealand and playing golf every place they vacationed.

On July 9, Ed Montgomery died suddenly as a result of a fall at the couple's condominium in Pagosa Springs. Boggio-Montgomery is doing her best to adjust to the recent loss of her husband by staying busy with her two television shows, visiting friends and playing golf around New Mexico, especially at the Marty Sanchez Links de Santa Fe where she did her part to turn a dream into a reality. The sudden death of her husband has also given her a different perspective on life. As she says, "I don't think people truly appreciate their lives until they get older, that's when you realize how tenuous life is and you begin to appreciate everyday for what you have."

Ana Pacheco is currently at work on the city of Santa Fe's 400th Anniversary Commemorative issue that will be published in The Santa Fe New Mexican on Feb. 7. Her weekly tribute to our community elders appears every Sunday she can be reached at 505-474-2800.