about Dale and JJ

Judy (JJ)

JJ Kramer is a native of Johnstown, PA and has devoted her life to nursing. Starting as a Candy Striper 39 years ago, JJ is now an RN in the recovery room at Mercy Medical Center in Durango, Colorado. She received the Veteran’s Administration “Nurse of the Year” award in 1997 as an MICU nurse and has received several others. Work isn’t always in the recovery room; on several occasions she has stopped at automobile accidents on the highway to help the injured. Showing just a little marital bias, her husband Dale says “she is really good— I’d want her at the scene if I was in an accident!”

Putting her green-thumb to tending vegetables and flower gardens then canning the harvest (“reminds me of my mother…”), arts & crafts and voracious reading fill her non-nursing time. She also enjoys trekking in the local hills and mountains with her llama train. Her favorite causes and volunteer efforts are to homeless shelters and hospital crisis nurseries.

Dale Kraemer

A native of Nevada, Dale’s early days were spent working in the family land surveying and civil engineering business. Later he would work as a collier/fireman on a narrow-gauge railroad, a chef, a law enforcement officer and a firefighter. His passion the past twenty years, though, has been teaching; from adjunct instructor of biology labs at Fort Lewis College to elementary and middle school students and as a TA in physiology and anatomy labs. “I stumbled into the classroom quite by accident, but cannot imagine doing anything else today”.

The past 27 years have all been in education. Awarded the Outstanding Graduating Senior as President of the Tri-Beta Honorary Research Society and President of the Non-Traditional Students Organization at Fort Lewis College; he is currently a team teacher of special ed students at Aztec High School in Aztec, New Mexico. He has been awarded the Sun Award and the Teachers Making a Difference Award at Aztec and numerous other awards over his career. “Most rewarding job I have ever had! There’s no doubt that teaching is hard, but everyday I am honestly glad to go to work”. Part of the focus in today’s budget-stressed teaching economy is wrangling funds to support projects such as classes in culinary arts, carpentry and retail/convenience store operation for learning and physically disabled students. “My full time job is teaching, but my part time job is grant writing, I’ve been awarded over $30k in grant funds over the last years that have directly helped us teach these kids.” Meet some of the students.

“Besides the classroom gig, I am sure proud of the track teams I coached—they pulled in a number of district championships from 1990-2003.”

Dale and his students also built and maintained the local community garden and greenhouse in Durango, benefiting the Durango homeless shelter and soup kitchen from 1999-2003.