Writing and Filming
Filming and Research
In the Fall of 2005, I met a woman named Kendra Paschall who mentioned having bought a church in the mountains named St. Patrick’s Catholic Church. I was curious to know more, so a few weeks later, Verna and I decided to have lunch in Georgetown (pictured, right) and we detoured to Silver Plume to look for the church.
It wasn't hard to find. You can easily pick out the little white church a few blocks away from Interstate 70. It was really quite charming, and I did an impromptu photo shoot of the church and the village to use for a college photography class assignment. And then, I started wondering who had built this church and why?
Reading up on the Colorado gold and silver boom I learned about the formation of Georgetown and Silver Plume, their railroad, and the Italian and Irish Catholic immigrants. A TV Show aired in November describing the Paschall’s renovation and provided me with some very compelling A-V footage. Interviewing several Silver Plume residents by phone, I uncovered the 1970’s purchasers and what they had done with the property. The more I learned, the more intrigued I became with possibly telling this story.
So, what finally motivated me to do all the work necessary to produce this film? Here's a few more reasons:
Immigrants
I’ve always had a keen interest in immigrants and history. My Dad (pictured here) 
came to America from the British West Indies in 1906, and raised me during the 1930’s and 1940’s in a community of Italian immigrants in Bernardsville, New Jersey. Our frequent family gatherings of Salmons and Doigs from Antigua were probably much like the convergence of those Italians in Silver Plume during the 1870’s. Our protestant heritage was as important a part of our identity, as Catholicism was to those miners and their families.
Church Buildings and Catholicism
My background as a minister is another reason for my interest in churches. When I made the decision in 1950 to enter the ministry, I was a teenage member of a church that met in a little chapel (The Little Church in the Wildwood in Mendham NJ pictured right), quite similar to St. Patrick’s. It was a congregation of people who felt misunderstood by the religious world around them, and who became knit together in their common beliefs and practices. Later, I was carefully schooled in anti-Catholicism at a Church of Christ college. My current acceptance and ardent interest in Catholicism is 180 degrees from where I was religiously back then. This documentary is a small celebration of my freedom from the prejudices of my past.
Italian and Irish Catholics
I’ve always admired the hardworking Italians of my childhood hometown. Today we even have Italians in our otherwise British family. My niece, Nancy Salmon, married Dr. Dario Fenimore, a dentist, who comes from Italian Catholic families in Bernardsville NJ and Brooklyn. As you can see, Nancy's sons bear the likeness of their Italian heritage.
Through my family research, I also discovered an Irish ancestor five generations back in the Salmon side, named Benjamin O'Connors. He lived during the 18th century on the island of Anguila in the British West Indies, having emigrated there from Devonshire, England (not sure who went from Ireland to England). His daughter Margret married a Lake, and his great granddaughter, Alice Lake, married a Salmon in Antigua.
Change
Life is about change and the world marches on, demanding that we change, adapt, grow, evolve. Those 1880's members of St. Patrick’s doubtless were saddened when the mines closed and they were forced to move on. Memories of 19th century masses, baptisms, weddings and funerals left along with those early members. Even the memories of 20th century celebrations, theater and weddings are vanishing with the aging and death of today's 20th century generation.
Today’s citizens of Silver Plume have always had the little white church in their lives. Some felt insecure that the new owners might change its identity so drastically that it would no longer resemble their lifetime memories. The exterior couldn't be altered since the town is a Registered National Historical Site. However, what would the Paschall's do to the interior?
When completed, most expressed joy at the way Kendra and her parents kept the integrity of the original sanctuary while turning it into a huge family room.
The 2004 transformation has given birth to a whole new reality for this aged structure. "Transformed" is my effort to tell that story.
― Rich Salmon, January 2006
Click here to watch a 3 min PREVIEW of Transformed.
