TELLURIDE – Historically, Telluride has been a pioneering community whose citizens aren’t afraid of rolling up their sleeves when work needs to be done.

Celebrating community members who embody a can-do spirit lies at the heart of the Telluride Foundation’s Outstanding Citizen Award, which this year recognized not one but three outstanding community members.

Andrea Benda and Dan and Greer Garner were announced as Outstanding Citizens for 2010 earlier this month, creating an Outstanding Citizen trifecta for this year’s award. Though they come from seemingly opposite ends of the local resident spectrum – the Garners are relative newcomers, moving to the region full-time in 1999, while this year marks Benda’s thirtieth year in Telluride – they all share a similar passion for community service.

Dan and Greer Garner

When the Garners sit down to dinner, they have no lack of things to talk about.

Between them, the duo holds a myriad of positions on local boards and councils, participating in the Mountain Village and Telluride communities in volunteer capacities ranging from government to social services. After moving to the Mountain Village in 1999, the “retired” couple from Dallas jumped headlong into serving their new community, and they haven’t looked back since.

“We both share the common core belief that it’s important to reach out and be helpful,” explains Greer of their jam-packed schedules. Greer is on the board of the San Miguel Resource Center, chairperson of the Mountain Village Design Review Board, and is an advisory member of the Mountain Village’s Comprehensive Plan Task Force. Meanwhile, Dan serves on the boards of the Telluride Historical Museum, Telluride Medical Center Hospital Board, and the Telluride Montrose Regional Air Organization, and is currently serving his second four-year term on the Mountain Village Town Council.

“We have some spirited discussions, and we don’t always agree,” Greer admits, noting however that at the end of the day it’s all about working together – both as a couple and individually as civil servants – to find creative solutions to some of the community’s biggest challenges.

When the Garners moved to the area full-time ten years ago, they brought with them valuable experience in their respective professional fields. Dan worked for Ernst & Young, one of the “Big Four” professional services firms, for 35 years, working in a number of realms including international director of the company’s Entrepreneurial Services division. The job sent the Garners and their two now-grown sons Reed and Alex, to Germany for three years, an experience that influenced them deeply. Dan also founded the Entrepreneur of the Year Awards, an internationally recognized award that has been given to such acclaimed entrepreneurs as Michael Dell and Steve Jobs.

For her part, Greer was a model in Dallas before moving to Germany, where she became president of the American Women's Club of the Taunus and helped found a prison visitation program that provided counseling to Americans held in German custody.

When the family returned to Dallas the Garners opened a European-influenced wine shop called the Tasting Room. Greer managed the store for four years, during which time they opened two more branches. She then returned to school, eventually getting her PhD in psychology.

When they decided to leave the heat and traffic of Dallas behind and move full-time to their second home in Telluride, “we knew we would have a tough time coming up here and sitting around doing nothing,” Greer says. So, as a means to both occupy their spare time as well as meet people in their new community, they started getting involved with various groups and initiatives.

Greer first became involved with the Telluride Women’s Network, eventually becoming president (a title she held for two years). She soon volunteered with the San Miguel Resource Center as well, where her training and degree as a clinical psychologist provided the local nonprofit with invaluable counseling services. She was their clinical advisor for seven years.

Meanwhile, Dan immediately got his foot in the door at the Telluride Historical Museum, serving as a board member during the years when the organization was successful in passing a mil levy to support the museum. During that time he was also involved with the nonprofit Dance in Telluride, responsible for bringing the Joffrey Ballet to Telluride. Dan also co-founded the online ticketing business, Telluride Ticket.

Ultimately, politics sparked Dan’s interest and in 2003 he ran and was elected to the Mountain Village Town Council. During that time he also served on the Mountain Village Metropolitan District Board and was instrumental in transitioning and dissolving that entity. More recently, Dan has lent his expertise to both the Hospital Board and the Telluride Montrose Regional Air Organization.

“We stay pretty busy,” Dan says, noting that at times the couple’s various obligations can feel overwhelming. “But we both have a strong sense of responsibility to the community, and want to make sure that things are done the right way.”

“Everyone has talents and skills that, when people reach out and become involved, can really make this a great place,” Greer adds. “We just feel like we want to be part of the solution.”

Andrea Benda

When Andrea Benda moved to Telluride, the town boasted just one paved street.

“I fell in love, not just with the natural beauty but also with this feisty community. Everyone had a ‘we’re all in this together’ attitude; everyone was working so hard to make a living here, and it felt like you were a pioneer in a growing enterprise,” she recalls.

With only 700 or so other neighbors, in those days people in Telluride had little choice but to get involved in making the community better, she says. “There was this spirit that if you see something that needed to be done, you would just do it,” she says, noting that sometimes it was as “silly” as finding a way to broadcast the Superbowl when there was no television service.

In the thirty years since Benda first moved to town, that “spirit of doing” has stayed with her, from her work to bring the new Wilkinson Public Library to fruition and reopen the doors of the museum to her tenure on the Telluride Town Council.

“It was really easy to come here with a certain set of skills and a desire to make a community in such a fabulous setting. I found satisfaction in getting involved in helping to meet the needs of this growing community… I always felt that’s what has kept me here,” she says.

One of the first things Benda tackled when she arrived in Telluride was strengthening the Wilkinson Library, serving for nearly 15 years on the library board and helping to spearhead the construction of the new library building.

She also served four years as the executive director of the Telluride Historical Museum, leading the charge to establish a strong program and adequate funding after the museum had been closed for nearly ten years during the building’s restoration.

In addition, Benda was a founding boardmember and singer with the Telluride Choral Society, and a founding boardmember of Telluride Chamber Resort Association and the SRO Theatre Troupe. She currently serves on the board of the Telluride Chamber Music Festival and has volunteered for numerous other Telluride festivals.

In 2003 Benda was elected to the Telluride Town Council, a position she held until last year.

Throughout her last three decades of service, Benda feels she has received as much from the Telluride community as she has given.

“This community has definitely been my family,” she says, noting that this was especially true after the death of her husband in 1993. Carrying on with her community service projects seemed the only way to give back to a community that had given so much to her in her time of need, she says.

Receiving the Citizen of the Year award this year was “humbling,” Benda says, because Telluride is filled with citizens of the year. “There are people making a difference everyday,” she says. “The things I’ve done have just been a channel for that energy. I’ve always worked with energetic, smart, passionate people… it’s always been such a team effort.”

Benda is in the process of closing the Telluride chapter of her life, having recently sold her house. She plans to travel and spend time with family, but will return to Telluride often, and will continue her cemetery tours through the Telluride Historical Museum.

“I feel like I’ve grown up in Telluride, through everything – the thick and the thin, the tragedies and the ecstasies – and I’m ready now to let some other people take on some of the challenges.”

Benda and the Garners will receive a grant of $2,500 from the Telluride Foundation, to be given in their name to the local non-profit of their choice. A community celebration to honor the three will be held Aug. 31, 4-6 p.m. at the Ridge Club.

Telluride Foundation Outstanding Citizens of the Year dating back to 2003 include Marilyn Branch, Kathy Green, Jane Hickcox, John Pryor, Bill Carstens, John Micetic, Lissa Margetts, and Terry Tice.

Citizen of Year celebration will be held on Tuesday, Aug. 31, from 4 – 6p.m. at the Ridge Club.