GO WEST FILM FESTIVAL BOARD OF DIRECTORS
David Caldwell, Co-President
Originally from the Midwest, David followed the western rainbow toward purple mountain majesties and enjoyed a long career of university teaching and research, including courses on film reception and film history. After attending numerous festivals in the US and Germany, David jumped at the opportunity to become a founding board member of the Go West Film Festival in 2014. Like Greeley’s spectacular vista of sunsets over the peaks, every Go West festival is a unique and inspiring celebration of the frontier on film. Move over, Berlinale. Go West is here!
Ron Edgerton, Co-President
Responding to Horace Greeley’s call to “Go West Young Man,” Ron and his family settled down in Greeley where he taught History, directed the Honors Program, and administered the International Film Series at the University of Northern Colorado. He is an avid reader of Western fiction. He and his wife Thelma are proud members of the gang that pioneered the Go West Film Fest.
Stephen Story, Treasurer
Steve grew up in southwest Colorado during the height of the great cowboy movie era and every week went to the Saturday matinee with its cowboy movie and weekly serial. He and his wife moved to Greeley to attend the University of Northern Colorado and decided to stay and raise a family. Steve was the controller for a commercial cattle feedlot for 20 years and then an accountant. Volunteering several years with the Go West Film Festival combined two of his favorite pastimes – westerns and helping. Steve joined the Board in August 2019.
Thelma Bear Edgerton, Secretary
Growing up in the mountains of Kentucky inspired a longing in Thelma that was hardly diminished by living in the flatlands of Florida for many years. Her love of mountains inspired her to climb the tallest peaks in most of the western states. Thelma moved to Colorado to earn her doctorate in psychology. She and husband Ron enjoy discussing films and being a part of the group of cinematic pioneers who created the Go West Film Festival. Thelma and Ron look forward to sharing western films each fall with their many friends and acquaintances.
Bob David
Bob shares this autobiographical reflection and message to Go West fans:
From the prairies of mid-America, I used to squint my eyes to the west for a glimpse of mountain shadows on the horizon. A family member once told me, “You are a Wyoming guy born into a Minnesota body.”
My cousin-neighbors had horses. My grandparents had a winter sleigh with bells. We all had RedRyder B.B. guns, then utilitarian long barrels. And for vacations our family traveled West exclusively: Montana, Wyoming, the Dakotas, Colorado, California, the Desert Southwest. Ask me about a furious red dust storm that rolled our family tent in Nevada.
Through young adulthood I enjoyed skiing the Sierras and Utah, worked one summer in Yellowstone Park, drove cattle up to summer pasture in Star Valley, and often hiked and fished the Rockies. My spouse and I lived far west for six years in the San Francisco area. Then after raising two children in Iowa, my wife, Emory Gillespie, and I moved to Greeley in 2021, in part to live as locals in this magnificent land.
To this uber-talented, hard-working Go West Film Festival Board, I bring a love of west-themed music and documentaries, an appreciation of deep, majestic western movies, and a strong interest in highlighting and protecting the west’s coldwater resources.
It is great to be here, and it is even BETTER that YOU are here enjoying our presentations! Welcome and Thank You so, so much!
Khristine Gamer
Inspired by fond childhood memories of first seeingThe Good the Bad and the Ugly from the back seat of her parents’ Thunderbird at a Denver drive-in the late1960s to watching TV westerns and movies with her grandparents, Khris co-founded the Go West Film Festival with her trail partner, Victoria Boone. Together, these two gals formed a posse of wonderful, like-minded folks to elevate the status of western films and launch the only film festival in Colorado devoted exclusively to westerns. And who says librarians are a meek bunch? Wild, maybe, but never meek. Yep, Khris and Victoria started the film festival as librarians with the High Plains Library District and were mighty proud to have the library district support us in our early days.
Now retired and following a brief hiatus from the Go West Film Festival, Khris has dusted off her chaps, climbed back into the saddle and is thrilled to rejoin the board of directors. Her hope is to wrangle up yet more western tropes and cliches with an eye to also changing the way you think about westerns---whether classic, contemporary or fringe, the Go West Film Festival has something for everyone.
Ryan Green
Ryan assists in marketing efforts for the festival. As the Marketing Director for Yoder Family of Companies, he brings a wealth of experience in brand and audience development. A fourth-generation Colorado native, although he’s certainly no cowboy, Ryan feels a strong connection to the American West. He first attended Go West with his father-in-law, a lifelong actor with a deep love for western films. The experience fostered a strong personal connection to the festival, inspiring him to join the board in 2022 after his father-in-law’s passing. Ryan lives in Greeley with his wife and two daughters.
Eva M. Jewell
Eva is a native of Augusta, Georgia, home of the Master’s golf tournament and all things southern. She moved west with her family in 1984, and while Eva loves it here, some adjustments were necessary. For example, it turns out that grits somehow failed to migrate westward together with the pioneers. Thankfully, for several years Mama closed the grits gap left by Greeley grocery stores and sent them in the mail.
Its spotty breakfast cuisine aside, Greeley proved to be a welcoming place for raising a family, making lifelong friends, and building a professional career.
After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Augusta State University, Eva earned her Master’s degree in Gerontology from the University of Northern Colorado (Go Bears!). In 1987 she joined the staff of the Weld County Department of Human Services Area Agency on Aging and spent the next 32 years providing a variety of aging services to the seniors of Weld County, Colorado.
Among the agency’s projects was a successful annual film series called Painting a Landscape of Aging Through Film, an effort that Eva led for over 11 years. She served as Director and Division Head of the agency for the last 18 years of her time there.
Eva retired in 2019 to spend more time with family and friends and to pursue traveling, gardening, golfing of course! and volunteering for great causes—among them, the Go West Film Festival. Eva became a member of the Board of Directors in 2025 to saddle up with a dynamic and enthusiastic posse of western fans!
Jeff Reebie
Jeff was raised in New York but fell in love with cowboys and the West after watching episodes of Spin and Marty on the Mickey Mouse Club TV program. He moved to Colorado in 1971 to attend The Colorado College and earned a degree in English Literature. He is a writer and author who has published stories about rodeo and wild horses and is currently working on screenplays. For twelve years, Jeff was a contestant in rodeos from Cheyenne to Pendleton.
David E. Sharp
David grew up in Amarillo, Texas against a backdrop of tumbleweeds, glorious sunsets and the Palo Duro Canyon. Naturally, he heard that George Strait song more times than you could say, “Up from San Anton,” if you had a whole day with nothing better to do. David eventually moved to Greeley, Colorado to see the other side of the High Plains. Here, he discovered mountains. They’re kind of like canyons, but inverted so they stick up out of the ground instead of digging in. He is now a librarian at the High Plains Library District, where he loves to help people discover new interests in books, movies or even a George Strait song. His short story “Pine Cone” appeared in a 2020 Colorado Book Award winning anthology. David has also published three novels. Lost on a Page, re-released in 2021, became a series that now includes the sequels Lost on a Page: Character Developments (2022) and Lost on a Page: Twisted Plots (2023).
