Lifelong Mancos resident Karen Pilcher has been selected as the 2026 Mancos Days Pioneer Queen by the Mancos Colorado Days Association for her commitment to family, hard work and service to the community she calls home.
Pilcher’s selection continues a family tradition. Pilcher’s mother-in-law, Gladys Pilcher, was named Mancos Days Queen in 1974, and her aunt Lois Humiston was the queen in 2007, according to her daughter, Tonya Fish.
Pilcher grew up in Mancos with her parents Thomas Charles Honey and Sarah Emmaline Honey and her three sisters Wanda, Shirley and Linda. She graduated from Mancos High School in 1965, and was a member of Rainbow Girls, choir and band growing up.
She and her husband, Oren Pilcher, met during high school and married on Oct. 23, 1965. They attended Oren’s senior prom together.
“Dancing has always been a huge part of their lives as husband and wife,” Fish said.
They lived in Provo, Utah for a brief time before moving back to Mancos, where they raised their two daughters, Lora and Fish.
As a teen, Pilcher worked as a maid at the Welcome Motel in Mancos and a summer job at the hotel and restaurant near the Durango Train Station. She had hoped to be a nurse after high school, but was unable to enroll due to issues with paperwork.
“Although she could not complete formal nursing education, she fulfilled that calling in meaningful ways by providing compassionate home healthcare for elderly and ill family members and extended relatives from 1982 to 2008,” Fish said.
While Oren Pilcher owned and operated his business, Karen Pilcher worked as a bookkeeper and assistant mechanic. She also devoted herself to being a mother to their two daughters, teaching them sewing, cooking, canning and leather work. Pilcher served as a Girl Scout leader from 1975 to 1983 and as a Mancos Pom-Pom sponsor from 1985 to 1988.
In 1989, her family took over the farm full time, and she took on daily operations of irrigation, bookkeeping, equipment operation, meal preparation, laundry, gardening, canning and assisting with calving, but stayed away from one specific aspect of the farm.
“She drew the line at operating the hay liner, D4 dozer and backhoe, declaring, ‘If I learn, I’ll have to use them – and I don’t want to,’” Fish said.
Once Oren Pilcher retired, Karen Pilcher shifted her focus to yard work – something Fish said she enjoys, attending Celebrate Recovery and activities with her church. She also loves time with her daughters, three grandsons and eight great-grandchildren.
bduran@the-journal.com
