In this episode of the We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast, Adam Williams talks with Keith Baker, Chaffee County (Colo.) Commissioner, retired U.S. Navy Commander, and former owner of The Trailhead (Buena Vista, Colo.), to name just a few chapters in Keith’s story.

Keith talks about his country roots in Georgia and his perception of life as a child in the Sixties, a decade that had its challenges, for sure, but Keith was formed as an optimist from his early years on and overall saw it as as a golden era of possibility and progress, like with space flight and the moon landing in the summer of ’69. 

They talk about Keith’s ambitions to be a Naval aviator, though he ultimately would become a career Surface Warfare officer instead, and would serve closely with General Colin Powell, and other top leaders, at the Pentagon.

Keith shares his thoughts on the hallmarks of great leaders, and what it was like to work with a consummate leader like Colin Powell, who was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time.

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The We Are Chaffee: Looking Upstream podcast is a collaboration with the Chaffee County Departments of Public Health and Housing, and is supported by the Colorado Public Health & Environment: Office of Health Disparities. 

You can see show notes, read the show transcript, and learn more about the Looking Upstream podcast (and related storytelling initiatives) at wearechaffee.org, and on Instagram and Facebook @wearechaffee.

We Are Chaffee (wearechaffee.org) partners with KHEN radio (khen.org) in Salida, Colo., for local broadcasting of the Looking Upstream podcast.

Credits

Adam Williams, host, producer and photographer; Jon Pray, engineer and producer; Andrea Carlstrom, Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment; Lisa Martin, We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator; and Heather Gorby, graphic and web design.