Notable Neighbors

Les was born at Great Lakes Naval Base outside Chicago in 1946 but grew up in pre-Disney Orlando, Florida. His dad was a veterinarian who served in the Navy during World War II, “and I wanted to be a veterinarian, just like Dad,” he says. But he discovered that he loved fishing and the outdoor life more than medicine. “I didn’t want to be trapped in a laboratory all day. I wanted to study the world outside and see wildlife in its natural habitat.”

The Beery family had relatives in Colorado, and after graduating from Edgewater (Fla.) High School in 1963, Les decided that the Rocky Mountains would be a great place for him to work. He had been a fishing guide there during family visits since age 10, and had worked summers on the trail crew in the national park in his teens. He was accepted at Colorado State University in Fort Collins and majored in biology and geology … but, alas, there was one major pitfall. “I flunked out,” he says. “I got an A in everything I was studying: girls and 3.2 beer.”

On the other hand, Kim Faulkner, born and raised in Boulder, Colorado, was a serious student who showed great promise in the arts, enabling her to get into the University of Colorado in Boulder on a scholarship. Her major was fine arts, and her specialty was pencil and pen-and-ink work, both in black and color. Her works were excellent enough to get her into her first art show at age 19. Alas, she too ran into a pitfall and didn’t finish her degree there. Why? “Because I met Les Beery,” she confesses.

Les had a friend who needed help getting some furniture to the very art show where Kim was exhibiting her wares. After setting up, Les put his talent for scouting out girls in their natural habitats to good use. “I saw this beautiful art exhibit and this beautiful young lady who was being guarded closely by her stern-looking mother,” he remembers. He managed to avoid the mother and strike up a brief conversation with that beautiful daughter, but he left without knowing Kim’s name. His keen eye had spotted one piece of art that was labeled “K. Faulkner,” and he took prompt action when he got to his apartment. Locating a phone book, he started calling every Faulkner in it until he found the right one. He then wrangled a date for the next day … and on that date he boldly explained to Kim that he was going to marry her. She was taken aback. “I said, ‘Noooooo,’ Kim exclaims. “I didn’t even know his name. I thought it was Wes, not Les!”

Well, five months later, after a whirlwind romance, they did get married on December 21, 1968. “It was a Saturday,” Kim says, “and the courthouse was closed. We had an appointment with a judge who spent about 30 minutes trying to talk us out of it. He said we were too young, and we should just live together and see how it worked out. But our minds were made up.”

Their parents’ reactions were predictable. “My mom was not happy,” Kim admits. And Les’s dad was equally upset. In their eyes, Les was a penniless student with no prospects, “a ne’er do well” as his dad bluntly put it. In the 1960s antiwar feelings were strong, and the hippie movement was highly visible. While Kim and Les weren’t exactly hippies, they dressed the part and lived like free spirits then. They had no stable means of financial support. Les had “longish” hair and played the guitar. Their apartment was a converted corner of a barn, its bare wooden floor furnished with cushions and beanbag chairs. “We never made it to Woodstock, though” Les remarks. “We hung around Boulder.”

For a while anyway. Kim was still at CU, and during spring break the pair decided to tour around Arizona, New Mexico, and southern Colorado, “looking for a place to set up a leather shop,” Les says. Leather? A shop? Where did that idea come from?

“Wide watchbands were very popular in those days, and I wanted one,” Les avers. “I had a friend who had owned a leather shop, and I asked him to show me how to make one.” His friend obliged him, he made a watchband for himself, and all his former roommates wanted one, too. Voila! He became a leather watchband maker.

The young couple moved to Albuquerque in 1969 and (ta-dah!) opened The Shire Leather Shop. Their skills meshed perfectly: They’d buy tanned leather hides, Les would do the cutting and embossing, Kim would do the sewing and the designs, and both did the selling. Kim was also the bookkeeper once the money started coming in. But rather than pouring in, it trickled in.

There was a market for leather goods in Albuquerque, but the buyers were mostly students and other low-income folks. “We couldn’t make a comfortable living selling custom-made, hand-cobbled sandals for $10.00 a pair,” Les points out, and Kim adds that there was one bigger problem. “We had our first child there, but it wasn’t a safe place to raise a child. We had a small cabin outside of town, and our neighbors were into drugs. Drugs were everywhere. On top of that, we had all our stuff stolen one time. We had to get out of there.”

And so, their itinerant life continued. They sold the leather shop in 1970 and went first to Fort Collins in Colorado, then to Estes Park for a summer, living in a basement room in Les’s grandparents’ house. Les worked making “20-minute” leather watchbands for the summer tourists. Then they moved to Gunnison, Colorado, where Les went back to school and came out with a bachelor’s degree in biology and geology and a secondary school teaching certificate.

For a while they lived and worked on the family ranch and farm in eastern Colorado, where Les managed the agricultural aspects. He then did some substitute teaching in Boulder and Kim got a job at a leather store. “We didn’t know what we wanted to do, so we decided to join the Peace Corps,” Kim says. “We were accepted and set to go, but the Peace Corps couldn’t get any country to take us because we had a young child.” Strike One. Next they figured it would be “cool” (in more ways than one) to homestead in Alaska and picked out an area where they could settle … but unfortunately, two weeks before they were scheduled to depart, the homestead program got canceled. Strike Two.

Les was then offered a teaching job at a rural junior/senior high school in Elbert County. “They had 12 students graduating, and I was asked to do everything: teach the science courses, coach the basketball team, drive the bus and buy my own laboratory materials, all on $6,300 a year.” That left nothing to live on, so Les opted out. Instead, says Les, “we made up some samples of belts and sandals and other stuff and made another tour through the Southwest,” to try selling their product to retail stores rather than individual customers. Lo and behold, after that 10-day trip, they came back with $50,000 in wholesale orders! Home Run!

“We started making leather goods like crazy, and we had three stores at one point. We were doing so well that we were working 24/7, and there was no time for vacations,” Les says with a laugh. Having at last achieved a dream many would envy, Les, Kim, and their burgeoning family (daughter Kier and sons Travis and Terall) stayed on in Estes Park for the next 35 years. They set up C.I.L., Inc., doing business as “Craftsmen in Leather” and “Village Leather, Ltd.” retail stores offering quality leather accessories. They put up a commercial building in Estes Park with space for their office, manufacturing and storing finished goods. Later they built another large self-storage facility outside of Denver and sold space to eager customers.

In 2008, having sold off their businesses, they moved to North Port, Florida, and they finally settled down in Englewood in 2017. They still own a cabin in Estes Park, where they stay during the summers. Both are accomplished anglers and spend as much time at that sport as they can, whether in Colorado or Florida. In fact, if you call Les and reach his voice mail, he’ll tell you “I’m out fishing,” and he means it. They have published three excellent fishing guides – two for Southwest Florida and one for Rocky Mountain National Park – that are “musts” for anyone who takes up a rod and reel in these areas, and they also write a regular column on kayak and shore fishing for the Englewood Review.

As for what else they do in their spare time, Les does yard work and Kim does artwork – and her prints are show-quality. She also plays the drums, does Hawaiian hula, African dance and belly dancing. You might spot her behind a drum at Manasota Beach of an evening, or see her at one of the galas her group of dancers performs in.

And if you happen to spot a couple of anglers in yellow kayaks fishin’ on the bay side of Gasparilla Island, there’s a good chance it’s Les and Kim at their favorite pastime. Like everything they do, they do it together. Seems like it was always their destiny.

Les and Kim may be reached at their website. Go to www.anglerpockeguides.com. or the Angler Pocket Guides page on Facebook. Their Angler’s Guides tell you all you need to know … and more.

Dean Laux is exploring interesting folks living in our community. If you know of anyone with an interesting background please send an email to: [email protected]. Include the person’s name, contact info and give a brief description of the person’s background.