{"id":128296,"date":"2026-05-09T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-author-honors-father-in-chicken-soup-for-the-souls-latest-release\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T11:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T17:00:00","slug":"cortez-author-honors-father-in-chicken-soup-for-the-souls-latest-release","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-author-honors-father-in-chicken-soup-for-the-souls-latest-release\/","title":{"rendered":"Cortez author honors father in Chicken Soup for the Soul\u2019s latest release"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Curt
Curt Melliger stands with his new American flag, bought with the money he earned from the publication of his story \u201cChristmas Eve 1944\u201d in Chicken Soup for the Soul\u2019s latest release, \u201cCelebrating the Spirit of America: 101 Stories about the Country We All Love.\u201d (Ann Marie Vanderveen\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Cortez author Curt Melliger always had a tattered American flag from his dad, a World War II veteran, swinging from his porch. With some of the proceeds from his publication in Chicken Soup for the Soul\u2019s newest release, \u201cCelebrating the Spirit of America,\u201d he\u2019s replaced it with a brand new one.<\/p>\n

The book contains 101 stories from authors throughout the U.S. celebrating the country, its culture and the people contained within on the precipice of its 250th anniversary. Melliger\u2019s piece, entitled \u201cChristmas Eve 1944,\u201d honors his father and the choices he made during a brutal winter stationed with Allied forces in France.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember we used to ask dad for war stories because he was an army sergeant,\u201d Melliger said. \u201cHe would tell us about the kindness and compassion war brought out in people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Melliger\u2019s dad and his troops saved the best portions of their rations \u2013 canned peaches and brownies \u2013 to bestow upon children residing in a small town in the south of France, ravaged by war and hunger.<\/p>\n

\"Curt
Curt Melliger has written about nature, philosophy and quirky people from his days on the road. In \u201cChristmas Eve 1944,\u201d he contemplates the compassion of his father, a World War II veteran who fought against Axis forces in the Battle of the Bulge. (Ann Marie Vanderveen\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cThat\u2019s why we won the war. We had men like Sergeant Melliger and the Nazi\u2019s didn\u2019t,\u201d Melliger said, displaying a solemn black and white portrait of his father in uniform with a razor thin mustache, gazing off to the side.<\/p>\n

Given his family history and his travels through the United States, Melliger is honored to be a part of a collection dedicated to his country.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the Garden of Eden in planet Earth,\u201d Melliger said. \u201cI love Canada and I\u2019m sure I would be happy in Australia or something but this is home sweet home.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his Cortez dwelling \u2014 the first and only home he\u2019s ever owned \u2014 eagle feathers dangled from the ceiling, portraits of family, friends and literary idols donned the walls, and a watchful orange cat named Coconut perched on the coffee table.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ll ever leave,\u201d Melliger said. \u201cI call this my little corner of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Melliger arrived in Durango at 17 years old after his van broke down. He had been accepted into college in his home state of Nebraska but, after encountering the artists of Southwest Colorado, he shifted course.<\/p>\n

\u201cI called the folks and told them I\u2019m not coming back,\u201d Melliger said. \u201cThe road called me.\u201d<\/p>\n

He spent his youth hitchhiking across North America, abiding by the philosophy: \u201cAlways do what you want.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt times it felt like there were angels picking me up,\u201d Melliger said of the quirks, oddballs and warm strangers who\u2019d pick him up off the side of the road and whisk him to his next destination.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost Americans are pretty cool,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In Alaska, he read \u201cOn the Road\u201d by Jack Kerouac for the first time and realized his calling to write.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a magical realm when you find what you\u2019re supposed to do and do it,\u201d Melliger said. \u201cSometimes it seems like there\u2019s pieces of a jigsaw puzzle falling out of the sky and falling on my writing table and I\u2019ve got to put them in place.\u201d<\/p>\n

He met the late Colorado philosopher, mountaineer and skier Dolores LaChapelle at the Silverton post office in 1994 and \u2013 while battling his nerves over meeting a writer he deeply admired \u2013 told her he wanted to write a book about hitchhiking, skid row and other wild American experiences. She said it was just like Jack Kerouac.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe became the best of friends,\u201d Melliger said.<\/p>\n

He dedicated his first book, \u201cHeaven Here On Earth,\u201d to her. Also under his pen are two other books \u2013 one unpublished \u2013 and over 100 articles in print.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow I\u2019m 69,\u201d Melliger said. \u201cSomeone asked me the other day if I was retired and I said \u2018no, I\u2018m a writer. I\u2019ll never retire.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

However, below Mesa Verde and under the watchful eyes of Sleeping Ute Mountain, Melliger has finally settled down after a wild run.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like staying in one place these days,\u201d Melliger said. \u201cI just love it here in town.\u201d<\/p>\n

At his peaceful home of five years, stroking the cat in his lap, he\u2019s reading through the rest of the stories in \u201cCelebrating the Spirit of America,\u201d which he called \u201cheart-touching.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u201cI
\u201cI realize there\u2019s a lot of problems in this country,\u201d Cortez author Curt Melliger said, adding that despite its challenges, America holds a special place in his heart for all the time he\u2019s spent traversing it. \u201cThe bottom line is this is the greatest country on the planet,\u201d he said. (Ann Marie Vanderveen\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cWe wanted to turn away from the divisiveness out there and focus on the real America \u2013 the way it can still be and the way it is in our daily lives,\u201d publisher Amy Newark wrote in a statement about Chicken Soup for the Soul\u2019s newest release.<\/p>\n

For Melliger, his America is nestled in Southwest Colorado where he can kick up his feet and tell the stories of a life well-lived.<\/p>\n

Chicken Soup for the Soul\u2019s collection, which contains Melliger\u2019s writing along with 100 other stories about America, is available for purchase at chickensoup.com\/book\/celebrating-the-spirit-of-america<\/a>.<\/p>\n

avanderveen@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

a life traversing and writing about the US, Curt Melliger is still enamored with his country<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":128297,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[1060,639,21,28,29,6419],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-128296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-arts-entertainment","tag-book","tag-cortez","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter","tag-tj-trueanthem"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128296"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=128296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}