By Anne Groebner

The rustic Pinetop cabin of Carol Sletten and Eric Kramer was everything I expected it to be. The living room featured two walls of books encased by beautiful wooden built-in shelves — many vintage editions, some inherited from her grandfather and father — surrounded by framed artwork, cultural artifacts, and relics. Cozy leather couches rest on antique rugs that cover a beautiful wooden floor. Natural wildness filled the outer landscape — wildflowers’ stems and leaves that tried to survive winter, now waiting to bloom, and giant metal sculptures stood watch, waiting for spring. It was the home of both writers and creatives — both intellectual and humble. 

Ginger, a dog they rescued from Tails of Love (a local dog and cat rescue), tentatively greeted me; however, after I had been there a while, she wandered over for some pets and to share the bowl of nuts that Carol had placed near me. Her independent demeanor and physical features reminded me of a coyote, and although she was cautious, she was very gentle. 

Carol is a very gracious host and an amazing writer, artist, and photographer. She is originally from Minnesota; however, her father was a professor who spent years getting advanced degrees in science. She lived in several places and ended up attending college in Iowa, where she studied fine art and creative writing — two career paths she used her entire life. Her art focuses on nature, and her writing brings history to life. She has held a month-long residency at the Petrified Forest National Park, and Apache County has selected 10 of her paintings to use in their library to library event.

Carol has lived in the White Mountains since 1970, where she was married and had two girls. Before she met and married Eric, he was an editor for the Associated Press and a union vice-president, which won equal pay for women journalists. When they lived together near New York City, Eric was an editor for Dow Jones and then worked for Bell Labs. After nearly 10 years, they landed back in the White Mountains. During her early career, Carol worked as a reporter, a copywriter/designer for an ad agency, a writer/illustrator for a university information center, a teacher, and a gallery owner.

Both she and Eric wrote and published the “Story of the American West, Legends of Arizona,” a book that took 25 years to research. It starts two-hundred-eighty million years ago and covers a thoroughly detailed history of east-central Arizona up to World War II. They collected oral histories from both Native and non-Native sources and other historical resources in several locations — the result is a book filled with Arizona’s history, including the Pleasant Valley War, the Wild Bunch and other outlaws in the White Mountains, Arizona’s first capital, the lost Apaches, Zane Grey and many other fascinating stories of the wild west.

Carol also wrote and published Three Strong Western Women, which is based on a play she wrote and performed for years. It features stories about a Mormon handcart pioneer, a Lutheran missionary, and an Apache warrior woman — all healers. Each woman describes a life of struggle and overcoming tragedy in the early western days. The book includes a copy of the play, which has received critical acclaim, and 17 chapters of background history written by Eric. The covers for both books are Carol’s paintings, and she sketched all the illustrations.

Carol is currently working on a novel, “Apache Jesus,” about a powerful historical Apache leader, and Eric spends many nights in Fort Apache helping some of the most fluent Apache speakers create an Apache dictionary. It will be online and in print — something so advanced that the technology allows you to place your phone over the page to hear the words in both English and Apache.

After all these years, Carol is grateful for the help she was given throughout her career, and she says, “I’m at the stage where I would like to promote other people and help them. I believe that if we promote our region together and focus on what’s good about it, it benefits everybody.”



You will find Carol’s paintings and photographs at the Arts Alliance of the White Mountains in Show Low, the Heritage Center in Springerville and the Pinetop Gallery.