Bill Thibedeau, Gilpin County. Two commemorations this past weekend celebrated the lives of two stalwarts of the Nederland community. Large crowds at each event spoke to the impact these two individuals had on this community. First was Barb Lawlor, acknowledged in a gathering at Chipeta Park. Barb was recently honored by the Town of Nederland, as well as having a scholarship in journalism established in her name. Many of us need no introduction to what Barb Lawlor meant to this community. She was the ace reporter scooting from one story to another, none too mundane or dorky for her to cover. She probably averaged 4 to 5 stories per week for our beloved Mountain-Ear for over 35 years, while creating a home for four adopted kids as a single mom. She added so much to this community and brought us together with her reporting. She knew us all, warts and all. She was part of the glue that holds this little community together. She did this with grace and wisdom and humor. We miss her terribly.

The second individual is Dee Gibney Long. So many people attended at the Ned Community Center that they ran out of chairs and had people standing in the balcony. In addition to being an exceptional mother and wife, Dee became an expert in early childhood development and eventually managed 10 early childhood centers in the Denver region. She impacted many with the way she lived. The numerous testimonials to her life were so moving and heartfelt that tears were flowing everywhere as the crowd listened. It was impressive to see how many people Dee and her parents, Doug and Pat, had touched in their lives.  

It is also a testimonial to love. The love that Doug and Pat gave to Dee, then was passed on through her to the thousands of children that Dee was responsible for educating. The slide show demonstrated this power of love and family, over and over. 

There’s a story about the “power of one”, that goes something like this. “As the old man walked the beach at dawn, he noticed a young man ahead of him picking up starfish and flinging them into the sea. Finally catching up with the youth, he asked him why he was doing this. The answer was that the stranded starfish would die if left until the morning sun. ‘But the beach goes on for miles and there are millions of starfish’, countered the old man. ‘How can your effort make any difference?’ The young man looked at the starfish in his hand, and then threw it to safety in the waves. ‘It makes a difference to this one,’ he said.”  

One at a time, that’s how Barb and Dee healed the people in their lives. I think Barb and Dee had that loving, centered energy that gives so freely to others, a purposeful, centered kind of love that heals people one by one. They showed the power that one individual can have in others’ lives. I think they both lived the prayer of St Francis of Assisi. “Lord, let me be an instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is discord, union. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is sadness, joy. O divine master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.  

Think about the many people in our lives who also give this wonderful, centered, supportive love. This community has its share, and they are also the glue that keeps this scrappy mountain community moving forward. I can think of many. Look around. Acknowledge them while you can, because as we learned in these two celebrations of life, life is fleeting. Be here now.  

(Originally published in the June 13, 2019, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)