Gail and Jim Little. Courtesy photo
By BERNADETTE LAURTIZEN
Los Alamos
We have lost many cherished members of our commUNITY, during the month of March. I can’t write about all of them, but I have to share a few that have greatly impacted my life.
I am grateful to Dave Fox, the Fox family and CB Fox. They hired my mother and gave her a great work family, allowed her to work in the candy and acquire things she could never buy o her own. What I didn’t learn until a long time after, was that Mr. Fox helped her to buy her dentures.
My dad died young at 53. My mother was on her own with no insurance, no life insurance and needed to work. No one knew that about her. The purchase of those dentures was probably hard to accept, but he did it and now the world knows of one more kind thing he did for another.
Saturday, I went to the funeral of Gail Little. I used a picture from 2016, when they celebrated their 65th anniversary. We saw them for lunch during the pandemic in the drive thru at the Betty Ehart Senior Center. She let the information slip one day and I couldn’t resist having something to celebrate. She didn’t mind our sneak surprise.
Gail prayed for our staff through 2-1/2 years during the pandemic, she praised the work of our employees. She blessed us every time she saw us and it meant a lot, especially during the crazy times of no toilet paper.
The phones rang off the hook and every time she left a message, she told us she prayed for us and blessed us. Her husband Jim was recently nominated for a commUNITY Asset Award and when they couldn’t attend, I emailed her the words and said we’d hold up a photo and read the nomination at the event.
Don Gerheart
Finally, there’s Don Gerheart and this one hit many of us hard. Once again, during the pandemic he was also nominated for a CommUNITY Asset Award.
The ceremony would be a Zoom and Don along with Sam Wolfsberg took the Director’s Choice award. When Don learned that musician Jan McDonald nominated him, he was astounded that we weren’t honoring Jan. Don’s contributions to the New Mexico Music Association were vast, I hope someone writes about that, too.
Don offered to run for the LARSO Board during the pandemic and signed on for the duty of Secretary. I came to his house many times, masked so he could sign checks and we could pay bills at work. I tried to bring him baked goods for his service to us and dog treats for Addie. I always called her Addie Girl (like Atta Girl). She was so happy to see me and would jump up on his desk while he signed checks to show off the treat.
I hear seniors say they don’t want a funeral. Memorials are also for those that are living. It allows us to have closure by paying our respects. I have become a huge softy in the pandemic and find it very hard to speak at funerals, but I try. When I couldn’t do it recently, I put it in writing so the family would get to read it later.
I won’t get that opportunity for Don, but I will treasure his contributions to LARSO, and his genuine kindness to my former staff and to me. We love you Don, we miss you already and we hope your Addie girl is half as loved, as you loved her.