Bruce GavettWhen I was growing up in Manhattan, Kan., in the 1950s, my father’s “life lessons” to me could be summed up by the phrase: “Leave it better than you find it” – his version of the Golden Rule. It applied to everywhere you went, everything you did and everyone you met.
Los Alamos, by its nature, is a community that has been built and shaped by “outsiders”, each giving what they had to offer to shape the whole. In the beginning we were outsiders and neither of us worked at the Lab, so most of our early contacts were through the schools and the recreational facilities, especially the Pajarito Ski Area. Up until 1980 Pajarito was largely sustained by a small number of excellent seasonal employees and a large number of dedicated volunteers – too numerous to list here.
Last week Cindy and I attended a memorial service for a true gentleman named Bruce Gavett, an “outsider” from Vermont. In 1980 Sig Hecker, president of the LASC, hired Mr. Gavett, an experienced New England ski area/ski academy owner and operator, as the first full-time General Manager of the Pajarito Ski Area. For the next 20 years “Father Gavett”, still aided by many volunteers, gave tirelessly and unselfishly of his time, his expertise and his heart to improve and sustain the quality and reputation of our ski area and our community, and the safety and enjoyment of skiers, young and old.
Bruce truly made everything he touched better than he found it!
Thank you Bruce from all of us!!!
