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| Karen Baxter Kelemen self portrait |
Karen Baxter
Kelemen, 66, died unexpectedly in her sleep March 21, just days into Colorado’s
lockdown. It was hard on my younger
brother Neal and 26-year-old nephew William.
Karen was racked by severe pain from a nearly fatal auto accident at age
22. Yet, she powered through it to
become a mother, writer, youth pastor, musician, and accomplished artist. She was such a
beautiful person, inside and out. (See
her definition of success at the end of this post.) In 2001, she wrote:
Pain says, PAY ATTENTION
There is its gift,
Sometimes it is gnawing,
Like wild dogs breaking bones to the marrow.
Sometimes it is insistent,
Like someone pounding on the door who just won’t go
away.
Sometimes it is unbearable,
Yet, somehow I endure.
We are consoled by her sky paintings which now grace our guest bedroom.
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| Skyscape Oil |
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| Skyscape pastel from solo gallery show at SOHO West |
The socially-distanced service was
simple and beautiful in the small park in front of Neal and William’s
home. And it was a nice opportunity to visit
with siblings, cousins, and friends we haven’t seen in a long time.
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| The Bros and nephew William |
Getting There
We lucked out
getting there and back. We departed
Salem on Labor Day, heading east in the smoke and high winds against a
bumper-to-bumper stream of Labor Day traffic.
Some of that traffic was undoubtedly evacuees of the Metolius River
campground where we had planned to stay our first night. We pushed on four more hours to Paige Springs
campground in SE Oregon near French Glenn.
It was too
windy and smoky to eat outside. We
wondered if the smoke and winds were going to follow us all the way to
Denver. But overnight the winds shifted,
and we awoke the next day to clear blue skies.
Unfortunately, that wind change was catastrophic for so many Oregonians
and the communities we had driven through on Monday. Without cell coverage, we were oblivious to
it all and hiked 12 miles round trip to the confluence of the Donner and
Blitzen rivers.
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| Our Paige Springs camp |
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| Where the Doner and Blitzen Rivers converge |
On that same
day, much of northern Colorado and southern Wyoming were hit with up to 10
inches of snow—not a good omen for Karen’s memorial. We drove through snow and
camped in mud at Rock Springs Wyoming, but when we arrived Friday afternoon,
the weather was perfect.
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| Somewhere between Bridger and Evanston, WY |
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| Rock Springs fairgrounds. That town has to be the armpit or anus of Wyoming |
Following the
memorial service, we camped just outside Rocky Mountain National Park with my younger
brothers, Mark and Neal. RMNP was my
very first camping experience at age 7, and I fondly remember that trip
vividly. My last time there was in 1968 when
I climbed 14,259-foot Longs Peak with Mark and sister Sandra. I couldn’t believe the crowds, but then in
this era of COVID I guess I should.
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| Moraine Valley, RMNP |
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| Longs Peak in the distance, elevation 14, 256. From Trail Ridge Road, at over 12,000 feet, the highest paved road in the world. It was cleared of snow just a day before we drove it |
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| Three of the four bros and kathy. Near Trail Ridge Road visitor center, elev. 12,000 |
The last
evening there, our Uzbek daughter, Feruza, and her boyfriend from New York had dinner with
us while on the way home from a Utah camping road trip. It was so nice to see her in person, if only
briefly. And it was the first time Mark and Neal got to meet her.
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| Kathy, Feruza, and Ron |
Getting Back
Our original
plans were to take our time getting home, savoring the golden aspen foliage, and
possibly driving north along the coast of California on Highway 1. But I got a hernia in late August
following an epic morning at the gym.
Although surgery was scheduled for October, it was getting worse. So, we called the surgeon and got the date
moved up to the 28th and took a direct route home. Just as well, as the fires in California made
the Highway 1 route no longer possible.
As we drove
through dense haze in the Columbia gorge, we couldn’t see the river. Fortunately heavy rains started in the
Willamette Valley the night before cleaning the valley air. By the time we got to Salem, it was a steady deluge, and the damp air smelled wonderful. Once again, we lucked out!
Hazel
This was the
month we were supposed to be in London providing day care for our six-month old
granddaughter, Hazel. But the COVID
upended everything for everybody, and compared to many, we still have it very
good. We hope you do, too.
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| Hazel's first book |
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| Solid food fun! |
"What We Can, While We Can"
OR
"What We Could, While We Could"
(It’s
still WW2 either way.)
Karen’s definition
of success
(and Ralph Waldo Emerson’s)
To laugh often and much,
To win the
respect of intelligent people and the affection of children,
To earn the
appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends,
To appreciate
beauty,
To find the
best in others,
To leave the
world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed
social condition,
This is to have
succeeded.To know that
even one life has breathed better because you have lived.
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By that measure, Karen was a huge success! R. I. P. Karen.
