Wednesday, September 23, 2020

R.I.P. Karen

Karen Baxter Kelemen self portrait
We like purpose-driven travel, whether it’s for an international service project or something as simple as visiting family or learning more about our world.  Driving 1400 miles to Denver, Colorado for our sister-in-law’s memorial service was a new reason for us. 

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.

Skyscape Oil
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.


Simple, distanced, and beautiful




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. 


Our  Paige Springs camp
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.
Somewhere between Bridger and
Evanston, WY

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.

Moraine Valley, RMNP


Bear Lake.  (Mark's Photo)



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
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.

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.
Hazel's first book


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.

 
       Karen Baxter Kelemen



     By that measure, Karen  was a huge success!  R. I. P. Karen.