Crested Butte, Colorado

Beautiful Day at Crested Butte

Carolan at Crested Butte, Colorado

Snow Angels in Crested Butte--Sarah Dean

There were three snow angels in a cemetery in Crested Butte, Colorado this weekend, created by Carolan, Elaine, and Heather, friends from the Montana Conservation Corps. Right there in two feet of snow by Sarah Dean's grave. Right there in one of the most beautiful places in the world.

Along with the snow angels, I suspect there were real angels there too, as her parents and friends remembered Sarah, how she blessed the earth for her thirty years. Lots of tears, but also story telling and abundant laughter.

"Let perpetual Light shine upon her, dear Lord."

"Hail, Holy Queen" A Prayer for Those in Deep Sorrow. Mourning Sarah Dean.

Today my daughter Carolan asked me to say the prayer "Hail, Holy Queen" for her--over the phone, as she drove from Portland, Oregon, to Kalispell, Montana. She had just found out that her great friend from the Montana Conservation Corps, Sarah Dean, had been suddenly killed Saturday, August 11th, in a collision near Gunnison, Colorado.

Sarah had been living in Crested Butte, Colorado, and we got to meet her last summer when we visited Carolan in Crested Butte and Salida. I felt a special link to Sarah through her mother, who was a student at St. Mary's College around the time I was a student at neighboring Notre Dame. My heart breaks for Sarah's mother and father, back near St. Louis, and her grandparents, who had lived in Crested Butte. And for her brother, her brokenhearted friends throughout the country, in Americorps, the Montana Conservation Corps, and all her friends in Crested Butte.

The "Hail, Holy Queen" (called "Salve Regina" in Latin) is not a prayer for modern sensibilities, it would seem. It is a prayer edged with despair and a deep sense of loss, a sense of exile, spoken from the "vale of tears." Here are the words of the prayer we said at the end of every rosary (which we said every night when I was a child):

Hail, Holy Queen,
Mother of Mercy,
Our life, our sweetness, and our hope.

To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve,
To thee do we send up our sighs,
Mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.

Turn, then, most gracious advocate,
thine eyes of mercy toward us,
and after this our exile,
Show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

O Clement, O Loving, O Sweet Virgin Mary. Amen.


Sarah's funeral and burial will be at the Queen of All Saints Catholic Church in Crested Butte this Friday, August 17th. She will be buried in one of the world's most beautiful spots, a place where Sarah's heart danced.

Here is the official obit:

Sarah Elizabeth Dean

July 20, 1982 - August 11, 2012

Sarah Elizabeth Dean was born in Gunnison, Colorado on July 20, 1982 to Jim and Barbara Dean. She was a glowing bundle of light, love and joy (and feisty spirit) from the moment she entered the world. Sarah died in a tragic car accident outside of Gunnison on August 11, 2012 while headed to her favorite place -- the great outdoors -- to go camping in Lake City with her beloved friend, Jill McCord, and pooches they so loved, Dozer and Koocha. Dozer, the fun-loving St. Bernard, and loving companion of Tyler Hammer, joined Sarah in the eternal outdoors and sunshine.

Sarah loved life to the fullest and loved all things Crested Butte where she spent a good portion of her young life with her grandparents, Jim and Sue Dean, or Granny and Pa as they were known to Sarah. Sarah and family (Mom, Dad and brother Jimmy) moved to Arkansas in the early 80's and this is where she would stay until she graduated from Fayetteville High School. Sarah attended college at the University of Arkansas and eventually got a degree in Classical Studies after years of enjoying life, travels, outdoors and returning to where her heart was -- Gunnison County. While in CB Sarah did as all locals did, worked too many jobs (Town of Mt. CB, Acme Liquor, Wine House, CBMR, CB Community School, etc. etc.) and was an avid outdoor woman who hiked, camped, skied, fished, and played as much as possible in the beautiful lands. Sarah loved gardening and cooking, putting love and light in everything she did. In 2010 Sarah did a stint with the Montana Conservation Corps as a crew leader and absolutely loved her time in Bob Marshall Wilderness area. Simply put -- Sarah enjoyed every minute she got to spend outside, whether for work or play.

Sarah is survived by a world that so loved her, as she gave freely and openly of her love to all she came into contact with. Sarah will be deeply missed by her grandparents, Bill and Mary Jane Duensing of Kansas City, Missouri; grandparents, Jim and Sue Dean, now of Cheyenne, Wyoming but formerly of Mt. Crested Butte, Colorado; parents Jim and Barbara Dean of University City, Missouri; brother Jimmy Dean and his loving wife, Lindsey and the apple of Sarah's eye, niece, Eliza of Dayton, Ohio; her companion and boyfriend, Tyler Hammer of Crested Butte; numerous aunts, uncles and cousins from every corner of the United States. There will be an empty place in the hearts of all who knew Sarah, but rest assured she will look over all she loved and shine down from the heavens until we meet her on the other side.

Pallbearers are Jimmy Dean, John Dean, Paul Dean, Tyler Hammer, Tyler Dean and Ericka Smith.

Memorials in Sarah's honor can be made to: Adaptive Sports Center of Crested Butte and Crested Butte Land Trust.

Services will be held at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, August 17th at Queen of All Saints Catholic Church in Crested Butte with graveside burial to follow at Crested Butte Cemetery (camp chairs welcomed for seating.) There will be a reception to follow at the church Parish House.

"Verweile doch! Du bist so schoen!" Faust, Crested Butte, and Me

While at Crested Butte, Colorado a couple weeks ago (one of the prettiest places on earth), a thought like a streak of lightning jolted through my mind: "Verweile doch! Du bist so schoen!" That is the old utterance from the mouth of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust. It means something like, "Please stay . . .you are so beautiful!" And in Goethe's play it was the signal for the Devil to come and try to collect Faust's soul. Faust thought that if he ever felt totally happpy and satisfied that his life would no longer be worth living, that his soul would be dead. So he agreed with the Devil that expressing that kind of satisfaction would be the signal to collect his soul and hurl it into hell.

For a moment in Crested Butte, I felt that way. There with Linda and my daughter Carolan and friends Jan and Dick. High up in the Rocky Mountains. Wildflowers in full spectacular bloom. High peaks still covered by snow fields. Emerald Lake, Cottonwood Lake, Lake Irwin--spectacular alpine lakes. Faust's seductive thought entered my mind.

Top photo, Linda and Carolan in Salida, Colorado. Bottom, Bob at Emerald Lake, near Schofield Pass, north of Crested Butte.

The Beauty of Colorado

Recently we visited my daughter  and some friends in Colorado. Now I love Northeastern Ohio. I love our green fields and big Lake Erie. but I must say that I can hardly grasp (or explain) the incredible beauty and complexity of the geography, the towns, the spirit, and the people of Colorado.

I'll try to discuss this beauty in the next few days. But for now, let me share a few photos. Top: Slate River Valley, north of Crested Butte, looking toward snow-covered Cinnamon Mountain. Middle, Linda on a snow/avalanche field near Emerald Lake and Schofield Pass (north of Crested Butte). Bottom: Coughlin family at Schofield Pass, not far from Marble, Colorado and the Maroon Bells. Photos from July 2011.