Ann Elder - A Gift To Us All
Lit From Within....
I said goodbye to Ann in my office last Friday, March 27, just as I did every week. She was about to head home to Tom for the weekend. She always made a point to pop in each day but most especially before she began her weekend trip home. Of course I didn't realize it would be the last time I would see her.
It seems I had just said my first hello to Ann - when she arrived in my office on September 2, 2008, at
From the first moment I met her, I remember her smile and those sparkling eyes. She seemed to be lit from within. As I came to know Ann over the last seven months I came to more deeply understand that she was a really really special person. She was so kind and considerate to all of her colleagues. She was so competent and talented in carrying out a multitude of tasks. She juggled and managed a daunting workload singlehandedly and never complained.
We teased eachother a lot. I teased her about that Tom person to whom she was so devoted and those two pooches that ranked only slightly second to Tom.
As her supervisor, I watched her adeptly step up to the plate of increasingly complex responsibilities in her first position as a park division chief. She hit home runs in everything she took on. She went about doing her job professionally and competently – without fanfare or drama. She was a dream to have on our staff and as part of our park team. She is irreplaceable.
In the few days since her sudden and too cruel death – I have begun to hear from legions of her friends across the National Park Service. The words and emotions are all similar and the heartbreak is huge.
Ann was a completely wonderful human being. Ann carried a special joy inside and a goodness that is rare. Ann made a difference in all the lives she touched. No doubt beginning with the campers at the Mar-Lu-Ridge Camp in
Ann Elder was a gift to us all. We are better for having known her.
Joan Anzelmo Superintendent, Colorado National Monument
