From 'AB'...

I never thought I could or would have a friend like Lara. When I first met her and realized what her "hobbies" were, I figured she’d be impatient with my timid approach toward life and get bored easily… I seemed so different from her amazingly led life filled with incredible adventures and friends she shared them with… But it seems that all of us, her friends that is, have a shared consciousness about her boundless support and appreciation for people of all styles and levels…

Although I didn’t know Lara for as many years as most who have written here, we bonded quickly as across-the-cube mates at the PNW lab in the U-district… Many a fun and healthy lunch was had at Whole Foods… At the office, my main contribution to her working experience was to get her to stop typing and clicking the mouse so quickly so her screen wouldn’t freeze up all the time… I had moved out there alone and Lara would invite me to come to West Seattle and walk dogs… Soon our office moved to Fremont and we shared a windowed office together which was just awesome… We continued our bonding – making little coffee and shopping trips and even more often through shared humor… I remember walking into the office one morning and her asking me something to which I responded: "Whatever! I can do what I want!" –a’ la Cartman from Southpark – to which she responded by pointing at me excitedly saying: "You watched Southpark last night!"

Soon after, I felt the need to move back east to be closer to parents, and other family and friends… But I was fortunate enough to still get to see her and our boss, Don McKenzie, at the annual Landscape Ecology conference… The first one was in Las Vegas and Chad and she had come there early to go climb. I had never climbed before but they invited to me to come along with them and before the day was over convinced me to try it… I was scared, but of course had the utmost trust in both of them… As I got near the top of a 5.9 (not really understanding what that was) and was freaking out, they reverse-psychology’d me into getting there by saying I didn’t have to unhook the rope, they’d be happy to do it… Meanwhile other climbers at the site were encouraging me on… I just shouted "Trixie Kelloggzes" a’ la Gollum from ‘Lord of the Rings’… which got cheeky giggles from below… then I unhooked the rope…

Fortunately, I have kept Lara’s spirit with me through these years away from Seattle by having all sorts of Lara-related anecdotes to tell new friends I make along the way… In fact, I had just told 2 stories while visiting friends in Knoxville just before receiving this news… Friends of mine in West Virginia felt as if they knew her by how often I mentioned her and were enormously empathetic for me and saddened by this news… When looking at this website, they admitted that they thought I might be slightly exaggerating about how amazing she was, but after reading all of your words have realized that not only was it all true, but way understated… I guess I was just trying to keep it humble like she did… I’m so glad I have all that and have been passing it on… A good friend here in West Virginia said to me after the news: "You always seemed just a little brighter and stronger after seeing Lara…" I realize now after I missed out on seeing her one last time that this is indeed true… It was an honor and privilege to be loved by and to love Lara…

Alynne Bayard; Davis, West Virginia