From Gabi

My mom received this story from Gabi Benel. Thanks Gabi.

I remember taking the Alpine Skiing teaching exam with Tom. Every day, Tom would give me a ride to the exam at Highlands. His jeep would pull up in my driveway in Basalt, Tom driving and John Palmer in the passenger seat. Both Tom and John would be swilling their homemade “stay healthy” juice, some acrid concoction of grass, vegetables, vitamins, and who knows what else. John swore that it was only that and women that kept him healthy. I was in the backseat trying to survive the putrid smell. Tom and John had the timing of the drive to Highlands from Basalt down perfectly – they knew that if we reached the intercept lot at the exact right moment, we were golden for getting to Highlands on time. We pushed the need for this exact timing more and more every day, as we would arrive closer and closer to the designated meeting time for the exam.

Despite his intricate knowledge of the timing of the route, Tom would never fail to miss the turn for Highlands at the roundabout every single day. And every single day, John would give him hell for it. I sat doubled over in laughter as John and Tom would hurl insults back and forth as we made a full loop around the traffic circle so that we could retry the right turn up the hill. Without fail, by the time we made it up to the parking lot, both John and Tom would be on to talking about some other topic, John about what Carbondale was like twenty years ago, and Tom about the new beautiful home he was working on.

I can’t believe that they are both now gone. I miss both intensely, especially their love for life and their families. I think I’ll stay away from that disgusting wheat juice , but I hope to emulate Tom’s values and amazing attitude.

-Gabi Benel

English in Action

As many of you know, for many decades my dad was a very active volunteer for many non profit organizations. For the last couple of years one of those organizations was English in Action here in the Roaring Fork Valley. Many times he expressed how much he had learned from his "student", Ignacio, who improved Dad's Spanish maybe as much as Dad improved Ignacio's English. It was something that Dad was very dedicated to and looked forword to every week. I got a very nice e-mail from English in Action that they wanted to share on the blog:



Hi Emily,



We were so sad to learn of your father’s death. Tom was a volunteer for English In Action and I thought I would send the following to post on the blog if you would like to.



For the past year and a half Tom has been a volunteer tutor for English In Action, a program to help immigrant adults learn English and participate more fully in our community. He will be remembered with gratitude and admiration by our staff. We didn’t know Tom well, but he impressed us with his kind spirit and thoughtful nature. Tom was incredibly generous with his time and made a tremendous difference in the life of his student, Ignacio. Ignacio and Tom had been meeting with since September 2008. Ignacio lost his vision to glaucoma six or seven years ago. He lives in Basalt with his wife and daughters, but was quite isolated due to his blindness and the fact that his English was limited. Each week Tom would take Ignacio to the library, Basalt Town Hall or the English In Action office for his lessons. The chance to spend time away from home was very important to Ignacio. Ignacio’s English improved dramatically through his time with Tom and the companionship that Tom offered him was invaluable. Ignacio tells us that Tom had such a positive attitude and was always willing to help him. Tom showed a great deal creativity in his ability to help Ignacio learn English, even though he could not use books or traditional teaching methods with him. We know that Tom volunteered for other organizations and we believed he made a substantial difference in the lives of people throughout our community.



Sincerely,

Lara Beaulieu, Liz Penzel and Chris Palasz

The staff of English In Action