I learned on Thursday morning that my good friend, Lynne, had passed away during the night.  I was sad.

I first met Lynne about six years ago when she called me introducing herself as a CATS member and she wanted to talk to me about putting on a marathon here on San Juan Island.  A local marathon had been a dream of mine since moving here in 1995, so I was interested in what she had to say.

We meet later that week, along with Hedda King - who was the President of CATS - and Lynne begin to explain that she thought a marathon would be a great fundraiser for CATS.  I asked her if she knew what a marathon was.

"It's a running race".  She replied.

"How far"?

"I don't know, five or six miles".

"It's twenty-six point 3 miles".

"Why would anyone want to do that"?

And so our relationship began.  Working as a team Lynne, Paul Hopkins, Hedda and many others put on the first San Juan Island Marathon and Half Marathon in 2002.  We spent many hours in planning, talking about all that is involved in putting on a race this size and Lynne never once lost any of her enthusiasm for what she was doing.

Her involvement in the race planning dropped about the same time of learning of her illness, but we would keep in touch by phone or email and she was always supportive and helpful.

Last June we wanted Lynne to be our offical starter of the marathon, but she was not able to.  Having her there would have been nice, but knowing Lynne, she wouldn't want the recognition.  She was that type of person.  A hard worker, but didn't like the limelight.

I had talked to Lynne last week and she sounded upbeat and energetic.  I was going to go out to her place and help her with computer workings, but didn't cause I felt like I was coming down with something and Lynne didn't need to be around any one who might pass something on.  We were going to try and get together this week.

My loss. 

Thank you Lynne for being such a good and supportive friend and I will miss you!