…So don’t.

This was a favorite saying of our dear friend, Sandra Jeanne Blackwell, who passed away January 4, 2010 after a prolonged battle with cancer.

I’ve been trying ever since then to think of what made Sandy so important . . . and not just to me.  I wanted to put something up here, but the vast majority of what made her so special to me personally was just that…personal. Sitting in the chapel this morning along with what had to be over a thousand other close friends of Sandy, listening to the wonderful comments by family and friends, I finally began to sort it out.

Like everyone in that large chapel, watching the touching scenes of her life on the big screens, I could go on about personal experiences—but those were between her and me—or those gifts of character she had that affected everyone she met, like the signature smile that imprinted the most beautiful wrinkles in her face, even when she was young, or the way she listened . . . really listened . . . to what you said, and made you feel, at least for that moment, like the most important person in the world.

But  I’ve known several people, including my own mother, who had an equally warm and ever-present smile, or that ability to listen with nonjudgmental respect and an utterly sincere desire to help.  It made Sandy special, yes, to every person who met her, but Sandy’s legacy goes far beyond that.

On what might seem a totally different topic, I was looking online the other day for information on the upcoming Nationals . . . times, or something . . . and I ran across an article from a Seattle newspaper, and the comments posted by readers about Spokane. There were some rather nasty references to “Meth City, USA.” There is, I suppose, some validity to the title . . . Spokane’s railroads and rather isolated nature, along with a proximity to easy Canadian crossings make it rather vulnerable to such accusations, but it’s a whole lot more than that, and a wonderful place to live.

More to the point, in recent years, Spokane has gained a whole new title: Skate City, USA. While other cities might contest this title, there’s no question that skating events here draw. Big time. Hockey, figure skating…it doesn’t matter. People come to Spokane to watch skating.

But skating events, especially in a city as geographically isolated as Spokane is, require more than just a nice venue. Hockey teams need a place to practice season long. Incoming figure skaters need a place to practice with ice comparable in quality to what they’ll be competing or performing on. You need knowledgeable people, from ice-preparation to skate sharpening. In other words, there needs to be a skating infrastructure.

Not many people can be in the right place at the right time with the right drive to have a direct hand in turning a city’s self-image around. Sandy was and did. Many years ago, when her children were young, she was the best kind of skating mom, not only to her own children, but to all the other kids in the area trying to learn to figure skate and play hockey in a city with extremely limited options.  But Sandy’s drive to do all she could for her kids (both biological and spiritual) didn’t stop with sewing costumes, driving cars and cheering those kids through good times and bad. In the early 1970′s, she, along with her husband Bud and a small handful of other brave, like-minded people, set about giving those kids a year-round place to skate.

Thus was the Ice-A-Rena born.

Certainly she was one of several responsible for the initial groundbreaking and building of the rink, but in the years since, Sandy became the heart and soul of the Ice-A-Rena. She was a constant presence in the office, but more, a constant driving force in the lives of everyone who entered the doors, not only her co-owners/workers, but every child who came to learn to skate. She kept the dream alive through good times and bad.

Through this dream of giving kids a year-round place to skate, she helped give Spokane a new lease on life. Without the Ice-A-Rena, there’d be no professional hockey in Spokane. Without the Ice-A-Rena, there’d be no USFSA Nationals. Without the Ice-A-Rena, Spokane would still be stuck with the nickname Meth City, USA rather than Skate City, USA.

And without Sandy, I think it’s safe to say, there’d have been no Ice-A-Rena. That’s a hell of a legacy.

And I guess, it does come down to a personal debt afterall. Without the Ice-A-Rena, skating wouldn’t have become anything more for Carolyn and me than an occasional jaunt down at the park in winter. Possibly not even that. And without skating, without the Rink, we’d never have met Sharon, or Joan . . . or .  . .

Sandy, we won’t forget.

Ever.