Foundation for
Reconciliation
Natural Goodness
"Lori was born in Torrance California. She
was our 5th child of six. Gary, my husband, was doing his residency
in radiology at UCLA.
From the time Lori was born, she has added a
great deal of love and comfort to our family. She has been the
peacemaker in our family. She always assumes the best in people and
gives everyone the benefit of the doubt. She has a huge capacity to
love and accept people. She can be trusted to keep a confidence, and
rarely, if ever, gets angry. She is a perfect example of
compassionate service and is always looking and providing ways to
enrich the lives of others…..a natural born social worker…. which
happens to be her profession.
We moved to Provo when Lori was a year old.
She was raised as a heterosexual in the Oak Hills 5th Ward. The ward
boundaries were two blocks square…chocker blocked full of large,
active in the church, families and only one non-member family.
I, as her mother, made sure that she was
involved in all the girly activities. I was sure she would grow up
to be a famous ballerina, but as we all know now, things do not
always happen like we have planned.
Lori is a very aggressive soccer player. She
has been playing in a women’s league in Boise for the last eight
years and scores lots of goals.
Lori attended the Provo schools and had a
wonderful group of friends. She went to Provo High where she played
on the tennis team and was involved in student government. She
graduated with high honors and was one of the commencement speakers.
While in high school, she was ‘courted’ by
several Colleges and Universities, but decided on BYU with a good
scholarship. That was safe.
She went on Study Abroad to London. Her
group also traveled to other countries.
She transferred to Reed College shortly
after our son, Craig, was excommunicated with the September 6
excommunications. She was beginning to explore.
At the time of her transfer, BYU was ranked
the most conservative university in the US and Reed the most
liberal. She did experience cultural shock, but survived.
By this time, Gary and I were very confident
in our gaydar. We knew many gay people, and felt that Lori was gay.
We were not surprised when she came home one Thanksgiving to hear
her verify out thoughts. We were happy when she came out because we
knew she had found herself.
She majored in psychology at Reed and
graduated with high honors an l996.
Lori joined the the Teach for America
Program - An Americorps program that recruits non-education majors
to teach in under-resourced public schools for two years. TFA was
really what helped her see how much inequity there is in the United
States. In Shreveport, LA , she taught students with learning
disabilities in two different schools - one only had African
American students, the other was predominantly white - and the
schools had different resources, kids had different opportunities,
etc. She also found herself more interested in the social/economic
situations of her students than in the academic
planning/preparation/teaching she was doing.
Lori taught one additional year in East Palo
Alto, CA, which was considered one of the most dangerous school
districts in our nation.
Lori is a favorite Aunt in our family. Our
grandchildren love her dearly and look forward to the times when
they can be with her.
Lori moved to Boise, ID, in 1999. In 2002,
She graduated with Masters in Social Work from Boise State
University and started working at Saint Alphonsus Cancer Care Center
and has been there ever since. She has truly helped many of the
patients in a surprising number of ways from using our airlines
miles to fly in family members from all over the world, to finding
housing, jobs, and fighting insurance companies for health care
coverage.
She also started a foundation that is alive
and well which helps with health care costs and other needs of her
patients. Lori has received several recognitions for her outstanding
work at the hospital.
Lori met Sada & Melisa, a mother-daughter
refugee duo from Bosnia on their second day in the United States.
Lori had signed up to be a volunteer English tutor - but it became
much more than that. She helped Sada & Melisa with all kinds of
needs that came up as they acculturated to the US. Lori has helped
many other refugees besides these two.
Lori has volunteered as the “Bereavement
Coordinator” for Camp Erin since it started in Idaho in 2005. Camp
Erin is a camp for children ages 6-18. Most kids who attend camp
have had a parent, sibling, or close grandparent die. This last
year, Lori helped interview most of the children who attended camp.
Seventy-two kids benefited from the camp this year.
Lori
loves Boise. She also loves her job - it is very rewarding. She
likes to tell people she gets paid to “do the right thing and to
just be kind and supportive to people.” She is inspired by the
courage of her patients - and the reminder to try to live in
accordance with your values every day."
-Millie
Watts, Provo, UT, September, 2009
