La Sal loses a long-time resident

Sherry Youngblood, a resident of La Sal for many years, passed away peacefully at her home on July 14 after a brave battle with pancreatic cancer. Her family, three daughters and one son, spent the last few days with her prior to her passing.

Sherry first came to La Sal in the 1950s. She lived here for several years, moving away and returning several times.

She had many friends in La Sal over the years. Those friends also rallied around her the last few months as she fought her illness. 

Her faithful little Chihuahua, Joey, was her biggest protector and pal. He will find a new home with Sherry’s son Donald and his wife. All who knew Sherry also knew Joey.

Many of her friends remember happy hours learning crafts from Sherry as well as from her mother Lucy Shipler who, with her husband Les, lived in La Sal for many years. Sherry leaves behind family and friends who were grateful to have been associated with her. 

A resident of La Sal tested positive for COVID-19 two weeks ago. Whether this is the first such case or not, I don’t know. It’s the first of which I’ve heard.  

Though folks must quarantine “at home” in such incidents, in our area that does not necessarily mean the sequestering must be behind closed doors. We have a lot of wide open spaces here where one can hide out and not encounter people.

In a trip to Hatch Point early in the pandemic we did not encounter one single soul. If you have to be in quarantine, there’s no better place than in our part of the world. Let’s hope this virus does not spread to many folks in Sierra La Sal.

Another long-time resident of La Sal (or for the last more than a dozen years – Three Step), Joan Wilcox hit the big time as you probably noticed in an article in last week’s paper.

We’ve known Joan and hubby Mike for nearly a half century, first meeting her in 1973 shortly after we moved here and made this our forever home. In fact, they’ve been our best friends for that long.

Joan has always been a superb horsewoman, as is her mother who is in her late 80s. My daughter learned to ride in Joan’s 4-H group years ago. She had a horse that was kid gentle and between the two of them taught many youth to ride.

Mike and Joan now spend their winter months in Northern Arizona among other senior horse folks enjoying the activities they have always loved aboard a horse.

Now, I’m not saying that they are our good friends just because Joanie won a nice pot of money. Anyway, seems Mike has that earmarked for other purposes.  

Though, in truth, I think Mike and Joan are the kind of folks who will never truly retire. There will always be another horse or two to enjoy.

To be honest, my spouse and I owe Joan and Mike a great deal. True friends are the ones that will take you in when you are down on your luck and never act like it is an imposition.  

For that, we will always be grateful.  So, congratulations Joan. You worked hard for this honor, and you surely deserve it.