On November 25, 2010, Lara Howard York, Class of 1983, departed this earth on her next great adventure. While we can be joyful for her, we are left with profound sadness and loss for ourselves. If I could summarize her approach to life, it would be to not live in the past, which you cannot change, or the future, which you cannot control, but instead only live in the present. Her life was lived with intentionality and a commitment to never accept the mundane or ordinary. Her reputation as a careful and methodical planner gave her the ability to step out into the unknown. What appeared to others as risky, she embraced as the fabric of her life. She was fond of saying, “Life is uncertain, eat dessert first!”

In July 1979, Lara arrived at West Point to begin one of the defining adventures of her life. Throughout the next four years, she became known for her ability to network and establish relationships. She constantly invested in relationships, even when they didn’t seem to be of any possible benefit to her personally. She thrived on being able to spot those in need and figure out how to put them in touch with someone else who could help. She was all about spreading that net as far as possible so she could help as many people as possible. And in the end, that net supported her beautifully in her final journey.

As a member of the fourth class at West Point that included women, she helped foster the bonds that made the Class of 1983 an inspiration to those who came after them.

Upon her graduation, she embarked on her next adventure when she married me slightly less than an hour after tossing her hat in the air! For the next four years, she successfully balanced the demands of the Army and the challenges of being a mother. Her daughters, MayJean and Emily, thrived under the example of their mom as they have grown to be successful, accomplished, professional women in their own right.

After leaving the military in 1987, Lara became an operations manager at Medtronic, Inc., in Tempe, AZ. After several awards for excellence, she was transferred to their Plastics Division in Minneapolis, MN. It was in this role that she came to the attention of St. Jude Medical, and she was recruited to be the general manager of their operation in Scottsdale, AZ.

In all of these roles, she continued her habit of networking to make a difference in the lives of those around her. One of these people was a consultant that Lara had helped while at Medtronic in Arizona. She came to Lara and asked if she would be available to help her with some upcoming projects. Like everything that Lara did, she held herself to an incredible standard of excellence and quickly became the subject matter expert in key aspects of those projects. This led to her being sought out by the King of Saudi Arabia to handle key aspects of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. Because she was a woman, her visa was signed by the King himself!

As all of this was taking place, Lara was keenly aware of the need to maintain a healthy balance between work and life. One morning in early 2007, with our daughters off to college, she asked me if I would like to sell everything and sail a boat around the world. After 24 years of marriage, this kind of question no longer surprised me, and I began planning for the voyage.

In 2008, we purchased a 55’ steel trawler-hulled yacht and began the serious work involved in learning how to safely handle the boat. In 2009, we took a “shake down” cruise from San Diego, CA to Juneau, AK. Throughout this time, Lara was still “commuting” back and forth to Saudi Arabia!

We finally made the decision to depart on our journey in late 2009. Traveling south, we went through the Panama Canal and then all around the Caribbean before going back through the Panama Canal and across to the Galapagos Islands. From there, we embarked on the longest ocean crossing in the world to the Marquesas Islands.

After almost 16,000 nautical miles of cruising, we experienced the truth of the statement that the problem with adventures is that you never know how they are going to turn out. While enroute to the Marquesas, Lara began experiencing some neurological difficulties. Upon our arrival in the Marquesas, she was medevacked to Pape’ette, Tahiti, where she was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.

She was further medevacked to Atlanta for emergency brain surgery and then back to Scottsdale for additional surgery and treatment. It was throughout this time that her classmates rallied around her in an incredible display of unity and support. Lara’s lifetime of investing in others bore fruit in the numerous acts of kindness for which I remain deeply grateful.

It was incredibly moving to hear the hundreds of people at her memorial service telling story after story of how this amazing woman had impacted their lives. It is the lesson of Lara’s life that a selfless investment in someone else is never wasted. And always remember to eat dessert first. What a testimony to a life well lived!

— James F. York, Class of 1981