To Lauren's dear friends who have taken time to share thoughts, memories and pictures with us: we are deeply grateful to you and we cherish each one. We want to tell you what Lauren had been doing of late and of the wonderful tributes that have been made to her memory. While you may know some of this, we hope that it adds to your knowledge of her recent life.
Lauren had a passion for nature and its beauty. She loved to learn and explore wherever she could find new adventures, as so many of you do. She especially loved to pass on what she knew through her teaching, seeking to ignite a similar passion within her students. The following words do not do justice to Lauren's passion, but hopefully, with what you know of her, they will help you see how Lauren went about pursuing her dreams.
 June 7, 1998 |
On June 7, 1998, Lauren received a BA cum laude in geosciences from Williams College. On that very day she packed up and moved to her summer job at the W. Alton Jones Campus of the University of Rhode Island. There she was a counselor/instructor for youngsters who camped on a weekly basis and learned about nature, ecology and the environment.
In September 1998, Lauren relocated to the Desert Sun Science Center (DSSC) in Idyllwild, CA, where she was a science instructor, teaching astronomy and physical science to 4th-8th graders. As its name implies, the Astrocamp program features astronomy. Its location in a dry climate at 5000 feet above sea level and over 100 miles from the populated coast provides a spectacular night sky with magnificent viewing available to both the naked and aided eye.
Typically, as many as 250 students at a time come from schools all over southern California, southern Nevada and western Arizona to stay at Astrocamp for 3-5 day stints. They participate in a curriculum pre-selected by their schools including activities such as lights and lasers, atmosphere and gases, microgravity, rocket construction and launching, mineralogy, night-sky observation using binoculars and telescopes, daytime observation of the sun, and challenge and adventure activities as well.
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Each of the 20 instructors is trained to teach all of the two dozen or so courses. When not scheduled for specific teaching duties, instructors would "tech" classes (provide technical support for those doing the actual teaching).
During the spring of 1999, Lauren spent much of her time setting up the new computer driven telescopes and associated electronic cameras for recording images of deep space. She also attended a conference at Lake Arrowhead, CA, to become knowledgeable in the use of a relatively new deep space imaging technology called CCD (charge coupled devices).
This past summer, Lauren interrupted her time at DSSC, taking a job at the Montshire Museum of Science in Norwich, VT, across the Connecticut River from Dartmouth College. The program was environmental education for day campers. Her leisure time was devoted to exploring parts of rural New England that she had not seen in the past. These included places in the White Mountains, Boothbay, Maine, and many New Hampshire lakes. Also, we were pleased that she spent nearly four non-working weeks plus a couple of other weekends based here in Winchester.
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The highlight of Lauren's work at Montshire seemed to be the four-day canoe trip down the Connecticut River with twelve campers and one other instructor. But she missed the camaraderie of living in a campus setting with a peer group, and longed to return to the beauty, friends and stimulation of Astrocamp in the fall.
We spent a memorable day with Lauren on August 18. Headed to Williamstown to view the Millet exhibit at the Clark Art Institute, we invited her to join us. She patiently attended the exhibit with us in the morning, although this was clearly not her primary purpose. At lunchtime we went separate ways for a while. Besides visiting Geosciences where she got to speak with Bud Wobus and a couple of '98 classmates, Lauren seemed also to have had a good time retracing old steps on campus. She didn't say where these steps took her, but we suspect that Environmental Studies and the Forest Garden were among them. On the way home, we decided to drive up Mt. Greylock. Of course, Lauren had been there many times before, but we never seemed to get there due to bad weather, out of season, limited time, etc. So we were glad to "climb" it together, finally. As memorable as the view and our precious time with Lauren was, this was the only time she was on the mountain when the renovated observation tower was open. So we went up, all three, for the first time together. This was the last day that we had the opportunity to spend many quality hours with Lauren. We will always cherish those moments.
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Having bought a car in June, Lauren planned a cross-country drive for her return to Idyllwild. Although we haven't researched all the details yet - and some of you should anticipate hearing from us - it went something like this. She drove from home to Juliane Austin's in Greensburg, PA and stayed overnight. She drove the next day with Juliane, whose destination was Park City, UT, to Jed White's in Milwaukee and stayed two nights. The following night they camped near Omaha before heading to Meg Lawson's in Boulder, CO, for two nights. The high road through Steamboat Springs and over the continental divide took them to the Dinosaur National Monument in Utah where they explored and camped. Juliane exited at Park City, and Lauren was on her own. After experiencing a few snowflakes and a violent electrical storm in northern Utah, she had the opportunity to drive briefly through Zion National Park. She described it as "geological heaven on earth" and took some incredible photos there. She stayed in a hostel in southwestern Utah and continued on to Idyllwild the next day (September 4).
One of the exciting things about the fall of 1999 for Lauren was the arrival of Jody Wilson at Astrocamp. They had met at geology field camp in Red Lodge, MT, during the summer of 1997. Jody, a physics and geology major, had taken a job with USGS after her 1998 graduation from Wesleyan, but found it unsatisfying. Through ongoing email correspondence, Jody learned how happy Lauren was in California, inquired about openings and landed a job there. Jody was a very bright, outgoing, and vivacious person who felt that she had finally found in the staff at Idyllwild a peer group with values and interests similar to hers. Lauren, Jody and Astrocamp were good for each other.
Also this fall, as the acknowledged "scopes" expert, Lauren earned the informal title Telescope Queen. She enjoyed her work, but let it be known that she wanted to teach more and not be relied upon so much to "tech" telescopes. She was beginning to train other instructors to take over some of these duties as September drew to a close.
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On the weekend of October 1-3, Lauren, Jody and one of their friends and housemates, Lauren Dunn, set out on an adventure to Catalina Island, a three-hour drive plus a 26-mile ferry ride away from Idyllwild. The beautiful island is about 21 miles long and rises as much as 2000 feet out of the Pacific Ocean. Except for the small town of Avalon, the island is largely undeveloped and protected by a conservancy. The surrounding waters are deep, quite clear for the most part and offer spectacular views of a variety of sea life.
Lauren Dunn had worked on the island during the 1998-1999 school year at Astrocamp's sister known as the Catalina Island Marine Institute (CIMI) which focuses mainly on marine sciences. So she had good friends there who hosted all three women and made kayaks, wet suits, other equipment and amenities available to them for what turned out to be a wonderful weekend of exploration, beauty and friendship. Incidentally, Chuck Wall (Williams '97 biology), was one of the principle friends/hosts and Lauren (Interess) enjoyed seeing him again.
Returning to Idyllwild from Catalina before dusk on Sunday October 3, Lauren, Jody and Lauren got a flat tire on the freeway and ambled to a spot out of the traffic. While they were all outside their vehicle, a speeding driver ran into the back of another vehicle, lost control and struck all three women. Lauren and Jody died instantly, but Lauren Dunn survived for several hours before succumbing to her injuries.
Three young women had been lost, but four families were grieving. Although the staff at DSSC was doing its best to get on with responsibilities, they planned some activities to aid them in the grieving process. Gil Walker, the program director, traveled to Winchester, MA, and New London, NH, to attend both Lauren's and Jody's funeral services on October 8, while others attended Lauren Dunn's in Erie, PA, the following day. Also, a memorial service to all three women was held back at DSSC on Sunday October 10. They planted memorial trees at the edge of the forest and offered sentiments and memories, including poems, a short story and an original song. We have seen it on tape and it was very moving.
In addition, management quickly decided that the auditorium at one of the two telescope sites along with certain computer and telescope equipment would be named for Lauren to recognize her commitment and effort to get and bring telescope viewing to thousands of students. All that was lacking was an appropriate name. The "Interess Auditorium" didn't cut it. So the staff was told of the need for a better name.
Instructor Derik Stone promptly recalled an interaction that he had with Lauren just the previous week when he was preparing for Lauren to train him to operate telescopes.
[To read this enchanting story in Derik's own words, please click the link. It replaces the abbreviated version that originally appeared in this page.]
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The Lauren Interess Observatory was dedicated on November 7, 1999, in a very touching ceremony that we felt blessed to attend.
We took the opportunity to spend nearly four days in Idyllwild at that time and, amid the tears, enjoyed many hours with Lauren's friends and coworkers, tours of the teaching facilities and, of course, views of the breathtaking night sky. In the Lauren Interess Observatory, we were thrilled to see many images of deep space that Lauren had taken, as well as Star Lauren Interess (between Triangulum and Almach in the constellation Andromeda) that friends of ours registered in her honor. We also spent a day at Catalina doing some limited exploring of our own, walking in some of the magnificent places where Lauren had walked with her friends just a few weeks before and boating to the spots where they had kayaked and snorkled.
Almost immediately upon our return to Massachusetts, we drove to Williams College for Homecoming Saturday. Some lovely events were planned and attended by Lauren's classmates, friends and faculty in her honor. At one, a young maple tree in the science quad was dedicated in her memory, near the back steps of Clark, the geosciences building where she had spent so many hours. In fact, the tree is located in an area where she and the other geos spent a lot of time outdoors, weather permitting, including classes and even overnights.
A memorial fund has been set up in Lauren's memory on each coast. A fund at Williams College will be earmarked to help future geosciences majors have the opportunity to investigate and learn about the earth and beyond and hopefully to dream and to follow those dreams into a life of exploration and sharing, as Lauren was doing. A fund at Guided Discoveries, the parent of DSSC, will provide financial aid to schools who have difficulty raising funds to send students to Astrocamp.
In your correspondence, you have all told us about Lauren's special qualities from your own perspectives. It is comforting for us to know that you held her in such regard, but especially that you were all talking about the very same qualities, the very same person. Thank you for that.
One final request that you may already have heard. Please stay in touch with us. Every time we talk with you or read your letters, we seem to learn something new about Lauren, giving us an additional link to her abbreviated life. Furthermore, we like you guys and want you to continue to be a part of our lives. So please write, call or visit. Your correspondence will not be a one-way street. And if you're ever in New England, you are welcome to stay with us. We have room and won't require that you spend all your time with us in return, just some of it.