Becky Lourey's Husband Passed Away

My thoughts are with Becky and her family during this sad time.

Tiny Becky has the strength of a giant. And she'll need it, as will the entire family. To lose a son and husband, a brother and father in such a short span of time. Peace and healing to you, dear friends.

The only real conversation I had with Gene Lourey was in Rochester at the 2006 state convention, right after Becky had lost the endorsement race to Hatch. There was a small party of well-wishers in their hotel suite, and Gene and I got to talking about this and that.

Over the months before, of course, nearly anyone could see that Gene and Becky had reacted quite differently to the death of their son in Iraq. It seems to have animated Becky to be an even more active peace advocate. But, even after all those months, Gene still seemed struck low.

In that hotel suite, however, we talked about sustainable energy and about Gene's dreams for building a wood gasification plant. I had no idea what a wood gasification plant was, or how it would work, or if would solve any energy problems at all or merely make things worse. But Gene was excited about the idea, and talking about the next project seemed to bring him out of his despair.

Now Gene has died. I don't know what happened with the wood gasification project, or if he went on to something completely different. But I know that the man had a vision, and he had a keen eye to the future. Gene may be dead now, but I sincerely believe that quite a few of his dreams live on. It is now up to the rest of us to make some of them work.

I knew Dell (his nickname) from working on Becky's campaign in 2002. What a visionary! I'm sure more will come out about him and his life in the coming days, but he always seemed to be five steps ahead of the rest of us in terms of sustainability.

Dell was a peacemaker and a passionate family man. We've lost a great one.

From my observations, Dell was the best sort of progressive -- someone who practiced his preaching and beliefs in business, in family life and in the community. He was a quiet man fiercely devoted to his family and bettering the lives of his employees and the natural environment. I know this description of him doesn't even come close to doing the man justice.

His is the sort of life that people should desire to reach -- a man who refused to give up his soul for material gain and a man who refused to leave a footprint on the earth if that material gain was accomplished.

Bless you, Dell. I know you wouldn't have wanted me to pray for you, so I won't do that today. Instead, I'll try to treat the earth and my fellow human beings a bit like you did.

Phil James
Des Moines, Iowa