Lilac Queens: The women who inspire Basin

Every small town has them, the women who inspire others to be better, who take care of the little things that make the communities what they are. In pioneer communities, it was women who brought culture and a drive to be better. It was women who constantly pushed others to do better, to be more civilized. We celebrate these women. In Basin we do it by crowning them the “Lilac Queen.” 

As I looked over the list of past Lilac Queens, I recognized the names of many people who have done much for our little town. (Yes, I call it my town even though I don’t live in town.) 

There is one name, though, that was never on that list, because she passed away before the contest started. That was Laura Irwin. She inspired probably three generations of students at Basin Elementary in the many years she was a teacher and administrator. 

But inspiration comes in many forms; sadly, sometimes we have parameters in our minds that control who we feel can be an inspiration and who just doesn’t fit that description, usually because they are “different.”  Sometimes those parameters are way off base. 

This year’s Lilac Queen, Jan Gammill, was one of those youngsters who was likely inspired by Laura Irwin and also doesn’t fit the “normal mold.” I started school with Jan, and even though she was considered special needs (by the way they used a term for them then, that would be considered crude and rude now and rightly so), she was always an inspiration to me. I watched her always strive to do her best. She was always cheerful, she was always helpful, she was always just awesome by being herself. As we went through school, Jan worked as hard as anyone in school and harder than most. I was honored to be her classmate. After school she held a job for over 30 years, helped her parents and even now helps her sister. What’s not to be admired about a person like that? 

So now she joins the long list of women who have inspired Basin. Congratulations Jan. You deserve it and have been an inspiration to me ever since I have known you.