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LHT announced at the end of 2022 that Horne and Taylor would be stepping down from active leadership roles. Lisa Serieyssol joined the organization as its first executive director in December, and David Sandahl and John Murray assumed the roles of chair and vice chair of the LHT board on Jan. 1.

The organization held a celebration at Chambers Walk Café on Feb. 8 to honor Taylor’s and Horne’s decades-long dedication to the cause. The luncheon was attended by dozens of friends and colleagues of the duo.

In toasting Horne, LHT Treasurer Alan Hershey noted how she brings order and civility to every situation. Sandahl toasted Taylor, recalling how Becky Taylor’s “really good idea,” the LHT, has prevailed.

Board member and former Lawrence historian Dennis Waters announced plans to place two benches on the LHT route with plaques honoring two co-founders. Waters then displayed a mock-up of an interpretive sign, like those already placed on the trail. He noted that the LHT will design and place a historic marker depicting the central role played by its cofounders in creating the LHT.

The evening ended in song, with guests singing the Roy Rogers classic “Happy Trails to You,” accompanied by John Murray on guitar.

Sandahl was on the Hopewell Township Committee 20 years ago, when the LHT was in its earliest stages of development.

“What I saw was a really powerful idea and the question was, ‘How do you make the idea a reality?’ And that’s what Becky and Eleanor have done,” he told the Express. “Not only to have a great idea, but to see it through until it gets done. And of course, in the trail world, the question is, ‘How do you do that when you don’t have a lot of money?’ And the answer is, you do a lot of outreach, a lot of coordination.”

In the beginning, Sandahl said, a lot of people were skeptical that the project would ever take off. “Twenty years later, people love the LHT and people want more trails. A hundred thousand people a year use the Lawrence Hopewell Trail.”

In all, Sandahl says, LHT has partnered with 24 local organizations, businesses, governments and land trusts to establish the trail.

“One thing Lisa and I will benefit from is 20 years of trial and error,” Sandahl said. “(Horne and Taylor) were able