Matters of
Life and Death
By Lyman Hafen We’ve passed the one-year mark, and the specter of COVID is still with us. Looking back, I must admit that by the fall of last year I’d begun to feel fairly comfortable, maybe even complacent, about it. I, my family, and my neighbors had been spared the harsh realities of the virus, and the organization I work for had made it through the summer with a minimum of exposure and a maximum of financial support from the government. Then, as the year closed, so faded my sense of confidence. Over the Christmas and New Year holidays, two people I’ve known most of my life, two people who have lived exemplary lives and given of themselves beyond measure for the good of this community, succumbed to COVID long before their time. Paul Snow and Glen Blakley are the two I’m talking about here. There are more I could mention if space allowed, and many more men and women you would add to the list of wonderful souls who are no longer with us. I share these as worthy representatives of that long list.
Paul Snow 38 www.saintgeorgewellness.com
Paul was a respected and successful businessman in St. George. His roots ran deep to the original founders of this community. He was born with the red sand of Dixie between his toes, and he and his family have been at the core of what has made this place so desirable to the thousands who have moved here in recent years. No more genuine, charitable, or unpretentious man ever lived in this town, and he leaves a void as wide as his
kind smile and as deep as his love for this place and its people. He is the true embodiment of the Dixie Spirit.
Glen was a transplant from Kentucky who, during more than forty Glen Blakley years here, made an impact as deep as the Grand Canyon. As a professor of art at Dixie College and Dixie State University, he made a difference for good in the lives of thousands of students. No man was ever more devoted to his calling. It was a calling to create fine art, which he did in abundance, to teach, and also to share the great art of the world with anyone who would come along for the ride. It would be impossible to quantify the number of people whose lives were enhanced by his knowledge, by his passion, and most of all, by his genuine friendship. And none of it was for gain because he could have made much more by turning his talents and energies toward personal fortune. And so it was with a heavy heart that many of us entered the new year. Even then, I didn’t realize how much closer to home the pandemic would get. In mid-January, Debbie and I went on a hike with our daughter, her husband, and three of their children. We came home and cooked dinner and spent a delightful evening together. The
