An outstanding community member died last week and I am in charge of writing a story for the local newspaper. Lois Ray grew up in this area and was a remarkable woman, I am finding. At one point, a local bridge was closed with no intent to fix or replace it. Then a second bridge was closed. Lois Ray was a member of the emergency squad and saw the value of those bridges so she went to the Town officials and expressed concern.

Lois was told, There is no money, just tough it out and drive around to the 1 bridge in the middle of town.

It wasn’t a matter of toughing it out. It wasn’t a matter of doing something the way it’s always been done. Lois was atypical. If the officials weren’t going to do the job, she would.

So, she figured out how to build a bridge herself. After investigating costs and structure, Lois gathered some friends and they went to work to raise money.

People made fun of them. They never heard of regular normal hard-working people building a bridge before.

Departments came up with every reason imaginable to stop them from meeting their goal.

Lois and her entourage kept moving forward, unoffended.

Both bridges were replaced within a few years. Paid in full by community members.