For me it is a sad occasion to be here and naming a part of our telescope program after a person we knew and was in our midst just a month ago.

Lauren at Astrocamp

Lauren Interess was a prominent instructor on our staff and played a very important role in bringing telescope viewing to hundreds and thousands of students as well as being a wonderful and knowledgeable and enthusiastic teacher of the earth and physical sciences. Her interest in astronomy was enhanced upon her arrival in the fall of 1998. She extended her field of interest from rocks and minerals upwards to the stars, all part of a naturalist world, both of which disciplines use some kind of a magnifying instrument to better understand their properties.

Lauren was here at Astrocamp at a time when the whole program of astronomy was becoming a central theme to all that we do here. She assisted in that process with her attention to detail, her intelligence, her teaching, and her enthusiasm.

John Keller, when he sits at the computer this afternoon and shows us some of the images in the computer, will make it look easy. But we all know that it takes a lot of practice, a lot of patience, and a lot of precision. Some of the images that John showed Lauren's family on Friday night and last night were taken by Lauren. She had spent hundreds of hours here at this site and at the upper site perfecting her abilities, teaching other instructors, putting up with all my insane questions and concerns, and sharing wonders of both the nighttime sky and brilliant sun. She is an example we all want to remember and to follow.

In the coming years, Lauren will be remembered in a variety of ways. As we refer to the Lauren Interess Observatory here, students and new instructors will ask, "Who was Lauren Interess?" And we will tell them that she was an Astrocamp instructor who loved teaching and loved astronomy, and was our "Telescope Queen" in the year 1999.

At night, instructors will talk through their hand-held radio. "Where's telescopes tonight?" And the telescope "tech"-ers will respond, "At the Lauren Interess Observatory." And her name will be broadcast by radio waves out into space towards the stars and galaxies forever and ever.

In our lifetime, stars and galaxies seem unchanging and out there forever. The stars seem so fixed and stable and everlasting. Even though we have learned that they have a life cycle, we want to cling to them because they seem so fixed, so beautiful, and so everlasting.

I can't describe what a high moment it was on the morning of Tuesday October 5, when John Keller and I were discussing ways to remember Lauren and the shared idea that we had that part of the of the lower-telescope-site program that involves taking CCD images in this auditorium should be named after Lauren. And taking this idea to Dave Goodsell, and Dave getting approval from Ross and Kristi Turner and then emotionally sharing this naming with other staff and with Ed Interess over the phone, who couldn't wait to get off the phone to tell his family.

It is so fitting, so wonderful, so meant to be.

One of the glitches was that the actual label of the lower site program...we didn't know what it should be called. We didn't want to call it the auditorium. And we needed to come up with another name. Later that afternoon we knew what name that would be. But I'd like Derik to tell you that story.

[Click here to read Derik Stone's charming story]

Lauren Interess will always be a part of the Astrocamp students and staff experiences here, just like the stars and galaxies we see here each night. It is our humble attempt to fit Lauren into this everlasting category. Like the stars, she will always be with us in our lifetime.

Jody Wilson, Lauren Interess and Lauren Dunn with friend Chuck Wall at Catalina

And if there's something else to be gained from all this, besides giving a beautiful name and personal attachment to this Observatory, it is to remember what has happened here this past month, and to realize how brief life can be. This has been a life-changing event for all of us, in what has happened to Lauren Interess, Lauren Dunn, and Jody Wilson, all wonderful ladies, enthusiastic teachers, dear friends, beloved daughters, loving and happy people. And we do not want to crawl into a shell to protect ourselves from this harsh and painful experience, but dedicate our lives to bringing happiness and knowledge and understanding to and for others through teaching and example, and not to be discouraged by this negative reality, but to incorporate it into our resolve to ask the question of ourselves, "How do I become a more loving human being?" And this, too, will validate their short lives.