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<br /> ' Puzzle
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<br /> Two lives join with many
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<br /> The.pieces come.together. •
<br /> • By Aria Seligmann
<br /> 4-2.S-D2, .
<br /> The pieces of this story fir r jig Family Mediation
<br /> together like one of Liza Loube's. , Services
<br /> puzzle rings. It's complicated, 4r0r��1.�� "Liza had an incredible
<br /> Liza Loebe until it's finished,then it all seems4 '--"' knack of taking the silver lining
<br /> to fit.It begins with peace.It ends ' _ / in any situation and showing it to
<br /> - with the eternal blooming of wild- you,"says Roka Walsh,good friend
<br /> flowers. of Liza's and Rays,and a mediator-in-train-
<br /> Ray Lowe was lying in his hospital.bed, -ing at Family Mediation Services.
<br /> dying.The 83-year-old counselor,mediator It was at FMS that Liza and Ray came
<br /> and friend to hundreds`had finally sue- together.
<br /> combed to capcer,which he'd fought off 15 Family Mediation Services was founded
<br /> years before.But'now the disease had won, by Ray in 1981.He had an extensive back-
<br /> overtaking his body until he couldn't stop , ground in counseling,psychology and family
<br /> it;couldn't arrive at a point of compromise; mediation.He earned his Bachelor's degree
<br /> couldn't step aside and talk sense to it; 'from Massachusetts State College in 1936,
<br /> _ ,i couldn't.listen and let it vent until it and served in the Navy from 1946-47.He
<br /> ' 'changed its mind.The cancer was bent on obtained Na master's and doctoral degrees
<br /> winning at all costs,and defeat him it did. from Northwestern University and became a
<br /> Or maybe,he was simply needed else- professor at Montana State University before
<br /> where. joining the UO's counseling psychology
<br /> Because on the night Ray lay dying,Jan. department in 1955. .
<br /> 23,Liza Loebe was admitted to the hospital Ray was an active community memben
<br /> room right next to his. The Saturday He was regional director for VISTA from
<br /> - Market puzzle ring lady was wheeled in 1965 to 1969.and founder of the Saturday
<br /> adjacent, to.Ray, the. Saturday Circus Circus,a parent training class,and he taught
<br /> founder She,too,with cancer,a discernible the Dreikursian•method of parenting to
<br /> lump-oii'her'.hip to join the lumps in her: many parents inLaneCounty,andgelsewhere.
<br /> breasts that,according to close.friends,the. Roka Walsh inttoducet('Liza.`to'Ray in
<br /> joked;:about and tried to treat naturally; August,1999. Lisa had been making her
<br /> now too date'for radiation,for chemo,.for - puzzle rings, which still sell at Saturday ,
<br /> :anything.bur acceptance.She went into a Market,for,more than 20 years,She had
<br /> hospice. been-interestedin mediation,and with.a
<br /> ` - A strand of hair on this woman'who degree in psychology,immediately took to it,
<br /> wove silver and gold into little toys that slowly but surely,taking over duties from
<br /> people wear on their.fingers tested off the Ray,eventually becoming his right hand per-
<br /> charts for nickel:content. _ son.Her method of mediation was genuine,
<br /> _ But'she wasn't bowed. To keep.her gentle."Like her puzzle rings,she linked pea-
<br /> friends and family from grieving,just before pie together,"says Walsh.
<br /> her death,weak but in indomitable spirits, Alan Hanson,a court-connected media-
<br /> Liza roused herself to lead an enthusias- r for with Linn-Benton County domestic
<br /> tic round of"If You're Happy and relations and a volunteer with FMS,
<br /> You Know'It,Clap Your Hands."A :,:-.-;;;‘,7,1am_\ — met Ray in 1981 at the UO."I took
<br /> • week after first being admitted to•. ' a family mediation course with him
<br /> the hospital,she was gone, and joked he was stuck with me
<br /> 14 APRIL 25 2002 EUGENE WEEKLY
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