Today, on the 89th anniversary of the deadliest tornado in US history, a friend and colleague - Liz Quoetone - succumbed to cancer. Her passing seems sudden and shocking to those of us who knew and admired her. Liz was the embodiment of service to our profession of meteorology, and affected the lives of many, many people in a positive way. She was a person passionately devoted to training operational meteorologists how to deal effectively with severe weather and has, no doubt, indirectly saved many lives as a result of her training. Moreover, Liz was a deep thinker, who could cut to the heart of the issues of effective operations, and proposed innovative new approaches to operations that made use of the latest research. Whenever she spoke on the subject, it was wise to shut up and listen!
All of her huge professional contributions aside for the moment, Liz was a delightful person to be around. She seemed always to be upbeat and looking forward to her next opportunity to enhance someone else's life. Which she did frequently. With the news of her passing, my biggest regret is missed opportunities to tell her how much I appreciated what she was doing and how impressed I was with her accomplishments. And simply to say that it was a pleasure to be in her presence. If we all could try to say occasionally what positive things we think about our friends and colleagues, the world would be a better place.
Liz Quoetone leaves this world a much better place for her having been with us. May her close friends and family be able to take some solace from that. They have my sincere condolences.