Beloved and renowned volunteer community leader, Laura Lee M. Geraghty, passed away on January 14, 2004. Laura Lee touched the minds and hearts of thousands upon thousands of community leaders in Minnesota and across the Nation. Our loss of Laura Lee is deeply felt throughout the volunteer community. As we mourn and reflect on how Laura Lee lived her life, we are inspired and moved to carry on her leadership legacy.

Laura Lee believed that there is a role for everyone in this country to fill and that it is the responsibility of volunteer leaders to make room for each person's community contribution. She was an inclusive leader who certainly "made room" for and nurtured the leadership of each person with whom she had contact. Laura Lee was a catalyst for what people thought and felt about their communities, including their own role in community life.

Laura Lee's view of volunteerism was very broad and encompassed standing up for causes in which she believed, bringing together community resources, and creating necessary change in order to meet community needs. She had the magnificent ability to mobilize volunteers around their personal passions. With regard to her role as a community organizer, Laura Lee described herself as "peacefully confrontational", making people uncomfortable enough so that they would change, but never demeaning anyone.

A cherished part of Laura Lee's legacy is the instrumental role she played in creating and leading the former focal point for Minnesota volunteerism, the State Office of Volunteerism. Many lessons can be learned from that nostalgic chapter in Minnesota's volunteerism history.

Referring to volunteer community leaders in the mid-70's, Laura Lee said, "We wanted a legitimate organization. When the Office was being formed, we went out to as many groups as possible to listen and learn what a State Office of Volunteerism should be." Laura Lee was a visionary and innovative leader. She also had the capacity to support others in fulfilling their own vision for themselves, their communities, and their Office.  

When Minnesota's State Office of Volunteerism was formed, Laura Lee was about 30 years old. At that time, the Office was called the Governor's Office of Volunteer Services. Laura Lee was sought-out by volunteer community leaders to be its first director and she was appointed to the position by Governor Wendell Anderson. Prior to that, Laura Lee was a Ramsey County social worker and later became a Ramsey County volunteer coordinator. Laura Lee recently indicated that she moved to the volunteer coordinator role in Ramsey County because, "My real passion was for community, change and advocacy". Laura Lee never shied away from controversy. She frequently would say controversy is good because it can create positive change. 

While, due to the current climate, Minnesota's State Office of Volunteerism no longer exists, many of its elements and values survive. Multitudes have participated in training through the Office and participated in collaboration through its networks. In 1975, a handful of publications in the field of volunteerism existed. Laura Lee always emphasized, "A profession is not a profession until it has a body of knowledge." Upon the closing of the State Office of Volunteerism, the Office's volunteerism library contained thousands of publications. Laura Lee had her hand in developing many of these publications and mentored the development of many, many others.  

A large part of Laura Lee's success, in so many aspects of her life, was her ability to create change, as well as to see change coming and to adapt to that change. This is an important lesson for all of us. While the State Office of Volunteerism no longer exists in its previous form, many aspects of the Office and of Laura Lee's vision and leadership are instilled within volunteer community leaders all across our state and country. Now, it is our job to accept that change has occurred and in our own ways to move Laura Lee's legacy forward to the next chapter of Minnesota's volunteerism history through "community, change and advocacy". 

As we honor and pay tribute to Laura Lee's memory during Volunteer Recognition Week 2004, let's recognize each current or potential volunteer with whom we come in contact, pass Laura Lee's vision and values to the next generation of volunteer community leaders, and lift our voices for Minnesota's volunteerism platform. 

1) Laura Lee Geraghty served as the director of the Minnesota State Office of Volunteerism from 1975 through the early 1990's. The Office was closed in 2002. 

2) "State Office of Volunteerism" is meant to be a generic term. The official names of the Office at various times during its history included: Governor's Office of Volunteer Services (GOVS), Minnesota Office on Volunteer Services (MOVS) and Minnesota Office of Citizenship and Volunteer Services (MOCVS). 

3) Paula J. Beugen, Community Change Consultant, wrote this article. Beugen is MAVA's current Public Affairs Chair. She was Laura Lee Geraghty's friend and colleague, as well as a former staff member of Minnesota's State Office of Volunteerism.