VIANO COLUMN: Love, giving sprouts from tragedy

In an ocean of tragedy and despair, of heartbreak and pain, of suffering, confusion and anguish, here we sit, surrounded by love.

Tragedy, though, comes first.

A couple months back, on a gravel road near Fairfield, a pickup rolled over on a Thursday night and the truck’s passenger, a 15-year-old named Lauryn Goldhahn, suffered injuries from which she would not recover. The following week, on Sept. 2, the defending Class B state champion Fairfield Eagles opened their title defense at home.

Their opponents were the Libby Loggers, travelers from across the divide who presented hardly a challenge on the football field. But the Loggers, perhaps, were there to serve a bigger purpose.

When I was in Libby a couple weeks ago, what I found in the town, among plenty else, was an outsized spirit. In the same breath in which people talked about the town’s massive population decrease, job losses and economic hardships, they shared stories about fundraisers shattering expectations, unprompted acts of kindness and an unfailing sense of community.

So I wasn’t surprised when I got back to Kalispell and was directed to a letter Libby’s administration had received from their counterparts in Fairfield, a letter the Western News published in full in late September.

The letter outlines some of the off-the-field highlights the Great Falls Tribune reported on when it covered the Libby-Fairfield game, a 56-7 Eagles win as if that even matters.

The letter calls the Libby players and coaches “polite and conscientious” in their interactions with fans, players and coaches in Fairfield, and points specifically to acts of sportsmanship shown by the combatants on the field. (A full copy of the letter is available here).

At some point during the game, a fan from the Libby sideline walked across the field and up to the press box with money in hand. The fan, unsolicited, handed the cash to the Fairfield staff and asked that it be added to the take from that night’s 50/50 raffle, all of which was being donated to Goldhahn’s family.

After the game, Fairfield lit candles and released balloons to honor Goldhahn’s memory. The Loggers, no doubt beaten mentally and physically after four lopsided quarters, did not retreat to their locker room, instead bowing to a knee on the goal line and eventually joining hands in solidarity with the Fairfield community to encircle the field.

“There is no one in Fairfield associated with the school that weekend who did not take notice and appreciate the Libby Loggers,” the letter notes.

UNBEKNOWNST TO FAIRFIELD, the high school hallways in Libby were, too, being touched by darkness.

The same day as the Libby-Fairfield football game, the Western News reported on a Libby student, Kiye Jenkins, who had been diagnosed with stage-four Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Two weeks later, the paper reported on another student, Katherine (Kat) Lind, afflicted with the same wretched disease.

As the Libby community rallied around Kiye and Kat — everything from the hashtags #teamkiye and #katstrong on social media to raising money by selling cords of wood — word spread to nearby towns, including their Lincoln County neighbors in Troy.

The Trojans’ football coach, Kody Hoffman, knew the Jenkins family and told his players the week of the game in Libby (Sept. 30) that he would buy wristbands, one for Kiye and the other for Kat, for all of his players that week.

“Kat’s is purple and says ‘fear the female fighter,’” Hoffman told me on Thursday as he read the wristbands, which were still on around his arm. “Kiye’s says ‘no one fights alone.’ It’s gold.”

Hoffman told his 22 players they could donate if they wanted, but that it wasn’t mandatory. When he showed up to the locker room the next day his quarterback handed him a $20 bill. Others followed, including the entire Troy High School student council, which started its own fundraiser.

Before the game against Libby, Troy’s team walked to midfield and handed over a check for more than $400, all raised in less than four days.

“It didn’t surprise me, my kids, knowing how kind they are,” Hoffman said. “The whole student council, though? It was heartwarming.”

THE NEXT WEEK, the Libby volleyball team headed to Bigfork for a conference match against the Valkyries and coach Schuyler Baird.

Baird and her sister, Bigfork High School librarian Scarlett Sherman, were friends with Jenkins’ aunt, Robyn Paulson, who works at Bigfork Middle School and has been actively trying to raise money for her nephew, Kiye.

In the Bigfork locker room, Baird poised a question to her team.

“Schuyler was checking with the girls on if anyone would be interested in helping with a fundraiser,” Bigfork senior Kalia Wicklund said.

Wicklund was in need of a senior project, an assignment she described as “just something that interests that you’ve never done before. Some people, they’ll learn how to play the violin, they’ll learn some dance. Mine (became) basically setting up fundraisers and event planning.”

After some consideration, Wicklund settled on soup sale as her fundraiser and, not being much of a soup-eater herself, got on the phone.

“I just started calling everyone I know,” she said. “Scarlett, all of her friends, all the teachers, I contacted them; anyone that I had the number of. The whole community … it surprised me how many people were willing to cook up a pot.”

When the day of the game came, Oct. 6, there were 23 crock pots full of soup in the hallway outside Bigfork’s gym. Selling bowls for $4 each, Wicklund and her team raised $1,025 for Team Kiye.

Wicklund, who has still never met Kiye and met Paulson only the night of the fundraiser, described their first interaction.

“I was bent down getting markers to label more soups coming in,” she said. “(Paulson) said ‘oh my gosh’ and she hugged me. It was awesome.

“Honestly, you could see in her face how touched she was. I really hope that Kiye improves from this. Our goal was $500 and we ended up doubling that.”

Wicklund, who had never been involved in any kind of fundraiser previously, already has another fundraiser in mind for December and, maybe, a path in life.

“After doing this senior project,” she said. “I’m thinking about going into event planning.”

THE LIND AND JENKINS families are still seeking help to pay their medical expenses, and there are pages at www.gofundme.com [LIND | JENKINS] where donations are being accepted. The Fairfield volleyball team is wearing blue ribbons this year and is promoting the hashtag #BuckleUpBlue4Lauryn in Goldhahn’s memory.

Andy Viano is a reporter and columnist at the Daily Inter Lake. He can be reached at (406) 758-4446 and aviano@dailyinterlake.com.