On August 15, 2027, Kenny LaCome and Daniel Lamb transported those in attendance with their deeply moving and inspiring stories of their own lives and community history and experience. Kenny LaCome led us through his incredible personal journey of growing up in Taos, as a “little boy entrepreneur,” a motorcycle technician and racer, then into deep questioning of his life purpose and what followed. Through a life-transforming motorcycle road-racing crash in 1983 he became a paraplegic and went on to become a pioneer in adaptive sports, competing at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Paralympics and earning a U.S. patent for his sit-ski suspension design across 38 seasons of Alpine and cross-country sit-skiing. Through it all, he spoke of the importance of taking responsibility for one’s own life trajectory, gratitude and wonder, saying “We live in a benevolent universe…be astonished with your life!” He also referenced his dedication to nutrition and living foods. “That is a whole story in and of itself!” said Kenny in conclusion.
In the second half of this very moving session, Daniel Lamb shared his commitment and championing of rural communities and the heart of “la gente” through time. He shared his own family’s deep and ethnically complex roots in Taos County through the Dolans, his Mother’s family, from Oklahoma, who settled in Taos in the 1840’s, while his own parents settled in Red River in the 1950’s. He told of his Cherokee great grandmother’s tragic losses on the trail of tears, as well of his own extensive loss of family members during covid. He described growing up in Red River at a pivotal time and attending school in Questa, his challenges as a single parent, his academic career in Social History at UNM in Albuquerque and his work with Augustine Martinez to establish UNM Taos. Daniel shared about his family business, All Seasons Inc., being the Democratic Chair for Red River and currently serving his first term as a Town Councilor.