Viewpoint: Count Your Blessings and Tell Them Thank You

The valley is blessed by some people who really make a difference.?Ryan Elarton is one of those people.?I got to know Ryan when he was CFO of School District 70 and while he and his family attended the Baptist Church in Rye.

?I was struck by his magnetic personality, his attention to detail and accuracy and most of all his humility.?Ryan is now the CEO at San Isabel Electric and that can bring nothing but good to the member owned utility company who has one of the largest geographic areas in Colorado and surrounding states.

?Ryan hired me to do a marketing project for D70 and couldn’t have been a better person to work for.?In an interview I completed with Ryan last week he said one of the goals he and others have for S.I.E. is to be a “trusted partner” with each member.?Bank on it.?

?One of the SIE board of directors’ lives in the valley.?Dennis Maroney and I served together on the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors for about a year.?Ryan shared how much trust and guidance he gets from the SIE board of Directors and if Dennis is any indication of the type of wisdom and experience Ryan has on the SIE board small wonder, he goes to them for advice.

?My experience with Dennis is that he is a no non sense businessman with a laser focus on doing what is right for the people he serves.?Dennis, who I dare say is not a spring chicken, outworks many of us much younger.

?Dennis loves the community and that focus serves us well.?I don’t know if he can take credit for every accomplishment of his children and grandchildren but I think he can take credit for exemplifying leadership and hard work.

?John Schaiberger completed his final term as Chairman of the Rye Fire Protection District.

?John led the RFPD to clean up some residual leftover from management errors of the past, led the charge to put programs into place to help our small District keep quality, trained people.

?When John ran and owned Max’s Place, he went without pay himself during tough times so that his staff would not go without pay.?He donated abundantly to many community clubs, projects and organizations.?John tells you the way he sees it, fights when there is a wrong to be righted, and from my perspective exemplifies integrity.

?People who make things happen sometimes rub people the wrong way.?Maybe your list is different. I’m sure you have your own list.

?I’ve used this before but it sums up what I’m trying to say better than I ever could.?On April 23, 1910 former President Theodore Roosevelt gave what would become one of the most widely quoted speeches of his career:

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"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

?Whether it’s one of these three men or someone else who is on your list.?Tell them ‘Thank you,’ for what they do. ?Thank you, Ryan, Dennis and John.