Editor’s Perspective
Life of
Liz
We’ve
had a death in the VTC family. A very sad one. One that hits very close to home for all of us that worked with/for her on this publication. On the evening of March 9th, the Managing Editor of this publication and many others, Liz Nutter, left us. Weeks later, it still seems surreal to say those words. How could a person so vibrant and full of life, with so much left to give no longer be around to share her talents? We’ve all experienced the loss of friends, family, and loved ones. We know death is a part of life. We know it doesn’t discriminate. And yet, it is somehow easier to accept
when a person is “old.” Admittedly, that goal line keeps moving for those of us who have many more years behind than in front of us, but right now in my world that is classified as above 80. Throw in the fact that some folks (like Liz) just seem 10 years younger than they are, and it was way too early. And yet, here we find ourselves. In the spring of 2016, Liz used up one or more of her lives with a ferocious battle against a tumor on her adrenal gland, which caused multiple problems not limited to but including her heart stopping on two occasions and total kidney shutdown. Days on life support, an amazing medical team at Vanderbilt Hospital, and a strong
10 | Virginia Turfgrass Journal January/February 2018 www.vaturf.org
Mark Vaughn, CGCS Virginia Turfgrass Journal Editor
will to live brought her back. Reading her description of the ordeal, the “Miracle” nickname given to her by one of the nurses seemed most appropriate to me. After recovering for most of 2016, the spring of 2017 brought another battle, this time with cancer. After enduring surgeries and treatments, of which the pain I cannot imagine, the outcome we were all hoping for did not happen. My last communication with her was an email on February 17th, and now it seems so inadequate. I met Liz in January of 2005, and soon afterwards she and Tom Tracy somehow convinced me to become the Editor of this publication. As I have stated on more than one occasion, thank God that was only a title and Liz was in Tennessee with the folks at Leading Edge making all this happen. Unlike our experiences with other magazine publishers, she was enthusiastic, creative, friendly, yet forceful enough to hold your feet to the fire when she needed to. When I went back through my emails from her there they were: subject line — need your column, review your column, we’re past the deadline, etc. I also found out very early she would give me just enough journalistic rope to have me dangling over the edge, but not enough to hang myself. Hence her enduring moniker — “The Man.” Over the years I discovered she, like all of us, had a life beyond her work. She loved her husband Roger,