by Madelyn Halstead, Editor in Chief
Students gathered at Gault Recital Hall last Saturday to celebrate the life of Cooper Larsh, son of Maureen Ryan and Kurt Larsh. Larsh, a 19-year-old first-year at the College, died tragically on March 17 in a skiing accident in Steamboat Springs, Co.
A vibrant and colorful personality, Larsh† was spending his spring break with his mother and stepfather, Mark Squillace. As Squillace explained, Larsh was an avid skier who sought out the most challenging runs. Larsh’s mother wasn’t worried when she dropped him off at Howelson Hill Ski Resort on Thursday morning. When Cooper did not return text messages or phone calls from his mother and failed to meet her at the bottom of the hill as they had planned, she began to worry. Ryan reported her son missing and the Howelsen Ski Patrol began searching for Larsh around 8 p.m.
Larsh’s body was discovered around 9:30 p.m. partially buried headfirst in snow near the alpine slide, an attraction that runs in the summer. The area was off limits to skiers at that time. As reported by Steamboat Springs Police Detective, Nick Bosick, it is suspected that Larsh hit a bump and went airborne, hitting another bump before he landed head-first in the snow, suffocating.
Larsh’s death wasn’t the first tragedy that his family faced.† When Larsh was 10 years old he was hit by a car while crossing a street. He sustained severe traumatic brain injury and was in a coma for five weeks. Larsh remained hospitalized for several months and faced a staggering amount of rehabilitation following the accident. According to his family, Larsh was a fighter, and fought to beat the odds of recovery. After spending months at the University of Michigan Pediatric Neurorehabilitation Clinic, Larsh made a tremendous recovery and was able to return to everyday activities.
Larsh loved the outdoors. In his obituary in The Durango Herald, his family said that the first time Larsh slept through the night as an infant was on a camping trip in Dinosaur National Park. He learned how to ski when he was still a toddler. Larsh’s Facebook profile listed† interests in kayaking, rock climbing and back-packing. Although it is tragic that Larsh’s death resulted from one his favorite pastimes, his family is taking solace in the fact that he died doing something he loved.
In keeping with his interests, Larsh’s family chose to bury him in an informal burial at the Idaho Springs Cemetery. “He came from the earth, we wanted him to go back to the earth, to go back into a lot of living things,” said Larsh’s mother, fighting back tears.
Larsh’s stepfather built a wooden casket for the occasion, and friends and family decorated the outside with bright colors. His family wrote thoughts and prayers that Larsh’s friends had left on his Facebook on the outside of the casket. He was buried at the foot of a mountain, in a scenic setting. “It was what Cooper would have wanted,” his mother said at the memorial.
At the memorial, students filled the Gault Recital hall to pay their respects to Larsh’s family and reflect on the life of such a charismatic individual. “We are all one family today,” President Grant Cornwell said. “We will cherish Cooper as a fallen Scot.” Cornwell encouraged students to follow in Larsh’s footsteps by “celebrating life boldly, as Cooper did.”
During the memorial, Larsh’s family presented a slideshow of pictures depicting his life, most of them outdoors. To accompany the slideshow, his family played three of Larsh’s favorite songs and his mother described their signifigance. Around the room, muffled sobs and sniffling could be heard. The family also played a recording of Larsh’s grandfather singing Ave Maria. Fellow students, teaching assistants and Larsh’s academic advisor then reflected on their time with the student.
Kyrsten Kamlowsky ’14, a friend of Larsh’s, remembered the first time that Larsh approached her at lunch. “Seeing Cooper constantly smiling and laughing and loving life always had a way to put me in a better mood,” she commented. She recalled a time in class when Larsh’s cell phone rang. The professor, who had a no phone policy, made Larsh stand at the front of the room and sing. Although he only needed to sing a simple tune, like the ABCs, Larsh burst out into song, belting the lyrics to “Peaches” by The Presidents of the USA and playing the air guitar. The song was one of those played during the slide show and was something that Larsh and his mom listened to on a routine basis. In closing, Kamlowsky said, “Memories of him will never be forgotten, but cherished forever.”
Larsh’s teaching assistant Alexandra Gioella ’11 reminisced about Larsh’s light-hearted and fearless qualities, asserting, “He would have a profound impact on the College.” She further stated, “At first, I was unsure of what to make of the young man with the distinctive speech pattern. However, his unbridled creativity and enviable fearlessness in the classroom was soon evident.
“He had ability to make friends so easily, and his off-color comments and questions were beyond words. His sense of humor was unique, as was his perspective on the world around him,” Gioella continued.
“Cooper was a resilient and lovable boy who lived his life with tremendous grace and an extremely sophisticated wit,” his family stated in his obituary. “Cooper brought out the absolute best in all of those who healed him, taught him, lived with him and played with him.”
Dr. Marc Goulding, Larsh’s academic advisor at the College, shared memories of a time in class when Larsh sang along to the song, “Kung Fu Fighting” by Carl Douglas.
“Cooper highlighted why I love teaching,” Goulding said. “He examined all approaches without apprehension.”
The College’s Chaplain Rev. Linda Morgan-Clement ended the memorial by reading a portion of Larsh’s college admissions essay, which she thought summed up Larsh’s personality well. She read, “Simply tell people who you are, and let them deal with it ó or not.”
Larsh is survived by his mother and stepfather, Maureen Ryan and Mark Squillace, of Boulder; father and stepmother, Kurt and Rita Larsh, of Salt Lake City; stepbrothers Tom and Sam Squillace, of Boulder; sisters Talise and Anjolie Larsh, of Salt Lake City; grandparents Don and Ida Belle Larsh, of Fort Collins; and numerous aunts, uncles and cousins.
Memorial tax-deductible contributions may be made to the scholarship fund set up at Colorado Timberline Academy, where Larsh attended high school. Please send donations to the Cooper Larsh Scholarship Fund, Colorado Timberline Academy, 3554 U.S. Highway 500, Durango, CO 81301.