| August 2002 Newsletter |
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Barbara B. Booker (1935-2002)
A memorial celebration of Barbara Booker's life will be held at 3 pm on Sunday August 18 at the pavilion of Upper Buttermilk Falls State Park (West King Road). The celebration will be followed by a dish-to-pass supper for those who can stay; beverages will be provided.
A Tribute
Sometimes, in search of comfort and joy, I close my eyes and time travel back to the running era of the mid-1970s and early '80s.
When I arrive there, I always find Jim Hartshorne and Barb Booker waiting for me, and I'm so happy to see them.
Jim and Barb both lived in Ithaca, and were pioneers in the infancy years of the national running boom. In their own distinct manner, each served as mentors in a fledging movement struggling to stand up on wobbly legs, and sprint into a bright future.
Hartshorne, who died of cancer in December 1994, always will be remembered as a renowned activist in masters (ages 40-over) running in the United States. His legacy includes the creation of the Finger Lakes Runners Club and the Finger Lakes Cycling Club; the Ithaca 5 & 10 and the Finger Lakes Marathon - and the first eastern U.S. indoor masters mile (1968) - now called the Hartshorne Memorial Masters Mile - held right here at Cornell University.
Booker will live on in our hearts and minds as the woman who called together a local "Band of Sisters" to run road races and marathons; to train hard and be fast; to bond as a team; and show everyone else that age and gender were no barriers to athleticism.
Barb died June 9 in the Reconstruction Home; she was 66. She is survived by her immediate family: husband Jack; children Jim, David and Susan; and four grandchildren.
But sadly, Barb has been gone a very long time because she battled 15 years with Alzheimer's disease.
When Hartshorne decided to step away from his one-man show, Barb became the first elected president of the Finger Lakes Runners Club, and the director of the Ithaca 5 & 10 during its peak years. Already in her early 40s, Barb was an avid runner, camper, hiker, triathlete and cross country skier, and a member of both the Ithaca YMCA and the Ithaca Community Chorus and Chamber Singers.
"Barb was one of the first female masters runners I ever knew, and she excelled at a range of distances," said Bob Congdon, one of the original members of the Finger Lakes Runners Club. "Jim and Barb were perfectly complementary to each other. Both were super-organized, while Jim might do all the work himself, Barb would delegate responsibilities.
"She was fortunate to inherit what Jim had started, but both were leaders in their fields," Congdon added. "Jim made running important, and Barb made women's running important. In fact, Barb was a leader in women's masters running, too."
It was so long ago, and memories fade. But one fact remains: Very few women were running in the late 70s. You might see a woman holding the sweat pants of her significant other, or clapping and cheering from the sidelines while the men had all the fun. Not if Barb had anything to say about it.
I was in my late 20s then, and lucky to be a member of Barb's inner circle. That "Band of Sisters," many already masters runners and still going strong, included Joan de Boer, Nan Blakely, Helen MacDonald, Sally Rusby, Sharon Petrillose, Sue Habecker, Marcia Spaeth, Katy Gottschalk, Margret Betz, Deb Stokes, Ann Baldwin and a group of transient Cornell graduate students
"Barb was someone who always made me feel good about running, and who was good fun to run with," said Gottschalk, 61, still a nationally-ranked, track specialist.
"Barb was a very good runner - better than she ever got credit for at the time. But she never bragged about anything," said Rusby, 65, who won many age-group titles at national -class marathons in the 70s and 80s. "Because she was president of the club, she was able to recruit more women. That's something the men wouldn't have cared enough to do.
"Back then, it was hard to get four women for a team, because we all had families," Rusby added. "But she did it, and I always felt I needed to be in good shape to be on that masters team with her. All the women took pride in being in shape for the team. Ultimately, Barb just tried to get people to run, and she didn't care how fast you were. Participation was the thing; Barb was not an elitist. She had a well-rounded view of her life, and she wasn't just obsessed with running."
When Barb was in her forties and early fifties, she could still run a sub-3:30 marathon; a 21-minute 5K; a sub-34 5-miler and a 42-minute 10K - good enough for age-group victories, and excellent by even today's standards.
Ann Baldwin and I ran the New York City Marathon with Barb in 1979, when there were 10,000 entrants and only 1,000 women. Pre-race, Barb made me a homemade card depicting New York City marathon scenes, on which she wrote: QT"Good Luck, Diane. I'll be thinking about you all during the marathon."
Nan Blakely and Rusby ran the Boston Marathon with Barb when masters qualifying standards required women to break 3:30 for admission. I found a newspaper clipping, dated 1979, of Barb and Helen MacDonald lining up to compete in the Finger Lakes Marathon, one of the most difficult 26.2-milers on the east coast.
Barb, at age 45, competed in the inaugural Hartshorne Masters Mile in 1981, and placed fifth in 6:12. She was joined by nine other pioneers, including teammates Blakely, Betz, Rusby, Spaeth and Janet Hansen.
Long-time friend Joan de Boer finished 50K (31 mile) cross country ski marathons with Barb at a time when women hardly skied at all.
My most vivid memories of Barb have to do with the team adventures.
In the fall of 1977, Barb, Helen MacDonald, Sharon Petrillose, Sue Habecker, Martha Rosett, then the Cornell women's track team captain, and I, were members of the first International Women's Year Torch Relay, which traveled 2,610 miles from Seneca Falls, the birth of women's rights, to Houston, Tex., the site of the first national women's conference. The torch, handed to us by the famous Kathrine Switzer in Seneca Falls for the kick-off legs, is now in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C.
Michael Turback's Great New York State Nouveau Wine Race was another long-distance challenge for Barb, Deb Stokes, the late Henry Theisen, Sally Rusby and me. We were one among a dozen relay teams who ran French Nouveau wine bottles on our backs, along rural roads, all the way from Dundee to Turback's Restaurant in Ithaca.
Barb recruited Rusby, de Boer, Gottschalk, Betz and Blakely for assorted masters teams that won titles at the Freihofer's National Championships, the Boilermaker and eastern regional track championships.
"I have Barb to thank for getting me into running," said Blakely, the most talented masters runner of all. "It was just before I turned 40, and Barb said, 'I can't wait until you're 40, because I want a masters team.' How many times do you have people say, 'How great it is that you're going to be 40!? We'll have so much fun together with running!' Although my running history was short, I loved it. It was so much fun!
"Once I was testing my legs, and preparing to run a local 10-mile race. It raced up Mt. Pleasant and Turkey Hill - I always hated hills, so I told Barb I couldn't do it. Barb said, 'Yes you can! And, I'll do it with you.' Barb stayed with me all the time, even as I cussed all the way up those hills," said Blakely, who won the Skylon Marathon women's masters title in 3:05, in the early '80s. "Barb was so unselfish and full of energy."
Little known fact: Booker, Betz (who currently holds four F65 age-group American records), Rusby and Blakely still hold the F40-49 American indoor record of 25:06.6 for the 4 x 1,600-meter relay, set Dec. 12, 1981 in Syracuse.
"That (record) would have thrilled Barb to bits!" said Blakely, now retired from competition.QTB "She so loved the team concept. Many of us would not have done half of what we did without Barb's encouragement and company. She was a fine person, and terrific running companion. Barb's spirit was so light-hearted and wonderful."
Perhaps of all local women, Joan de Boer knew Booker the best. The two met in 1964 during a nature hike at Cornell. Both had husbands who were Cornell professors, and both had one-year-old children in tow.
"Barb got me involved in running, but we did lots of things together that made our friendship special," said de Boer, a nationally-ranked senior runner, triathlete and skier. "She would say, 'Let's Go!' and she warmed me up to all these things like camping and hiking trips. She was a special friend for athletics. Her eyes would light up, and she'd be thrilled about all these things. She would set the pace, so to speak.
"I don't think I would have run a marathon on my own," said de Boer, who visited Booker every week in the Reconstruction Home. "But that's what attracted us to each other. We were made to be friends."
I thought of Barb last week when Oprah Winfrey was interviewing an Alzheimer's patient who is writing a daily journal about his disease. Oprah asked him if he had any regrets, now that he's sick, and he answered, "I wish I would have had more fun in my life."
DeBoer and I agreed on that issue: While she was healthy, Barb did have a lot of fun.
Thanks to Barb, we all did.
-- Diane Sherrer
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