It is with great sadness that Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado (VOC) shares with you the passing of one of our longtime volunteers, Steve Hartwell. Steve died on September 10, 2014 following a year-long battle with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Here, we would like to pay a special tribute to Steve's life and the lasting legacy he leaves behind. 

An 8th grade math teacher at Thornton Middle School in his day job, Steve always found time to give back and help make a difference through volunteering. His first project with VOC was on the Coyote Interpretive Trail in 2000. Shortly after, he trained as an Outdoor Stewardship Institute instructor and became a VOC certified crew leader and technical advisor. In 2006, he was awarded VOC's Volunteer of the Year Award. During that year alone, Steve volunteered on more than 19 projects and undertook several specialized technical trainings to hone his skills, including working with youth. He was a member of the Youth, Project Selection and Technical Advisors Development Committees, and also began leading VOC adopt projects in 2007. 

Throughout Stephen's notable tenure with VOC, it was evident he most enjoyed tackling the hardcore, challenging projects. Just before he was diagnosed with ALS in the summer of 2013, he was hiking up high-altitude trails, bucking down trees, and crosscut sawing to help restore the Mt. Evans wilderness. Despite his diagnosis and the hardships of this debilitating disease, he continued volunteering with VOC that summer. At this time, Steve had completed more than 202 VOC projects and was awarded VOC's Mt. Elbert Award.

Steve could regularly be spotted with his favorite beer, Stout Guinness, and would often arrive at VOC for a project team meeting after a hard day of teaching math to middle school-ers, with his Guinness in hand! He was also very passionate about fostering the interest of math in all of his students. He approached his teaching as he did all of his interests - with intention and the knowledge that hard work pays off. In fact, a self-description posted on his school's website of what he expected of his students captured his 'you get what you put into it' philosophy well: "I give out homework every day. The homework usually requires 10 minutes of work. The only days that I do not give homework are on test days or field trip days. For nine years of teaching I have seen that students who do homework outscore students who do not do homework by a large margin. That is to say, students who do not do math homework do poorly on tests."

In his spare time away from VOC, Steve was also a dedicated youth hockey coach and guided and mentored young hockey players for over 10 years.

Steve is survived by his wife, Tai-Ping - who frequently volunteered with Steve on VOC projects - his son, Neil; his sister, Mary-Jo; and his brother, Kevin. 

On behalf of the Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado staff and volunteers, we extend our deepest sympathy on the untimely death of Steve, and may we all take solace in the quality of life he led and his profoundly meaningful contributions to his community.