Longtime Great Race Volunteer Liz Sutter Passes Away

Liz Sutter, a longtime Great Race checkpoint worker, passed away yesterday at a hospital in Massachusetts. Liz was one of the all-time great characters involved in the Great Race. She not only worked checkpoints for most of the last two decades, she once was a competitor, driving a 1916 Hudson across the country for Dale Bell. When not working on the Great Race, Liz – always the adventurer – spent her winters in Antarctica (it was summer there) working. It was there late last year that she became ill and had to be evacuated to New Zealand and eventually to the U.S. as she tried to find out what was wrong. I thought it would be best to let Liz tell each of you what you meant to her from her final blog post on Facebook: Final Blog: To all my dear, wonderful, wacky, kind and faithful friends. I wish I had the energy to write to each one of you to thank you for your avalanche of good wishes, prayers, cards, visits, letters and gifts but the progression of my illness does not afford me that luxury. However, I want each and every one of you to know how much these signs of friendship and love have meant to me on my journey. You have given me more smiles and laughs than you could ever imagine. I have felt your love and your prayers and your many, many good wishes. They have wrapped around me like a warm flannel (or Pendleton) blanket on a cold day. I am always comforted knowing you are there. Thank you for sharing your lives, adventures, homes and children with me. Friendship is one of the greatest gifts in life and I have received abundantly. I love you all. ***Elizabeth asked me to help her draft the above letter yesterday. Elizabeth passed peacefully at 7:55 this evening (February 12, 2020) -- Judy Skinner.