I met Penny Lanphier in 1984 when I joined the staff of Naropa Institute. Jolie Bernstein managed low-level fundraising and Penny worked with Jim Spearly to manage fundraising for the big-money donors. Penny left after a few months, and Suzann Duquette took her job, and Jolie left and I took Jolie's job. What struck me about Penny was simply her elegance. Penny looked ageless to me, and she had a distinctive style with the auburn hair and the glasses (cat's eye?), a silk shirt with stunning earrings, a dash of freckles across her face that showed up best when she smiled. We did meet for coffee a few times after Penny left Naropa. I seem to remember she went to work for Rigden, a local software company where rumor has it she made the big bucks. One night stands out in my memory, the night of the 1991 Shambhala Ball. I was wearing a flouncy red silk shrift shop dress, and seething after a huge waltzing fail with my husband. I ran into Penny and met Kristen for the first time and somehow I came to life. We retired to the Marpa House kitchen for one of the best Girls Nights I ever experienced. At some point I got into a stand-up chameleon riff and every word out of my mouth made these ladies laugh. It was mainly laughing about the "let me count the ways" that men frustrate women. But they were such a good audience, such good sports. For me it was a highlight. I'm not a comic, but sometimes if the planets conspire, I can make people laugh a bit. People drift away. I learned that too. But to reconnect with family the way Penny and Kristen did, that is a precious jewel. In closing, Penny Lanphier is not just a clothes horse. She has her mysteries, but, in my mind, I like how Penny strides out in her snakeskin shoes and dang well lives her life.