There is an honorary support member of the Spiro Lyon Glass team that needs mentioning: Joanne Lyon. She was an amazingly brilliant woman, gallery owner, art connoisseur, Lee’s wife, and my idol.

Joanne championed Lee in his new endeavor as a glass artist. She also never thought twice of a 23-year-old woman becoming her husband’s sidekick. Joanne was my mentor on how to be your authentic self. She had no personal interest in the glass studio. To her, that was Lee’s realm. While Lee was discovering glass, Joanne was creating a volunteer program for the local National Forest Service that still thrives in the Roaring Fork Valley to this day.

I recall a time when we were working on some glass gifts for Lee and Joanne’s 50th wedding anniversary. We were making glass hearts with guest’s initials on them. I said to Lee unfathomably, “How can anyone be married to the same person for 50 years?” Lee said, “We are not the same people. I have changed, Joanne has changed, and we have always supported each other through those changes”. Brilliant!