The profound loss of Carson’s light in our lives is beyond measure. He is forever in our hearts, imprinted on our souls. He was a man full of love and laughter, kindness and inspiration.
His was not a mind that any observer could have deemed troubled or wounded until his very last days. His illness was swift and insidious and then, suddenly, he was lost to us.
There is so much about mental illness that doctors and lay people still don’t understand or fail to recognize. There is a great deal of work to be done and often times, we don’t address this need until we are personally devastated by its wake. It is my hope that Carson’s unique and brilliant light will continue to emanate through the work of this foundation.
- Heather Spencer
The thing I can remember most about Carson was the way he interacted with people. It didn’t matter if you were a long time friend or he had just met you, he would talk to you like you were his best friend. He was always interested in what you were doing or what you had going on in your life. He had an amazing way with people, its what made him Carson.
- Shawn Geagan
It was over tall coffee drinks at the Breckenridge house that C.J.unveiled his idea. Antler lamps.
I would find the antlers, make the lamps and Though Carson never got to see a lamp completed, my first lamp made with three mule deer antlers is dedicated to Carson, his zest for life, humor and contagious enthusiasm.impressive knowledge and vision.then we’d rent a big U-Haul truck, fill it with antler lamps and drive all over the Colorado mountains on selling trips twice a year. Somehow I’m sure there would have been golf, skiing, and some beer drinking thrown into these “business” trips. Carson had the business logistics figured out and every question asked was answered with with impressive knowledge and vision.
Though Carson never got to see a lamp completed, my first lamp made with three mule deer antlers is dedicated to Carson, his zest for life, humor and contagious enthusiasm.
- Dan “Chet” Hinds
Hole-In-One
Carson and I met in 1993 in Atlanta on a golf course. We had many great moments over the years playing the game we both loved but this is without a doubt my favorite:
The day was November 27, 2003, Thanksgiving day. We were vacationing in Cabo San Lucas and it was our last day to play golf before we had to head home. For our last round we picked The Ocean Course at Cabo Del Sol.
The Ocean Course (as described perfectly on the their website) A Jack Nicklaus Signature design ranked among the “Top 100 Courses in the World” by Golf Magazine. With seven holes on the coastline, this masterpiece is commonly called “the Pebble Beach of Baja.” www.cabodelsol.com
I started the day off on fire and by the sixth hole I had Carson down three or four holes on our main bet and up on a couple other side bets. Carson loved to come up with different ways to bet on the golf course; 3 hole tournaments, Longest Drive. etc. So when we pulled up to the 7th Tee he of course decided it was time to press the bet. I feeling really good at this point welcomed the press since I was up. How could you not want to up the bet on this hole?
Par 3 – 137 yards
I was the first to tee off and I hit a perfect shot right at the flag. I couldn’t see how close I was because the hole sat behind a slight ridge in the middle of the green. Of course it was time to celebrate and Carson got the picture.
Carson walked up to the tee and took his practice swings.
He proceeded to hit the exact same shot I just hit, right at the pin and the distance looked great. We quickly got in our cart to drive up to the green to see how close we were to the pin. When we arrived at the green we only saw one ball, about a foot behind the hole. We quickly looked at each other with that “could it actually be in the hole look” and a split second later Carson was running to hole. I got out of the cart and slowly walked over because I knew that his ball actually looked closer off of the tee. Ah who am I kidding, I wanted to him to find my ball in hole.
It was of course his and we began to run on the green to celebrate his first hole-in-one on the perfect hole to do it. He was so excited, he kept yelling hole-in-one and screaming as loud as he could. It was an incredible moment and I was so happy I was there to experience it.
- Shawn Geagan