Former mental health center director died Wednesday
By Michelle Wallar, For the Camera
February 12, 2005
Laura Systra devoted her life to improving conditions for people suffering with mental illness. From developing authentic relationships to fighting injustice when it crossed her path, she made an impression on people in Boulder County.
"I think one thing that was really clear and unique about Laura was her very keen willingness to see the very best in everyone around her," said Robin Bohannan, Boulder City Council member and executive director of Boulder County AIDS Project. "Not only did she see the very best, but she could draw it out of people."
Systra worked at the Mental Health Center of Boulder and Broomfield Counties for 25 years, starting as a receptionist and rising to executive director in 2003 and 2004. She also was a founding member of the AIDS Project.
Bohannan took a job at the Mental Health Center 20 years ago, and she and her supervisor eventually became best friends, Bohannan said.
"She was small in stature and very gentle," Bohannan said. "She was not at all intimidating, but she had a sense of self and power and certainty in the world about her calling, so-to-speak."
Systra, 57, succumbed Wednesday to breast cancer that had spread throughout her body. She was diagnosed in March, and her many visits to the doctor were a perfect illustration of how important relationships were to her, said Michael Covey, her husband of 25 years.
"She made relationships with all these people. The doctors, the people who checked her in, even the people who gave her the tubes for tests knew her by name," Covey said.
On one visit to the oncology office, Systra had a conversation about death with a nurse.
"The nurse just stopped working, pulled up a chair and talked for 20 minutes," Covey said.
Systra's parents were physicians and social activists, which influenced her, he said.
"She was willing to engage in conflict and support the underdog," he said.
When the couple's children were in elementary school, Systra took people with major mental illnesses to their school so students could understand they were real people, Covey said.
The couple's son, Daniel Covey, said his mother was more perceptive than most people. He remembers playing a game of Monopoly with his fiancee and younger brother when anger clouded the room. Systra, who was observing quietly, noticed what they did not, and she stepped up and outlined the cause of the tension.
"It was really hard at the moment," Daniel Covey said. "It was shocking, but she was really good at pinpointing what was really happening."
Tom Miller, president of the National Research Center in Boulder, met Systra more than 30 years ago and described her as extraordinarily compassionate and strong.
She used to say that if she could choose the way she would die, she would choose a lingering illness, Miller said.
"In my way of thinking, it gave her time to work it through," Miller said. "To understand it and to say goodbye."
Community members are invited to a memorial service for Systra from 5 to 8 p.m. Feb. 21 at the Boulder Theater, 2034 14th St. Attendees are encouraged to bring written stories or memories of Systra that will be put into a memory book.
Posted by Emily at February 13, 2005 02:01 PM