Feeny Lipscomb's famous quote: "If it's not fun, don't do it. And if you have to do it, make it fun." And in her last days, she was asked "If this were fun, what would it look like?"
She was The Minister of FUN. Her friends were Priests and Priestess of Joy, initiated by her of course. She was the party, anywhere she went.
Many of us believed if anyone could overcome stage 4 cancer, it would be her. And she triumphed for several months, since her dire diagnosis last Oct. She began to research alternative medicine, as she was told she was inoperable, and was told she could do chemo and radiation, but that it was futile.
She found a place in ABQ that specialized in alternative cancer medicine, and after our fundraiser in Dec she had enough money for 2 months of treatment. That was a huge turning point for Feeny. She became so healthy, she absolutely glowed with health and vigor. 
She became vegan and did as much of her life affirming protocols herself, which was very taxing, but she was a champion of life and never said it was too much. If any of us asked her if she needed help, she said, "NO, I'm fine" Fiercely independent that one.
She ran out of funds and was not able to carry on with her IV treatments and that was when she began to have the symptoms that accompany the dreaded "C".
Feeny was one of the founders of the current Taos, whose mission is community. It was important that everyone felt welcome. The Taos Inn, as it is called "the Living room of Taos" was her innovation when she was part owner. She founded All One Tribe Drums, to bring the joy of indigenous music to the world through drumming, and the native drums made here in Taos. She also founded the Spring Art Festival. She organized many fundraisers in Taos and in her second home, Todo Santos, Mexico. Giving was Feeny's greatest joy.
She did not go down with a whimper. She was powerfully affirming life until the very end. Her hospice Angels had their hands full, as she needed to move constantly, talk, and be sung to. She was very sharp until the end, commenting on how gorgeous one looked, how beautifully we sang, or what a gift it was to come to see her. She believed until the very end that a miracle could take place. And in a way it did. She brought many of her friends from various areas of her life together with one purpose, to share in the joy of life and family that she created around her. Anyone whose life she touched was forever changed. And we are all family, All One Tribe.
Feeny's charisma and love kept our community pure of heart and wild of spirit. Our new slogan shall be "What Would Feeny Do?"
She had several angels with her at the time of her passing, which was early this morning. Her hospice care was administered by several of her loving and loyal friends, who washed, dressed and anointed her to lie in state for a few hours today. Many close friends came to say goodbye, bringing flowers, oceans of tears and stories of joy and her indomitable persona.
Her body was taken by Rivera Funeral home at 4pm to be cremated. No word as yet as to her memorial.
Composed by
Ana Chavez, with anecdotal stories from Sunny Redmond, Ana Easter, Tara Lupo, Phyllis Landis, Athena Hahn,Tracy Collins and Anthony Carlson
taosplaza.com Publisher's Note:
taosplaza.com might not have existed without Feeny Lipscomb. Feeny gathered together 4 creative computer-types in a space above her All One Tribe Drum Company on South Gusdorf in 1996-1998. That group became known as Taos MultiMedia Guild. I was one of those four participants. The Web was very new then. We worked and played with "The Web" and studied and discussed and figured the future as best we could individually and collectively. Feeny and I used to see each other all the time then, and she was almost always at our regular Tuesday morning meetings, and our occasional Friday night beer and darts parties at the Guild's computer lab. The seeds of TMA's (taosmusicandart.com) Taos MultiMedia Studio (taosmultimediastudio.com) and all the Web sites were planted then. The taosplaza.com domain name was registered while in the final days of 'the Guild'. I loved my interactions with Feeny and, in my heart, often thank her for calling me that day in '96 to see if I was interested in this idea.
Thanks, Feeny. :-)
Much Love, Your Friend Forever,
J. R. Ransom
Video 2:53 by Rick Romancito and Melody Romancito for the Taos News Media Center.
Short video (9min 22sec) of Taos'-own Feeny Lipscomb's experience as she battles stage 4 breast cancer.
Video 5min. In Taos, New Mexico: Rock Ridgeway demonstrates his amazing one piece garment "The Cameleon".
Video - 10min. Want a fabulous insight to Taos of 40 years ago?
