Saturday April 7th in San Rafael, California I attended the memorial for Laura and it was truly a celebration of her life. I found out that at 20 she had joined the Peace Corps and spent two years in Nepal, and that prior to this she was a poor student and did not think she was very smart.

Returning from Nepal she enrolled in college and graduated with honors, then spent two successful years with Arthur Anderson. Getting bored, she returned to California and took Werner Erhard’s est courses, which transformed her again. The rest of her life was focused on making a difference in the world. Married several times, she spent time in Alaska doing adventure tours and hunting bears. The coaching bug sounds like it began following est and collaborating with Thomas Leonard. She co-founded CTI in 1992 and co-authored Co-Active Coaching in 1998. Her life transformed again when she and Judy Pike became life partners when she was 50.

Her focus since early 2000 was on The Bigger Game she and business partner Rick Tamlyn envisioned for each human being. This was her second bout with cancer and she lived 18 months from diagnosis when the prediction was only 6 months maximum. As one of the presentors at her memorial said “Thomas Leonard evolved the business of coaching, Laura Whitworth evolved the heart and soul of coaching”. If Laura were here she would ask “What’s your Bigger Game?” You may read more about her life at http://laurawhitworth.blogspot.com, the blog set up by her friends and family to honor her life.