Mollie and Garland Lasater were both born in San Antonio, Texas, six weeks apart in 1938. They each left home as teenagers for the Northeast, Garland to Phillips Andover and Mollie to neighboring Abbot Academy, then on to Princeton and Vassar.

After college, Mollie worked in New York City and Dallas, where she and Garland reconnected while he was in law school and flying as a Marine fighter pilot. They married in September 1964, spent their early years together in San Diego, and then settled in Fort Worth with their two sons, building a life there for the past 60 years. While Garland practiced law, Mollie devoted herself to public education, serving on the Fort Worth School Board for ten years, the last four as president.

In the early 2000s, as they wound down their careers, Mollie and Garland found inspiration in (MS)2, Andover’s STEM summer program for first-generation and low-income students, and began imagining something similar in the Roaring Fork Valley. Working with Kevin Ward and Helen Obermeyer, they partnered early on with the Aspen Science Center, and found a home for the program when Jeff Leahy volunteered CRMS as its host.

For the past twenty years, Mollie and Garland have poured themselves into both (HS)2 and CRMS: building relationships with students, offering generous financial support, drawing in friends from around the country, and forging partnerships with schools in other cities.

(HS)2 would not exist without their vision, partnership, and devotion. We’re forever grateful for the mark they’ve left on (HS)2, and through it, on Colorado Rocky Mountain School.