I met Laura Luger in the early summer of 2004. She was on an assignment for Omaha Magazine to write a feature article about the newly created Playing with Fire series. At the end of the interview, she asked, ‘How Can I Help?’ And that’s where my 20-year friendship with this extraordinary woman was born!

Laura Luger passed on March 1, 2024, at her home in Hawaii.

Nooooooooooooooo!

Where do I start?  What do I say?

I called Laura, The Glue. She wore the referee's shirt during the early years of Playing with Fire disagreements and was unafraid to blow the whistle long and hard. She cemented the team together.

Laura was adept at writing PwF grant proposals and garnering annual dollars from our supporters—the Glue in the other sense.

She loved to windsurf. She hated sweet potatoes. She loved Kris Lager, Aynsley Lister, Big Head Todd, and Robert Randolph. She always did her part and never said no to doing more. She never wanted credit and always seemed to be a step away. But that was the Glue.

RIP? I'm not sure that Heaven knows who's coming! Laura is a spitfire and an occasional hellion. But she is always laughing, smiling, joking, instigating. She had that impish grin I loved.

She called me Davis Dude. She was my right hand.

I miss her, and I'm crying! We all are. Vanessa Marie, the Playing with Fire team. Our fans. Musicians she chauffeured around town when they performed at PwF. We are all so saddened by Laura's passing.

We know life is ephemeral but that doesn't make her loss any less painful.

Jeff