Betsy Zaborowski was blind, so she never saw Colorado’s mountains, even though she skied them — and she was determined to return to her favorite state before she died.
She made it by two days.
Zaborowski, 58, died Nov. 29, after flying from Baltimore to Denver in an air ambulance.
She was taken to the Denver home she and her husband, James Gashel, had recently bought.
Zaborowski died of a brain tumor. A brain tumor also took most of her sight when she was 3 years old.
From 2004 until 2007, Zaborowski was the first executive director of the National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute.
She established the federation’s first National Center for Blind Youth in Science to encourage blind youths to enter the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Zaborowski conducted three summer science academies for students.
Marc Maurer, president of the federation, said Zaborowski’s “service to the blind of the nation was extraordinary.”
“She materially increased opportunities for blind youth and adults for at least the next generation,” he said.
Zaborowski had long been active in the federation, which has headquarters in Baltimore, and was active in the Colorado chapter in outreach and fundraising.
She met James Gashel at a national federation meeting in Baltimore. Gashel, blind from birth, also worked for the federation.
When the two married, Gashel said his wife “gave up her career in Denver and did it good- naturedly.”
“But she told me about it every day for 18 years,” he said.
Zaborowski learned to cross-country ski and, with the help of guides, she and her husband did alpine skiing.
“There were three characteristics you knew about Betsy,” her husband said. “She was Polish, she was Catholic and she was a Packer fan. She converted me only on the second one.”
Betsy Zaborowski was born on Oct. 7, 1949, in Marshfield, Wis., and was reared in nearby Thorp, Wis.
She earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in educational counseling at the University of Wisconsin in Menomonie and her doctorate in psychology at the University of Denver.
She was a middle and high school guidance counselor in Michigan before moving to Colorado, where she was a mental health counselor at the University of Colorado at Boulder and later did health psychology for Kaiser Permanente in Denver.
Zaborowski moved to Baltimore in 1987 and was a clinical psychologist, specializing in women’s issues. She also was an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University’s school of continuing education.
In addition to her husband, she is survived by her mother, Arlene Zaborowski of Thorp, Wis.; a sister, Diane Franklin of Steamboat Springs; a brother, Bill Zaborowski of Galesville, Wis.; two stepdaughters, Andrea Beasley of Littleton and Valerie Costanza of Keller, Texas; a stepson, Eric Gashel of Ruston, La.; and two grandchildren.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
