TRU Beginnings
What can be done to help people who are dying? This question was posed to Dr. Darvin Smith by Beau Bohart Rezendes (then known as Beau Bohart), who was just finishing her Ph.D. dissertation on death and dying. His thought-provoking response was the beacon that pointed the way for Beau. Before long, she was speaking with anyone who would listen about starting a hospice in Boulder County.
In the early days, the small founding group met in living rooms; they stored donations in a cigar box; they paid their own way to hospice care conferences. Despite such humble beginnings, they never wavered in their steadfast commitment to the cause, and by early 1977, Boulder County Hospice was incorporated as a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization.
Its all-volunteer management team was comprised of the dedicated professionals who have come to be known as our founders, led by Beau Bohart Rezendes, then the executive director. Our first patient received hospice care in June of 1977. Thanks to one provocative question and five remarkable visionaries, the organization that has grown to become TRU Community Care was born.
More About the Beau Award
In the early 1990s, the board of directors at Boulder Hospice (now TRU Community Care) created the “Beau Award,” presented annually to a patient/family volunteer whose efforts are noted as extraordinary.
TRU’s patient/family volunteers provide direct support to hospice and palliative care patients and families. They offer companionship, respite, comfort touch, and more. They will sit vigil, run errands, provide pet therapy, and perform music… almost anything the patient or family needs. These volunteers assist in giving the best emotional, spiritual, and practical support available at a critical time. Some early Beau Award recipients include Cicely Kane (1992), Nancy Sisson (1993), Fred Schulerud (1994), Sharon Lee (1995), Barbara Mullen (1996), Mary Kay Jones (1997), Mary Liebler (1998), and Ruth Posehl (1999).
We are honored to “bring back” the Beau Award in 2022 and will be announcing this year’s recipient at our Volunteer Appreciation Celebration on Wednesday, April 6.
More About Beau Rezendes
Beau Rezendes’ background encompasses a blend of corporate, academic, and public sector work. Beau’s career includes senior and line management positions in energy, healthcare, manufacturing, and data processing, as well as professorships for the University of Colorado’s graduate program and Regis University’s school of undergraduate studies.
Beau was actively involved in leadership assessment, team effectiveness, and senior corporate and employee coaching in the areas of interpersonal communication, transitional change management, and executive development Her most recent position was with British Petroleum (formerly Amoco Corporation) where she served in leadership and individual contributor roles related to training and organizational development. She was a key contributor to the design and creation of the company’s 360 competency feedback and leadership development process for top-tier executives.
Beau has worked with several national and multi-national corporations in developing expertise in human resource management and training. She was the director of the Society for Human Resource Management for the State of Colorado. Also, she was a founding member of the National Hospice Organization Board of Directors and was the first to assume the role of National Director of Education and Training.
She is a member of the International Federation of Coaching and has served on a variety of community boards, including the Grillo Health and Information Center in Boulder and the Frasier Board of Trustees. Beau is currently a member of The Advisory Board of the Boulder County Conversation Project, the TRU Community Care Landmark Memory Care Strategic Advisory Committee, and the design team and board of The Planet Project Stewardship Entity.
Making a difference has always been Beau’s passion. With her late husband Dennis, she taught conversational English in Ghana, China, and Portugal as part of the Global Volunteer Program, and she has consulted on the writing of two books: If Not For The Perfect Stranger; Heartwarming and Healing Stories of Kindness from the 2013 Boston Marathon and Barack Obama Quotations 2004-2017; The Man, The Words and The Legacy.
Beau grew up in Peoria, Illinois and has lived in Colorado since 1964. She attended the University of Colorado where she earned a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology. In addition, she holds a Master of Arts degree in College Student Personnel Administration and an undergraduate degree in Psychology.
Beau’s extended family includes three children and seven grandchildren living in Australia, Colorado, and Massachusetts.
THANK YOU, Beau, for your decades of service to our community! You continue to inspire us all.
