With the dawn of a new year, there is a melancholy task of remembering those who have passed away over the previous year. Fountain Hills residents have lost many friends and neighbors during 2020 and they should all be remembered fondly.

The Times also pays homage each year to those who had a particular impact on the lives of so many in the community through their leadership and example.

The town lost two former council members this past year, both passing on the same day, Mike Archambault and Ed Kehe. There was also Dr. C.T. Wright, a stalwart of the community who also left his mark statewide, nationally and internationally.

There are also others we will remember with this story.

Mike Archambault served on the Fountain Hills Town Council from 2002 until 2010 with an additional stint on the Planning and Zoning Commission following that. However, it was his status as an early town pioneer that may have left its greatest mark on the town. Arriving in 1976, he went to work building homes with his dad, Archie, and was a leading member of the business community until his passing.

Archambault was an avid outdoorsman and worked with youth in the community through scouting and organizing youth activities when there was little in the community for kids to do.

He would build toys for children in his shop, and he also loved restoring vintage cars. He also used his construction expertise to lead development of the Veterans Memorial in Fountain Park.

Archambault was inducted into the Verde Valley Hall of Fame in 2018.

He is survived by his wife, Charla, daughters, sons and seven grandchildren.

Ed Kehe served on the Town Council from 2004 to 2008. Prior to retiring to Fountain Hills in 1995, Kehe was a long-time educator and successful high school athletic coach.

In Fountain Hills, Kehe was an active Home Delivered Meals volunteer for 11 years. He also served on the boards of the McDowell Park Association, the Golden Eagle Foundation, the Fountain Hills Sister Cities Corporation and the Committee of Architecture for NPOA.

He was also active for a number of years with the Noon Kiwanis Club, where he served as vice president, president-elect and president.

As a member of the council, Kehe served on the technical advisory committee for the development of the TOFH Strategic Plan.

Kehe was also inducted into the Lower Verde Valley Hall of Fame in 2014 and was also inducted into the Westchester County (N.Y.) Sports Hall of Fame in 1989.

Dr. C.T. Wright was a man of enormous optimism, always willing to express his joy and passion for his fellow man and the things around him. He will be remembered as an educator and a man who invoked his positive spirit in all that he did.

Through the years, Dr. Wright has been recognized nationally and internationally for his commitment to the United States, Africa, education, religion, international relations, human rights and governmental affairs. He has helped to impact the lives of tens of thousands of beneficiaries, primarily in the United States and Africa.

Dr. Wright was the founding chair of The Light of Hope Institute, which promotes human rights around the world through conferences, workshops and lectures.

As a community leader, Dr. Wright served in several capacities on the Fountain Hills Unified School District Governing Board; president of the Fountain Hills Kiwanis Club; senior advisor to the Liberian Association of Arizona; chairman of the Advisory Committee of World Children Relief; president of the Arizona African Society; vice president of the Governor's Advisory Council on Aging; member of the Phoenix Mayor's African American Advisory Committee, member of Maricopa County Attorney's Citizens Advisory Council, and a gubernatorial appointment to the Arizona Board of Executive Clemency.

Earlier in the year, Dr. Wright’s partner in life and his pursuits for many years, his wife, Mary Stevens Wright, also passed away.

Mrs. Wright shared her husband’s passion to serve and was by his side in all of his efforts to make the world a better place.

She was an active participant in education, religion, community and civic activities.

Karl J. Gaardsmoe passed away unexpectedly in August of last year. He and his family moved to Fountain Hills in 1999 and were happy to adopt the community as their home.

Gaardsmoe poured himself into the Fountain Hills community, serving on the School Board, several political campaigns, and other church and community organizations who sought his advice and counsel. His involvement in Rotary Club led to hosting two exchange students. He was well-loved for his generosity, listening ear and providing a safe place for those in need. He also enjoyed golf, cooking and poker games. He loved a relaxing ritual of surveying the mountains from his hot tub perch.

Bob Mason was a mid-west farm boy who first visited the desert and Rio Verde in 1975. He and his wife, Dorothy, moved permanently to the community in 1983 upon his retirement.

Mason embraced his new desert home, and the history and culture of the Southwest soon became his passion.

The retired corporate executive soon became a writer and author of several books on local history; “Our Desert Oasis”is a history of the Rio Verde community, “Verde Valley Lore I and II” are a history of the people in Arizona’s central regions and “The Burning” is the story of a family that settled near Fort McDowell and built a farm after the Civil War.

Mason also served on the Rio Verde Community Association Board of Directors and was president. He was also a member of the Rio Verde Country Club Board of Directors. He was inducted into the Lower Verde Valley Hall of Fame with its inaugural class in 2004.

He leaves his wife, Dorothy, two daughters, one son, and grandchildren.

General Don Harvel, USAF ret., was something of a newcomer to Fountain Hills when he passed in September at age 66. He began his military career in 1972 by attending the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Upon graduation, he was commissioned to the Air Force and was assigned to Williams Air Force Base in Arizona. After numerous assignments to various bases and as deputy commander of the Texas Air National Guard, he retired in 2010. He had deployed for operations Desert Storm, Desert Shield, Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.

In 2010, Harvel led the investigation into the crash of an Osprey aircraft in Afghanistan and wrote a book about the incident, “Rotors in the Sand.”

Harvel moved to Fountain Hills in 2016 and became involved in activities with the American Legion and VFW. He is remembered as a big, friendly man willing to help those in need.

Lois Ann Grate passed early in 2020 at age 93, after spending more than 40 years in Fountain Hills as a local business owner and champion for the town’s business community.

She and her husband, Bill, came to Arizona in 1959, establishing their interior design business in Mesa and Scottsdale before opening in Fountain Hills in 1973. The Grates joined with other local business owners in founding the Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce.

Grate was among the original Chamber Ambassadors and was active with the group for more than 40 years, until her passing. She was presented with the Chamber Lifetime Business Achievement Award in 2016.

Geri Nabers also passed in 2020. She and her husband, Tex, led a family in the real estate business after coming to Fountain Hills in the early 1970s.

Nabers is remembered by many as the teller at Valley National Bank (before Chase), the first bank in Fountain Hills, in 1973. She later obtained her real estate license to work with her husband in establishing Nabers Realty in

1977. She retired from real estate in 2016.

She is survived by her son and two daughters, five grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren.