Sara Beth Lipscomb

Sara Beth Lipscomb passed away in her home on April 24th, 2020 from natural causes. She requested her age be omitted and for everybody to say she looked like she was in her late 30s.
Sara was a cancer survivor; a staunch advocate of physical and mental health rights; an avid, if intermediate, yoga practitioner; an inspired cook; a wonderful mother; and a relentless reader. She dedicated her life to advocating for those who were squatted on by the system. Her accomplishments and dedication made indelible changes to Montana.
Starting in the early 90s, Sara acted as a guardian ad litem and advocated for children in need of fair and caring representation. Her work would not have been possible without the mentorship of Dr. Sue Forest. During this time, she began lobbying at the state level for organizations and laws to help abused women and children. Her interactions with Capitol Hill were slightly disillusioning as she discovered the state was more interested in supporting the tobacco and prison industries than funding programs that supported victims of domestic assault. However, this only strengthened her resolve as she realized these programs required support outside the elected political sphere to succeed. As she was quoted in a Missoulian article in 2003, "We need to react with compassion...because these are all our children. This is Montana's future."
Her time walking the halls of the state legislature proved invaluable when, in 1997, Sara started working for Montana Counsel for Families which would lead her to work alongside the administrations of Governor Racicot, Martz, and Schweitzer. Her voice was one of the first and loudest to be heard on the local level to resolve the intersecting social, psychological, and economic factors which perpetuate the cycle of abuse. After seeing the tragedies surrounding the Meth epidemic in the early 2000s, Sara wrote, revised, and marched the first bill restricting the sale of Pseudoephedrine in Montana through the state legislature, being signed into law by Governor Martz.
Her advocacy was not limited to social causes, as she gave her time and effort to organizations that promoted wildlife preservation as well. Sara worked briefly for the Elks Foundation and helped peruse their goal of preserving wild game habitats for future generations. She also worked for the Montana Audubon where she helped maintain lands essential for Montana's non-game birds.
The work Sara was most proud of in her later life was the direct outreach she was able to provide through Open Aid Alliance, an organization dedicated to anonymous HIV and Aids testing as well as providing the HIV and Aids positive community in Missoula access to housing and health care resources . She championed their needle exchange program and administered tests at the methadone clinic as well as at both Fantasy for Adult locations. Her interactions with the owners of Fantasy, whom she lovingly referred to as her Aunties, led to creation of the Big Beau Peep Show: a sex positive LGBTQ+ event which promotes sexual expression and safety in a communal and supportive environment.
Sara wishes all of her friends and family well. She asks that anybody who wishes to honor her memory to dedicate their time and resources to a cause important to them and to remind them that it takes action to make change and there is no one more capable to make it than you.
Sara is preceded by her mother Patricia Cutright, her father Fred Lipscomb Jr., and her brother Andy Lipscomb. She is survived by her sister Amy Hamfeldt, her brother-in-law Brian Hamfeldt, her nieces Emily, Katherine, Anne Marie, and Brie Hamfeldt, and her son Jasen DeVoe.