Renowned AIDS activist and educator, Elsa Burgess Flores died Friday, May 9, at her home in Douglas after a long battle with bone cancer. She was 80.

She'd first been diagnosed 14 years ago.

Burgess-Flores had spent 19 years traveling around Southern Arizona, northern Mexico and cities across the United States to educate communities about HIV and AIDS after two sons died from complications from the disease.

She started her own HIV prevention and support service aimed primarily at men who have sex with men. Unhappy with the politics and red tape surrounding government funding and AIDS service organizations, Elsa was clear about her philosophy, “do whatever it takes to save one life at a time, and then go on to the next one.”

 As a charter member of the office of HIV/STD Services of the Arizona Department of Health Services Elsa combined an in-your-face, no-nonsense delivery of HIV knowledge with pure compassion and love — and unquestionably saved many lives in the process. Never ever did she allow the personal threats and vandalism stop her from educating others or sharing her compassion openly. She was committed to fighting HIV/AIDS and she was committed to fighting discrimination.

She became recognized internationally for her home spun prevention wisdom and compassion for those families and victims of HIV.

She authored Autumn Fare-well, a personal and deeply moving account of the issues her sons faced as gay men living and dying with AIDS. Her book was published in English in 1999 and in Spanish in 2002. Elsa traveled nationwide on her mission of HIV prevention and AIDS education. After her book was published she often traveled throughout rural northern Mexico teaching prevention and compassion. In 2003 she was honored jointly by the Health Departments of Cochise County  and the cities of Naco and Agua Prieta, Mexico, for her community leadership and breaking barriers on family issues. She was the recipient of many awards and recognitions from organizations like the Arizona Rural Health Office, the American Foundation for AIDS research, the Heartland AIDS Council of Kansas City as well as others from Arizona, Missouri, Kansas, Washington, D.C., Georgia and Mexico.

For details on the Friday, May 16 services, see her obituary on Page 2.