Volume 13 • Number 3
The Voice of the Catalina Foothills
February 8, 2023
www.tucsonlocalmedia.com
INSIDE Bayless connects real estate, love of helping people BY KEN ABRAMCZYK
Tucson Local Media Contributor
Tucson’s only wildlife rehab center hosts 11th fundraiser | Page 6
Third grader writes, releases debut single | Page 12
Gym was the original place to Bear Down | Page 14
L
isa Bayless always wanted to help people. Following that desire, Bayless, who attended Greenfields Country Day School in Tucson, moved to the East Coast to attend college. She graduated with a degree from Bates College in Maine, then earned a graduate degree in social work from Boston University. She also met her future husband, who was a real estate developer in Boston. She assisted him with some of his work on buildings, projects and homes. That’s when she noticed the connections between real estate and social work. “I began to understand that there is a considerable amount of overlap between real estate, social work and counseling,”
Bayless said. “I began to understand that real estate is as much about people as it is about the commodity itself. It’s all about understanding what people need, solving problems and finding clients a place that they can call home, which really isn’t that much different from social work.” Bayless also realized the connection between the real estate market and the community itself. “Real estate is very entwined with the community,” Bayless said. “The health of the community really impacts the value of the local housing market and vice versa.” Bayless returned to Tucson, landed employment with Long Realty, and began working in real estate in early 2007. She started with Long Realty because of the
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The Tucson housing market remains strong, Lisa Bayless said, particularly in Marana and Oro Valley. (Lisa Bayless/Submitted)
Dream inspires Dirk Dieters’ 1st book, ‘The Ring’ BY HOPE PETERS Tucson Local Media Staff
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ucson nonprofit leader Dirk Dieters awoke in the middle of the night last January, recalling a dream. “It was about a kid who was fixing a BMW and found a ring in it,” Dieters said. “People had to figure out who it belonged to.” The founder and executive director of the nonprofit management consulting
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firm Fremont Group put pen to paper. It led to his first novel, the newly released “The Ring,” which is the start to the Martin Dougherty mystery/thriller series. The follow-up book, “Suspicion,” is set to hit stores in the spring. “It was really kind of fun,” Dieters said. “The only reason I did it was because it was flat-out fun to do.” “The Ring” tells the story of a family responding to tragedy and caught in the center of the deadly affairs of others. On
moving day, Dougherty’s wife is unexpectedly killed, sending the family into turmoil. Dougherty and his three children — Kristi, Kim and Ken — must deal with a new city and life, which becomes complicated. The characters and the store are fictional, but it does draw from Dieters’ move from Colorado to Tucson. “The saga moves in erratic fashion from See AUTHOR Page 6