By Carol Graham-Barnes
In my computer travels late last September, I came upon two sentiments: "A giant who walked among us has passed" and "Dave". I immediately knew it must be Dave Foreman! I searched for several minutes only to find more admiring sentiments but no identifying name. Interestingly, it took a while to find "Dave Foreman".
My mind raced back to 1992. I had read Dave's book, "Confessions of an Eco-Warrior," describing his founding of "Earth First!". Dave was a committed fighter, determined to stop those seeking to wantonly destroy our natural world. I was the Chapter Retreat Chair that year and quickly wrote to Dave to see if he would come and speak to us about his observations and work focused on protecting wilderness. Incredibly, Dave obliged, and arived in Cadillac from Tucson with his wife, Nancy Morton. We retreat goers were delighted, inspired and got a T shirt!
Yesterday, I came across that same book, picked it up and something fell out. A postcard from Dave! It was written in 1994 and he apologized for not responding in time to donate books for the Chapter raffle that year. He had been out of town but was still willing to donate. He closed with "Happy Trails, Dave Foreman". To which we now say, "All the happier because of you". Thank you, Dave. May you rest in heaven's peaceful wilderness.
