Subject: [Tweeters] A bit more on Patrick memorial (ok more than a bit...)
Date: Dec 6 09:12:00 2007
From: Kathy Andrich - chukarbird at yahoo.com



Hi Tweeters,

Ruth covered most of the needed thankyou's but I
forgot to say at the memorial thank you to Helen
Engle. She couldn't be there but when I contacted her
and three other people for help with speakers, she
emailed me back the most invaluable advice ever. I
really appreciated that. Two of the others I
contacted in that group offered to speak. It was very
special to have Faye McAdams Hands speak of the
disease of bipolar disorder and to tell us how much of
a difference Patrick made in the Tahoma CBC's. Wilson
Cady was the other in that group that offered to
speak. I am sorry he couldn't make it up but nature
intervened in a most spectacular and unfortunate way.
I think the Memorial Day Wenas campouts Wilson spoke
of through his shared email is where I actually met
Patrick and Ruth. I was one of the 100's Wilson
mentioned who got their life Flammulated Owl thanks to
the now famous owl prowls led by Patrick and Ruth.
The fourth person in that email group designed the
programs, thank-you Diane Yorgenson-Quinn.

Dennis Paulson was a big help to Ruth right after
Patrick's death and was the one who got the memorial
started. I knew Ken Knittle was someone who birded a
lot with Patrick and he came despite the I-5 closure.
He had some good stories to share of their wild and
crazy birding trips. I could feel the birding
adrenaline he spoke of when he talked about how they
were birding on little sleep. Ruth wasn't kidding
when she said in her email Michael Hobbs spent hours
on the slide presentation. That was a three hanky
presentation.

One of the things Helen Engle emphasized is how much
people would enjoy is seeing some of the memorabilia
our beloved Patrick had. Ruth and her friends from
Tacoma brought boxes of pictures and Patrick's
writings. It really was enjoyable poring through
these things and the most touching for me was his
writing called "The Best Day of My Life" where a young
Patrick described a trip to the coast with a detailed
listing of all the birds he saw. The teacher had a
little note that was mildly critical that it was just
a list and a person next to me said something like-the
teacher missed the point. I couldn't agree more.

Several different coversations with Ruth helped me
pull together a bit of a life history to share with
everyone. Much of it I did not know because I started
birding really not all that long ago. Thank you Ruth
for sharing this with me. Ruth and I went to a
Survivors of Suicide meeting before Thanksgiving which
gave me the idea for the candle lighting ceremony.

This was not an easy thing to do and filled with all
of those usual human fears and anxieties. It took me
quite awhile to fully commit myself to so this even as
I was doing the footwork. I am so grateful for all
the help I both received and had the courage to ask
for.




Kathy
Roosting in Kent, near Lake Meridian
(chukarbird at yahoo dot com)


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