Edited by author 03-31-2007 12:46 PM
I cried when I saw why Steve's cartoon face didn't appear in the Fall/Winter YA newsletter. I cried when I read the beautiful moving eloquent tribute you sent with the last YA newsletter. Now I can tell you some of my remembrances of this really nice, funny man. I remember what an extremely dry witty occasion he made of most every event YA sponsored that my husband and I attended. His introduction to Phil Frank at the YA meeting at Tuolumne Meadows years ago, the first time I remember Phil attending a YA meeting, and back when we could get an auctioned drawing of Velma's RV for about $50, Steve's intro was so hilarious we laughed all evening thinking about it. At the First Writer's Winter Conference a few years ago, an absolutely stunnng event that Steve and Beth planned perfectly, I asked Steve for his autograph on my copy of his Yosemite National Park guide. He joked that he wasn't a featured writer there and shouldn't be giving autographs, but of course he did so gracefully and with a wink that he mustn't get too puffed up about this. I remember him honoring my favorite Yosemite ranger, Carl Sharsmith, he of the dripping nose and boundless knowledge of all things Yosemite, with dignity and gravity and, yes, unsuppressed humor. I am so grateful for the comments his family and colleagues and friends have made about him. When I read about some of Steve's hobbies and favorite things, I saw that he and I shared many weird traits, and I bet that every single person who read about him thought the exact same thing. I can only imagine the devastation his loved ones feel at such an abrupt, untimely unwelcome tragedy. I admire Beth Pratt for her working so hard to preserve the association in the face of such monumental grief. YA people make me proud to be a lifetime member. Steve was an everyman and an honorable custodian of the most beautful place on earth. My husband Kim and I will see his face in every rock, his voice in every wind, his humor in every sun and his death in every snowpack in our beloved Yosemite. We will rejoice in his life and honor his soul, the heart of Yosemite.