A Big Tree Is Down

"Who will hold the sky up now the big trees are down?"  from the song The Big Trees Are Down by Doug Wood, honoring John Muir and Rachel Carson.

Just this week a friend and former colleague alerted me to the passing of Tom Fegley, former outdoor editor for the Morning Call newspaper in the Lehigh Valley.  I had the pleasure of meeting the man once when he came out to do some photography at the Graver Arboretum, and I enjoyed reading his articles for many years.  There is an excellent obituary for him in the online version of the Morning Call, which I am linking here, "Former Call Outdoors Editor Tom Fegley Dies at 72."

Something not mentioned in the article was that Tom was a teacher of ecology and environmental education before he became a newspaper writer, something he relayed to me when I met him.  He also wrote several books.  Tom was definitely a man to be looked up to as a role model.  He embodied much of the best in what it means to be a human being.  Here is what one of his colleagues, fellow writer Jim Casada, had to say about him: 

"I haven't known a lot of outdoor communicators in my 30 years or so in the business whom I considered truly iconic figures. However, Tom Fegely was one of them. Soft-spoken, deeply intellectual without being in any way obtrusive or overbearing with his knowledge and insight, he was a truly gifted writer and first-rate photographer. Beyond that, he was a delightful individual, someone who made you feel at ease almost immediately whether the setting was a backwoods hunting camp or a fancy dress banquet"

I tried to find some examples of his writing online. There are a bunch in the archives of the Morning Call, but unfortunately my skills at searching their database are not up to the task. It seems that articles are indexed solely by key words of topic, not by writers. I also tried conventional Googling and did find some additional examples. There was nothing fancy about his writing, it was just clear, thorough, well researched and informative. It wasn't this article or that article that made him great, it was the cumulative affect of his presence in the community.  He got up and brought his A game every single day, for 30+ years!  He lived his avocation for his entire life.

Here's a fun one with some current relevance, "Who's At the Feeders" by Tom Fegley for the Morning Call, 2000.  However, this one post simply cannot do justice to the body of work of this man.