Fair winds, my friend

Last Saturday, a man who loomed large in my life died.  Since that time I have been struggling for the right words and they haven't come easily.  Today a friend asked me to read an editorial he wrote for the Anchorage Daily News and that opened the gate, I guess.  I wrote a message for the memorial page for Stan Stephens and am repeating it here.  There isn't enough room to go through 25 years of memories.  When I write on here about my time on the boats, most of that time was spent on Stan Stephens boats.  Here is what I wrote to his family:

It has taken me a while to absorb this news and I have been struggling for the right words to say.  Today a friend asked me to read an editorial about Stan planned for publication in the Anchorage Daily News and it gave me the push I needed, I guess.

First of all, to you Mary Helen, Carrie, Jenna and Colleen, one of the things I admired most about your husband and father was his devotion to his family and the love that held you all together.  I hope it is comforting to you now.

Something else I admired him for was the influence he had on generations of young people in Valdez. All of the kids who washed boats, shuffled supplies, served Russian tea to tourists and performed the myriad of chores it takes to run the business came away influenced positively by a role model of a type that's difficult to find anymore.  Two generations of my family worked on those boats. We all owe him a debt for that and we should carry that influence forward.

Stan stood large in many people's lives, including my own for the better part of 25 years and he was a strong influence.  We didn't always agree but we always respected each other and I held the highest esteem for him.  We fought many battles together, saving Prince William Sound's killer whales from capture, dealing with an oil spill in our most beautiful place and later doing what we could to protect it from another such tragedy. Stan saw that the biggest danger was complacency and continued the fight long after it was popular.

Since hearing the news,  I have been living with a great sense of loss and a mind full of  memories of this and that from our relationship over the years, some of it uncomfortable, but mostly happy. I spent some the happiest years of my life on Stan Stephens' boats and in friendship with the man.

And as you will read in the Daily News shortly, he set a standard and a stage for the rest of us to continue on with the legacy he leaves us to also be keepers, of Prince William Sound, on a larger scale the world's oceans and, too, the love that holds families together.

I share your loss.

The Anchorage Daily News editorial

Keeper of Prince William Sound

News story