Barbara Zimmerman Podesta | 1915–2015

Barbara Zimmerman Podesta

February, 1915–December, 2015

by Barbara Meyer 
Always up for an adventure, my mother headed west with a fellow nursing school graduate, driving an automobile to a Portland dealership in the late-1930s.  Two cousins had sent glowing reports of the mountains and Mom couldn’t resist.  She found the Mazamas in 1940, met my father there (Adolph “Zim” Zimmerman) and began a life of hiking, skiing, camping and backpacking.  I have an August 11, 1940 photo of Mom and two other women on the summit of Mt. Hood with the lookout in the background. Her Summit Certificate indicates the leaders were J. Ed Nelson and Eldon Metzger.  My parents served on the Lodge Committee of the old log lodge in Government Camp.  Activities at the lodge and the Annual Outings became a way of life for several years.  More recently she set her skills to work on the braided rug visible in the Winter 2015 Mazama Lodge postcard.

After my father passed away, Mom moved back to Michigan, her birth state, to care for her aging parents.  Shortly after she returned to Washington, she met and married Joe Podesta, moving to his 60 acre farm.  Originally a dairy, by then he was raising beef cattle.  Having spent many of her childhood years on acreages, Mom readily took to farm life and driving the tractor while Joe loaded hay bales onto the wagon to store in the massive hay loft of the dairy barn.  Joe tended a huge garden every year and this is where I first tasted pesto prepared with fresh garlic and basil and served with pasta and green beans.  It was the best pesto I’ve ever eaten!  The family marble mortar and wooden pestle are now prized possessions.  Unfortunately, Joe’s pesto making skill was lost when he died in 1993 and I cannot replicate it.  In October, 2015, the Podesta Farm was awarded Heritage status by the State of Washington Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation.  During their years together, Mom and Joe enjoyed traveling to Mexico, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, and Europe.

Mom and I continued adventuring in my VW camper and later enjoyed the luxury of motels.  When Peter and I married, we included her in a vacation each year, generally staying in Washington and Oregon.  The coast, mountains and Columbia River Gorge were the big draws.  Mom was an avid reader, participating in a book group as well as a writing group.  She also loved music and attending concerts.  She had an inquisitive mind and if she read or heard about an event or place, she was ready to go check it out!

The final adventure began late in 2015 when cancer of the peritoneum was diagnosed.  With the help of Hospice, Peter and I cared for Mom in her home until the end just 11 weeks before her 101st birthday.  What a long and full life!  Thank you, Mom, for bringing me up in the Mazama family and setting the stage for my own many adventures!

Barbara Zimmerman Meyer, daughter and Mazama since 1959

Duncan Carter | 1946–2016

Duncan Carter

August 24, 1946—February 22, 2016

by Jan Kurtz

Duncan Carter passed away peacefully after nearly six years of defying prostate cancer.  He was surrounded by friends and family.

Duncan spent his boyhood in Prosser, Washington, the fourth of eight children, and, after many moves early in his career, lived his last thirty years in Portland Oregon.

He loved words.  With a mother and two siblings who were journalists and a family of inveterate Scrabble players, he grew up in a word-rich environment.  He was said to know more limericks than anyone alive. It was fairly natural, then, that he became an English professor.  After earning a doctorate in English at the University of Illinois (1974), he taught mostly writing and rhetoric courses at West Point, Texas State University, Boston University, and for the last 25 years of his career, Portland State University. He was sufficiently committed to writing that he insisted on authoring his own obituary.

He produced many scholarly books and articles, but was proudest of his work with internationalization—finding ways to introduce students to the rest of the world.  Of course, he was also a devotee of international travel himself.

Duncan was also a leader—or at least he kept finding himself in leadership positions.  He was president of his high school student body and his college fraternity, vice president of the Washington State University student body, a captain in the army, department chair at two institutions, chief negotiator for the faculty union, and associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at PSU, among various other positions.

An irrepressible sense of humor got him through a lot of difficult times.

Duncan loved the outdoors.  He and various family members took pride in 22 straight annual week-long backpack trips.  He also ran marathons (two after age 60), climbed mountains, rafted, sailed, skied, cycled, hiked, and otherwise found any available excuse to be outside.

Duncan was on Josh Lockerby's BCEP team in 2009 with his son Daniel, and together they climbed Middle Sister as part of Adam Nawrot's Mazama team in 2010. He joined the Mazamas after taking BCEP and was a member until the end of 2015.

He was all about family.  He was fiercely in love with his wife of 13 years, Jan Kurtz.  He was also devoted to sons Daniel and TJ and daughter Katherine, all of whom survive him, as do siblings Dennis (San Diego), Dale and Dwight (Richland,WA), Darrel (Steens, MS) and Debbie (Fairbanks).  He also leaves four lively grandchildren.

A celebration of life took place on Saturday, March 19, 2016 at 11:00 at Westminster Church in Portland (1624 NE Hancock Street).  In lieu of flowers the family asks that you consider a gift to the Duncan Carter Writing Award at PSU (through the PSU Foundation), The Oregon Food Bank, or your favorite charity.

Kate McCarthy | 1917–2015

by Barbara Weiss

Feisty. Passionate. Zealous. Determined.

Conservationist, founder, wife, mother, photographer and public speaker.

Kate McCarthy was all this, and more. McCarthy, a long-time Mount Hood resident and ardent advocate for protecting the mountain’s wilderness, died Tuesday, November 3 at the age of 98.

“I come to my love of ‘The Mountain’ honestly, as I was born in the shadow of Mt. Hood,” McCarthy wrote in a biographical statement given to the Mazamas on the advent of her induction as an honorary Mazama member in 2002.

In 1907, McCarthy’s father and lifetime Mazama member, Homer Rogers, settled on land four miles south of Parkdale. McCarthy spent most of her summers at home near Parkdale, but then moved to Portland during the school year to attend Miss Catlin’s School for Girls (founded by her great aunt, now Catlin Gable School.) During her high school years she and her younger sister ran a summer camp for girls on the family property.

After high school McCarthy attended Reed College, Yale Nursing School and Graduate School at Oregon Health Sciences University. In 1943 she married Gerald McCarthy. They raised four sons in the Seattle-Tacoma area and Roseburg, before returning to Parkdale in 1968 where she remained for the rest of her life.

In a 1996 Hood River News article about the 10th anniversary of the National Scenic Act, McCarthy wrote, “When it comes to the Gorge, my enthusiasm knows no bounds. We have a treasure in our midst, almost beyond comprehension, with such a variety of resources – visual, botanical, geological, historical.”

It was that boundless enthusiasm and deep respect for the natural world that drove McCarthy’s involvement with many conservation organizations including the Columbia Gorge Commission, Oregon Natural Resources Council (now Oregon Wild), and 1000 Friends of Oregon. McCarthy was a founding member of Friends of Mount Hood; she served on the boards of the Oregon Environmental Council and Friends of the Columbia River Gorge. After McCarthy’s son Mike returned to Hood River with his family, he became an active conservation in his own right. Together, Kate and Mike and other concerned citizens, founded the Hood River Valley Residents Committee, a land use and environmental group focused on promoting intelligent planning and natural resource protection.

Mazama member, Vera Dafoe recalls working closely with McCarthy on the designation of the Columbia River Gorge as a National Scenic Area. “Kate and I were on the Oregon-based Columbia Gorge Commission in the late 1970s. There was also a seven-person Washington-based Columbia Gorge Commission,” said Dafoe. “We were the only serious environmentalists on the commissions. We believed a bi-state management system would not work because of different regulations in the states. We argued for federal management.”

When the governors of both states requested reports from the commissions to take to Congress regarding the Gorge, the assumption was that both commissions would support bi-state management.
Dafoe and McCarthy wrote a minority opinion for the Oregon commission in support of federal management. “Much to our amazement, when the voting happened at the big public meeting, our minority recommendation for federal management became the Oregon Columbia Gorge Commission’s advisory recommendation to Governor Vic Atiyeh. We had won!”

Another of McCarthy’s staunch environmental efforts includes her decade’s long role as a watchdog over Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Resort’s ongoing development efforts. In 1975, McCarthy began to photograph the impact of man-made development on Mt. Hood in an effort to galvanize support for protecting what remains of the mountain’s wild habitat. Her photos provided Mazamas and other groups with material upon which formal appeals of the resort’s expansion plans have been based. A 2002 article in the online version of High Country News, by Ted Katauskas, describes McCarthy’s two-hour slide show as “a photographic indictment of the developer’s environmental sins on the other side of the mountain: wildflower meadows entombed in asphalt, streams clogged with silt, oil, and logs, an alpine forest of rare Whitebark pine clear-cut for a ski run, denuded slopes ravaged by runoff.”

Monica Reid, a longtime friend of McCarthy, (as quoted in the November 6, Hood River News) said that, “Kate was truly a remarkable woman who worked tirelessly to conserve and protect the Oregon landscapes that we love and cherish.” All of us in Oregon, whether Mazamas or not, hikers, climbers, lovers of our great mountain wilderness—we have all benefitted from Kate McCarthy’s lasting legacy. While we may mourn her passing and celebrate her profound accomplishments—the very least we can do is continue to be good stewards of the land she loved and carry her legacy forward.

Gary L. Beck, May 21, 1942 - June 15, 2015

by Wendy Carlton & Al Hansen

We have lost a climbing partner, a mentor, a friend who made us laugh, and who brought out the best in us.  Gary Beck moved on the next big adventure on June 15, 2015.

Gary Beck on the summit of Mt. Hood in the early '70s.

We attended Gary’s memorial service and were left with a sense of awe of this dear man who we knew as a climbing partner and dear friend, but he was so much more in his life.  He was a renowned climber, a wonderful, caring teacher, a dedicated husband, father and grandfather, a musician, an expert in his chosen profession, a life-long learner, an adventurer in the best sense of the word!

Gary joined the Mazamas in 1969.  He was a climb leader for 35 years -- from 1976 to 2011!  He taught countless basic school groups.  He led many climbs, and outings around the world.  He received the Guardian Peaks award in 1970, Oregon Cascades Award in 1972, and the 16 Peaks award in 1974. He served two terms on the Mazama Executive Council and was President in 2005.

Gary rapelling the Golden Cathedral. He described
this as one of his favorite moments.

After summiting virtually every peak worth climbing in the Northwest, Gary turned his attention to other adventures. But he couldn’t get climbing out of his blood, so he “summited” two of the hardest bicycle rides in the world, L’ Alpe d’Huez and Mont Ventoux in France. He rode 7 Cycle Oregon’s and completed week long rides in Idaho, Colorado and Wyoming. In addition, he rode the entire White Rim road in Canyonlands National Park on a mountain bike!  After climbing “up” for most of his life he discovered climbing “lower” was fun too. He took up canyoneering and made numerous trips to Southern Utah exploring slot canyons. His favorite included a rappel through the famous Golden Cathedral in Neon Canyon. Gary also rafted the Grand Canyon and enjoyed skiing, snowshoeing, hiking and backpacking.

When Gary wasn't off on an adventure, he enjoyed keeping his yard in picture perfect form, singing with Festival Chorale Oregon, working with the Institute of Continued Learning at Willamette University, attending music concerts and spending time with his family and friends.
And he did it all with humor, a bit of irreverence and a complete lack of pretense.  Gary leaves behind a legacy of climb leaders, and many, many more who love to climb and travel because they learned from the best.  Gary’s zeal for life inspires us to fully live our lives fully -- to do all those things on our bucket list!  The following quote describes Gary’s life perfectly!

Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, scotch in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming “WOO HOO what a ride!”

Rick Posekany | May 2, 1952 - June 2, 2015

Rick Posekany on Mt. Jefferson. Photo: Karin Mullendorf

Richard Leo Posekany, Jr. (Rick) was born to Richard and Patricia Whalen Posekany in Coos Bay, OR on May 2, 1953. He attended Elkton and Mill City Elementary Schools, graduating from Santiam High School as Valedictorian in 1971. While at the University of Oregon, he joined Sigma Chi Fraternity. He later studied forestry at the Chemeketa Community College.

Rick was a forester for Frank Lumber Company, Freres Lumber Company, and the US Forest Service. He lived and worked at the Detroit Ranger Station, was very active in the Santiam Canyon community, and served on the school board for over ten years.

A lifetime Hoodoo downhill skier, Rick has been a part of the Santiam Pass Ski Patrol since 1975. In 1983, he received his National Ski Patrol appointment. He was an instructor with the SPSP, earning the Oregon Outstanding Mountaineering Instructor Award and the Pacific NW Outstanding Mountaineering Instructor Award.

"Posey" fell in love with mountain climbing at the age of 13 and joined the Mazamas in 1973. During the years 1980-2011 as a Mazama leader, he lead 59 climbs and received the Guardian Peak and the Seven Oregon Summits Awards. The peaks of the Cascades were Rick's playgrounds. Always in search of greater challenges, Rick has summitted the peaks of Kilimanjaro, Denali, and Aconcagua. He returned several times as guide of his own enterprise, “Santiam Alpine Guides.”

Rick Posekany was preceded in death by his father, Richard Sr., earlier this year.

Rick is survived by his mother Patricia, step mother Phyllis, daughters Carri and Shauna, son Scott, grandchildren Ethan, Shaylee, Paige and Olivia, sisters Kim and Jean, brother Robert, step brothers Thom, Bob and Larry, nephews Graham, Daniel, Patrick and Joshua, nieces Amber and Cathryn, and his trusty dog, Sam.

Posey will be remembered for his integrity, his smile, his strength and energy, his enthusiasm, his great teaching and mentoring skills, his cheerful willingness to help others, his awesome beard, and his big loving heart.

In celebration of a life very well lived, a memorial service will be held June 19, at 2 p.m. at the Santiam High School in Mill City.

Ralph Lee Bunnell | Sep. 6, 1923 - Jan. 20, 2015

Ralph Lee Bunnell was born in Portland on August 6, 1923 to Albert and Grace Bunnell.

He was predeceased by brothers Albert and Phillip and sister Bertha. Married to Helen Janes in 1967, she passed away in 1984.

Ralph attended and graduated from SMU and the U of O. Ralph served his country during World War II in the Navy.

Ralph was a long time member of the Mazamas, Toastmasters and a world traveler. He was an Electrical Engineer for the Bonneville Power Administration.

Ralph is survived by brother Preston, nephew Albert, Niece Chandelle and niece Lisa Janes-McNabb.

Committal Services with Military Honors will be held March 12, 2015 at 2 p.m. at Willamette National Cemetery, Portland, Oregon.

Hannah Gage Haselton May | March 30, 1911 - Feb. 2, 2015

from The Oregonian

Hannah Gage Haselton May passed gently Feb. 2, 2015, from her 103-year-old body. Prior to entering hospice care two weeks ago, Hannah led a weekly writing group at Terwilliger Plaza, where she resided since 1999, and was engaged in many other activities over the years. She was also an active participant in a Women's Spirit Circle that met monthly for more than 20 years.

On the occasion of their 100th birthday in 2011, she and her twin sister, Elizabeth Webb, were featured in an Oregonian article in which Hannah credited their long lives to the "salubrious air" of their childhood home near Underwood, Wash.

She and Elizabeth attended Willamette University during the Depression and later, Hannah completed her B.A. from Portland State University. She married Clarence B. May in 1939, and they became the proud parents of Dora R. Reader of Ann Arbor, Mich., and Cynthia M. Gage of Portland. Hannah was honored to be the grandmother of Lynn Corliss-Burnham and Whitney Passino, and the delighted great-grandmother of Joshua Passino and John Burnham.

She was preceded in death by her brother, Amedee; sister, Elizabeth; and husband, "CB." In addition to her daughters, Hannah is survived by her nieces, Elizabeth McMullen and Dorothy Herbst of Portland, Margie Tucker of Harrington, Del., and Janice Payne of Haley, Idaho and their respective spouses; and numerous great nieces and nephews.

An environmental activist long before that title existed, Hannah was a Hoyt Arboretum guide, acquainting elementary school groups with the wonders of nature. She was a steadfast member of the Friends of the Columbia Gorge.

Following the death of her husband, Hannah joined the Mazamas (Hannah joined the Mazamas in 1964 and had achieved her 50-year membership in 2014). She took great pride and joy in climbing Mt. Hood and hiked extensively throughout the Northwest. After her retirement from Portland Public Schools, where she served for 27 years as a secretary to the Social Work Department, Hannah and her brother, Amedee, built a retreat cabin by hand in Ocean Park, Wash.

Hannah's love and reverence for the Earth may have only been exceeded by her love of life itself. While she embraced a number of religious affiliations throughout her lifetime, she was most actively involved in the Methodist faith, where she was instrumental in bringing innovative programs to the United Methodist Women at Rose City Park. Hannah May touched uncountable lives in immeasurable ways and she will be truly missed.

A celebration of her life is planned for 10 a.m. Monday, Feb. 16, 2015, at Terwilliger Plaza. A family-only interment will be in Riverview Cemetery. Rather than flowers, memorial contributions will be welcomed by the Friends of the Columbia Gorge.

http://obits.oregonlive.com/obituaries/oregon/obituary.aspx?n=hannah-gage-haselton-may&pid=174106959&eid=sp_shareobit#sthash.poSr1XpA.dpuf