I was lucky enough to spend a day with Larue and Jackie while doing their counts about 2 years ago.
The enjoyment in Larue's voice as he was calling off counts contained a little chuckle with each birds numbers. It was an absolute honor to be apart of that. I wish I could have been there to see the ceremony for him. And he deserves at the least, to have a part of MNWR named after him. The only thing left is to figure out which part we one day dedicate to Jackie Bakker. No one has had the affect on as many birders of the area than her. Especially this one. She is always smiling and happy to assist anyone that walks into that visitor center. Her enthusiasm is a brush fire that spreads uncontrollably. I will never forget my first visit to MNWR in April 2010. She circled all the eagles nests on a map and directed us where to go visit and what to see there. But it was her very last comment that stuck with me over 3 years ago and it is my current sign off in dedication to her. As we were leaving the visitor center she said "hey, don't forget to look up." Don't forget to look up, Joe DeVito On Nov 3, 2013, at 6:07 PM, John and Fritzie Blizzard <job121...@verizon.net> wrote: > This afternoon John & I attended activities in the MNWR Visitor's Center in > which Larue St. Clair was honored for his 20 yrs. as a volunteer at > Montezuma. As expected, a gift was presented to him. > > We all know about Larue listing his counts & in what areas of the refuge > birds were seen. (Jackie Bakker has been helping him as another set of eyes & > by doing the driving for him in the hidden areas of the refuge the last few > years. He will be 88 on 4 Dec.!) > > These lists, for the first time, gave the refuge a written daily, weekly, > yearly record of when birds first arrived, their apparent departure times, & > also alerted birders about birds which were rarities to our area. > Eventually, the value of those records became known to other wildlife > refuges. They are now following Larue's lead, doing counts & keeping records > of birds in their areas! > > After the words of praise & acknowledgement of his many contributions, his > gift was presented. As I saw the cover begin to come off, I gasped, clapped & > had to fight back my tears, never expecting to see what I had hoped for. > > It was an official sign soon to be erected: LARUE'S LAGOON. > > Let me offer my personal thanks to all you birders who didn't accept the > Yellow-legs name which was originally intended for what we mule heads > insisted on calling Larue's Lagoon. He knows he has been honored & is > respected. Too many wonderful people go to their graves, never having known > that. > > Cheers and congratulations, Larue! Thank you to MNWR personnel for the gift. > > Fritzie Blizzard > > -- > Cayugabirds-L List Info: > Welcome and Basics > Rules and Information > Subscribe, Configuration and Leave > Archives: > The Mail Archive > Surfbirds > BirdingOnThe.Net > Please submit your observations to eBird! > -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
