West cave was one of those early Austin magical places. Yes, I was one of the many who played there in the early 70's before John started running us off in '74 when he began working at Westcave. We quickly became friends as I too was interested in preservation of such a beautiful, magical place and soon I was learning from John. I visited many times over the years and last saw John in 2009 while taking a class from TPWD. It was wonderful to catch up w him at that time, talking about those early days and how far his education program had come since those days. He will be sorely missed. My heart goes out to this family. He was definitely a one of a kind spirit and cared for one of the most spiritual places I had ever been. Goodbye John
Sent from my iPad > On Jan 23, 2014, at 7:18 PM, Gill Edigar <[email protected]> wrote: > > John knew me before I knew him. The first time I remember meeting him he came > up and called me by name--some nebulous reputation apparently preceding me. > Over t he next 30 years we continued to run into each other at totally > unrelated places around South Austin--barber shops (yes, I used to go to > barber shops) grocery stores, parking lots. He always recognized me no matter > what arrangement of facial hair I had at the time and I seldom recognized > him until he was square in front of me. Once, whilst building a house about a > quarter mile from West Cave I wondered over that way, not really knowing > where I was, and came upon the West Cave canyon. I shinnied down a tall tree > and discovered manicured trails, trash cans, etc. After checking out the cave > and hiking to the entrance I figured out where I was. There was a shed or > trailer or some other HQ there at the time but nobody home. I hiked back by > way of the road. We talked of that non-meeting nearly every time we talked > after that. > > >> On Thu, Jan 23, 2014 at 2:04 PM, Logan McNatt <[email protected]> wrote: >> Many of you on these lists probably have visited Westcave Preserve, west of >> Austin on the Pedernales River near Hamilton Pool. The beautiful travertine >> shelter created by a waterfall, and the short deeply incised canyon was an >> unprotected, trashed-out private property when John first saw it. He >> dedicated his life to protecting it, and transformed it into a restored >> nature preserve/educational center visited by thousands of schoolkids and >> others every year. John was a soft-spoken, gentle soul with a passionate >> mission, and will be remembered by everyone who had the pleasure of meeting >> him. >> >> Logan >> >> https://www.planning.org/news/daily/story.htm?story_id=194575703 >> >> http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/statesman/obituary.aspx?n=john-ahrns&pid=169232401 >> >> http://www.kxan.com/news/angel-of-westcave-preserve-steps-down >> >> http://www.neighborsinparadise.org/westcaveLastTour.html >> >> --------------------------------------------------------------------- >> Visit our website: http://texascavers.com >> To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] >> For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected] >
