Well said, George!===Carl KunathSent from my Sprint Samsung Galaxy S® 6.
-------- Original message --------From: George Veni <gv...@nckri.org> Date:
11/23/18 11:41 PM (GMT-06:00) To: texascavers@texascavers.com Subject: Re:
[Texascavers] Lee Jay in hospital Lee Jay and I never caved much together
recreationally. We worked together for many years on countless karst consulting
projects until I moved to Carlsbad 12 years ago. Everyone knows he is a talker,
and more than once I had to tell him "Enough talking. We need to get to work."
But I found that when I listened to him, he was amazingly well read and
informed on a diverse range of topics. Lee Jay is a generalist who finds all
that's in the world interesting. That is probably what makes him most valuable
on a caving team. He has an eye for detail because he is fascinated by
everything. He would produce great sketches and notes that were key to making
good decisions on how to evaluate and manage a certain cave or karst feature.
This attention to minutia allowed him to discover one of the tiniest and
probably rarest spiders in Texas in a Williamson County cave.As a generalist, I
could count on him for pretty much whatever was needed on our team. Once I
asked him to bring his rifle for a karst evaluation. He thought I was joking
but I assured him I serious. When we met in the field, we walked to an
abandoned well that I needed to assess with my downhole camera, except that a
rock was jammed in the well bore about 7 m down. Three shots from his rifle
down the well shattered the rock and allowed us to look with the camera into a
cave, which remains unexplored for lack of a humanly accessible entrance. Check
out the attached photo.I find myself at the moment on the wrong side of the
planet to go visit him in the hospital and tell him how much I appreciate his
friendship and comradery. Perhaps more sad is that like with too many lost
friends, we make time for final goodbyes at bedsides and funerals when it is
too late, and not when they are alive and well to truly appreciate our words.
The last time we saw each other, I knew I needed to visit with him more. It had
been too long, but there was always "tomorrow."Lee Jay's final lesson to me and
many us may be to remind us that sometimes there are no tomorrows, and to let
those you care about know today how you feel.Thank you
LJ,George********************George Veni, PhDExecutive Director, National Cave
and Karst Research Institute (NCKRI)andPresident, International Union of
Speleology (UIS)NCKRI address (primary)400-1 Cascades AvenueCarlsbad, New
Mexico 88220 USAOffice: +575-887-5517Mobile: +210-863-5919Fax:
+575-887-5523gveni@nckri.orgwww.nckri.orgUIS addressTitov trg 2Postojna, 6230,
Sloveniawww.uis-speleo.org -----Original Message-----From: Texascavers
<texascavers-boun...@texascavers.com> On Behalf Of Justin ShawSent: Friday,
November 23, 2018 18:33To: CaveTex <texascavers@texascavers.com>Subject:
[Texascavers] Lee Jay in hospitalLee Jay Graves has suffered a massive stroke
with subarachnoid bleeding. His condition continues to deteriorate and he is
not expected to recover. If you would like to visit him he is at the main St.
David’s hospital on 32nd St. here in Austin. He is on the 5th floor, room 555.
Nurses recommend coming tonight or early tomorrow. There are no restrictions on
visiting hours. Though he seems unresponsive, the sense of hearing is often the
last to go. His family is aware, and his sisters are in route and expected to
arrive tonight or early tomorrow morning.If you would like details, I’m willing
to talk on the phone. 512-593-2283With Love, Justin(apologies for such a
heavy post, however when you’ve touched as many lives as LJ did, there’s too
many people who’ll want to be in the loop for me to even think of everyone,
much less directly contact
everyone)_______________________________________________Texascavers mailing
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