Memorials for Sandy Edmiston

Sandra May Edmiston died in a rock climbing accident near Moose, Wyoming on August 1, 2005 and the world has not been the same since. She left a big void that others will have to work at filling. We are trying hard to do that at the Field Station . . . and we need help.
Sandy had enjoyed the Pacific Northwest in an internship for the summer of 2003 in Olympic National Park and, as usual, made friends wherever she went. Two of them, identified as Lynne and Bill, wrote this in an Internet blog dedicated Sandy's life: "I believed in her power to save the world, and the manner of her death reminds me of the nurturing arms of mother earth, reaching out to the child she loved. Too soon, too soon. We will miss her always."

Sandy graduated from Westminster College on May 14 and soon left for the Big West again -- the Grand Tetons of Wyoming -- while awaiting a Peace Corps assignment, most likely to Africa. Among the majestic Tetons she volunteered at the Murie Environmental Center. And she learned rock climbing, a sport at which she was said to be a natural. She relished the mountains and the wide open spaces. She winced to see some of those spaces on the verge of destruction by fellow humans. One week before she died she sent me an e-mail that followed one of mine to her. In it, Sandy provided a quote that sets the tone for our planned memorials: "IF all is right within you, if you have enthusiasm, if you have curiosity, if you take it all as a great adventure, just see what you can do about it while you are here" -- Mardy Murie. Mardy Murie was the founder of the Environmental Center where Sandy worked and Mardy's room, until she died, was the room that Sandy occupied in her brief stay at the Murie Center.

Unfortunately, for me as a teacher at Westminster until retirement in spring 2003, I never had Sandy as a student in the classroom. I've often said that classrooms are where teachers might too often tend to deal with trivial things. I learned to know Sandy, so briefly, in the greater classroom of nature, the out-of-doors and mainly at the Field Station. In this classroom we tackled very important things. Here is how that happened. In her junior year of college and from Prince Edward Island, Canada, in a "semester abroad program," Sandy wrote to tell me of her work on PEI with environmental topics and she added that she knew me. When home in New Wilmington, she regularly ran the Fayette-New Wilmington Road past the Field Station and wanted to stop in to talk about environmental issues. Soon after she returned from PEI we met, to my knowledge, for the first time. Her eyes had the glint of adventure. She obviously thrilled at living on the edge! She was full of questions and, as is true of many 21 year olds, had more questions than answers. But that did not keep her from thinking about answers! Her concerns dealt with big environmental topics like rainforests and problems of farmers having to face legal issues surrounding genetically modified foods . . . and more. We spoke often of causes larger than any one person.

When we needed volunteers to help local children plant trees or provide muscle to chip Christmas trees for compost at the Field Station I could count on Sandy showing up, often with several fellow students in tow. This wasn't because she had nothing else to do! She was an English major with many writing assignments. She was on the Holcad (student newspaper) staff . . . and had an internship with the Globe-Leader. She was president of the local chapter of the Sierra Student Coalition, worked with Habitat for Humanity and ran with the cross country track team. She worked in her church. Oh, she had plenty to do besides get the grades that recognized her as a summa cum laude graduate when she finished her degree at Westminster last May. The Sandy-way of doing things was to tackle problems / opportunities head-on. When she was selected by her graduating peers to give the traditional senior speech at Commencement, she did that too. She titled her speech, "Moving on the Keep Things Whole."

What we are now doing at Westminster College to honor one of our fallen is to memorialize her life in ways that emphasize outdoor places, living trees and books that will encourage all who heed Sandy's call to make this world a better place. Some of these memorials, at her family's wish, will be at the Field Station. Our hope, in working with these memorials, is that we involve many people from all levels because that is the Sandy-way to do things.

The first two memorials will be physical places that emphasize rocks and give people a chance to contemplate nature, faith, life (and even death): a MEDITATION LABYRINTH (located on a sloping hillside west of the Nature Center and a ROCK SCULPTURE with bird baths and appropriate landscaping (located near the flags and west of the Fayette-New Wilmington Road where Sandy frequently ran). Two groups of Westminster students / faculty / staff are working on these two memorials and a consultant for each has been retained.

A third way we remember Sandy at the Field Station is a living memorial of trees in the Microforest planted by students / faculty / staff of Westminster as well as children and adults of the community during Arbor Day week, April 24 to 30, 2006. Here is where members of the college and community can join physical labor and feelings of the heart. Seedling white oaks and beeches will be available and anyone who wishes may come to the Field Station between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday or until noon on Saturday or after 1:00 on Sunday of Arbor Day week. To be sure a seedling is reserved for each person, including children, please call the Field Station (724-946-8520) to leave a message or e-mail harmsc@westminster.edu. For this year we will change the name from Arbor Day to a Sandy Day! And all who read this are invited!

Sandy's mother, Kati, put the planning and building of these memorials this way: "The thought behind the memorial contributions to the Field Station was to continue the mission, to get the word spread and the work done, that was so important to Sandy. If the labyrinth and rock sculpture bring people to the Field Station and facilitate their learning about its mission and contemplating mother earth, her beauty, her gifts, her underlying fragileness, and each individual's roles as her stewards, that would truly carry things on." Friends of Sandy locally and far away have generously contributed towards Sandy's memorials at the Field Station and through Friends of the Library. There is still time for citizens of the community to make contributions. Checks made out to Westminster College (specified for either the Field Station or Friends of the Library) sent to the Office of Development will do that. And together we will "carry things on."

Clarence Harms, Director of the Field Station