Thursday, June 24, 2010

Stan Treadway on the total commitment required

Stan Treadway (from Missouri) worked as a VC and trip leader several summers, and then stayed on as a full-year environmental education staff member. We've been exchanging emails lately and here's a portion of a recent note:

You know Al, I was only at the Valley for two solid years, but the caliber of exceptional individuals that I met while there boggles the mind! That place brings out the best in all of us. I swore when I left, that I would never work as hard, ever again, (and of course I lied to myself). I remember the Spring of '78: went five weeks without a day off. 6:00am-12:00 midnight every day. A wake-up call in the middle of the night once or twice per week to run a guest into the hospital for one thing or another, and never get back to sleep, was typical. Thank goodness for Jim Marion's even-tempered demeanor! He always gave me enough rope to hang myself with as environmental program coordinator. He rounded up the business, implemented the program, and I orchestrated the on-site activities with a very capable and hard-working staff. We made an awesome team.