Low, fast-moving rain clouds punctuated by intermittent showers couldn't keep nearly 100 people and Channel 10 television from Springfield, Mo., from attending the memorial rally and float for the late 3rd District Rep. John Paul Hammerschmidt along the Buffalo National River near Pruitt last weekend.
The event, sponsored by the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance, Ozark River Stewards, Arkansas Canoe Club and the National Parks Conservation Association, was moderated by Ginny Masullo of both the stewards and alliance associations.
I'm sure the crowd would have been much larger had the weather been nicer. There was palpable reverence in the air when it came to various conversations about how sacred this river has been to all Arkansans and many thousands across America who come each year to enjoy its stunning beauty and dramatic scenery.
On this afternoon, they had come for a two-mile float shepherded by the Canoe Club to pay tribute to Hammerschmidt, a Harrison native who died April 1 at age 92, for his key role in introducing legislation to preserve the Buffalo as our first national river in 1972.
The crowd munched on cookies, nuts, chips, and sipped tea and lemonade while listening to music from the husband/wife group, Mockingbird, and four speakers with different accounts about the river and Hammerschmidt's hard-fought contributions to keep it from being dammed. I spoke a few minutes about how nationally newsworthy and deeply significant it is that our state's Department of Environmental Quality (cough) quietly allowed the first hog factory into the Buffalo River's watershed in 2012. Don Castleberry, a retired director of five national parks, talked about the critical importance of keeping and preserving them for future generations.
Dane Schumacher, a board member of the river alliance, presented a detailed list of how Cargill-sponsored C&H Hog Farms at Mount Judea so suddenly came to exist and the subsequent and expensive chain of events that misguided act has triggered.
She also referred to an historical narrative prepared by the Pryor Center about John Paul's life, pulling the following excerpt from interviews conducted several years ago when Hammerschmidt was asked about what it means to be a public servant: "Bottom-line advice is don't even seek public office unless you want to serve other people ... if service to others isn't your main goal, forget it ... I don't care whether you're appointed or elected. That's the only reason people should be in public office, is to purely serve other people. And it's easy to do. ... that's why we're here on earth after all, whether you're in office or out of office. Whether you're a shoeshine boy, a banker, or a congressman, your goal is to serve to other people. I mean, that's my philosophy about life."
Hammerschmidt's son, my cousin John Arthur Hammerschmidt of Harrison, closed by telling the crowd how overjoyed his father would have been to see this kind of outpouring of respect and appreciation for his efforts. He said his father would have enjoyed being there had he been alive. John Arthur told of John Paul and his close friend David Fitton building a boat as young teenagers, then having their creation trucked to the Buffalo where they continually pushed it upstream against the current so they could float back down to Pruitt. They also would camp on the river for days on end when John Paul was a youth.
"My dad knew and loved the river so much," he said. "It was always very much a part of who he was." John Arthur divided his time between a home in Washington, D.C., and Harrison, where he became a supportive son and a loving fixture in his father's life, especially as John Paul developed debilitating health problems.
Speaking of my late uncle during the final decade of a very active life, I've always tried to elevate those I see as giving so much of themselves to benefit others. So many who give more than they take come and go from this strange world without being recognized for their selflessness. And that's a shame.
With that in mind, I close by saying how much I (and many others) admire Sharon Huff of Harrison who, in the years after the death of John Paul's wife, Virginia, grew to become a close companion, Presbyterian pew-partner, helpmate and all-around supportive person in his life. Living only blocks from his home in Harrison, it wasn't unusual for Sharon to show up with meals she'd prepared, while freely offering anything else that could prove helpful. This devotion was unwavering even though she held down a busy sales position that often required her to travel. Sharon regularly accompanied John Paul because she cared about and respected him so much. Those who knew Sharon as she grew up working in her mother's cafe off the downtown Harrison square quickly saw and appreciated that inherent goodness and caring in her spirit.
So today I wanted to note for the record what a genuine blessing this kind, straight-talking lady was to him during his final eight years on this earth. Would that each of us have such people in our lives.
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Mike Masterson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at mikemasterson10@hotmail.com.
Editorial on 05/30/2015