Related Friends
Mosier, Oregon 2017
Arlene Burns
Photographer/Kayaker: Mosier Mayor, Oregon
I live in a small town on the Columbia River in Oregon far removed from my past life in Chicago and the East-Coast. The current mayor of Mosier, Oregon was someone I had briefly met several years ago at a party.
When I built a house not far from hers, she befriended me on Facebook and socialized more and more when we discovered our mutual interests in photography and connections with National Geographic magazine.
She invited me to stay at her home to cat-sit while she traveled the world in the winter months of 2008. As I worked in her office one day, I noticed a photograph of a young Arlene Burns that was eerily familiar. It was a 8.5×11 print made on Kodak RC paper and it had a black border that looked very much part of my signature 40 years ago. I studied it. There was a familiarity in the picture, never thinking that it could be mine and then put it out of my mind.
Years go by as our neighborly lives intertwine into good friendship. It was she who introduced me to Walter Ordway who was visiting her and ended up being kicked out because of his irritating dog. Walter and his loud dog came and stayed in my tepee. It was during those 10 days that he spent with me, the countless stories he told me of his travels that inspired my first attempt in writing a movie script.
One day in the summer of 2009, we ran into each other in San Francisco and she hitched a ride back to Oregon with me. During the long drive, we shared some of our life stories and somehow the name Penny NickeI got mentioned. She was a Young Life intern working in High-Schools south of Chicago and befriended me. She, John White and John Howard were all recent graduates of Wheaton College who I had a connection. A year later, I ended up attending this same school. As it turned out, Penny Nickel started teaching at a college in North Carolina where Arlene attended. It was Penny Nickel, said Arlene who encouraged her to pursue her passion in kayaking.
That little nudge transformed Arlene’s life. She would go on to became a world-class kayaker, traveled the globe as a river guide, became a devout naturalist and photographed for companies like Patagonia. Her charisma and expertise with a paddle also landed her as Meryl Streep’s stand-in in the movie The River Wild
Thrilled by our newly discovered connection, we Googled and sadly found her obituary dated one year earlier.
The kicker with all this was that we had actually met in a Wilderness Camp called Honey Rock 45 years ago when Arlene drove a group of students from her Montreat-Anderson College. That picture with the black border, gone missing since she renovated her home, could have been mine after all.
It is a small world!
2000’s DECADE
HEAT’S ON: A decade of transformation. The dawning of the age of Aquarius. Water turning to steam. Fruition from the quest was liberating. It was a decade that exchanged ambition for the magic of the unknown.
2010’s DECADES
GRATITUDE: A decade beyond expectation. I learned to live in the moment instead of capturing the moment. . . simply, being present to welcome the moment.
SECRET BEACH
NEW WORK: Enter to see photo: This is a work in progress page. SUBSCRIBE for the latest stories, blogs and (if I’ve taken pictures of you in the last 50 years) don’t miss friendship updates. Thank You!
DEATH & RESURRECTION
NEW WORK: Jerusalem O’ Jerusalem…Your tombs are filled with those alive. In your gates the world despise. Angels come to sing renew. The walls of darkness seize the light. Light does shine on the land. You’re embraced by the night.
Julia Jensen
ALCHEMIST
A future blog about Julia Jensen will be added here. Enter now to see photos. Since 2003.
Peggy Laylor
EVENT ORGANIZER
A future blog about Peggy Laylorwill be added here. Enter now to see Since. Circa 2001.
Barry Coleman
WRITER/MARKETING
My future blog about the late Barry Coleman will be completed here soon. Enter now to see photos. Circa 2015
Larry Hatteberg
TV ANCHOR
A future blog about Larry Hatteberg will be added here. Enter now to see photos. Since 1980.
Ryan Abeel
STAR MOTHER
Future blog page about Ryan Abeel will be added here. Enter now to see photos. Circa 1995.
Kroum Tirilov
PLUMBER
Future blog page about Kroum Tirilov will be added here. Enter now to see photos. Since 2010
Berenice Abbott
Welcome to the future blog page about Berenice Abbott. Enter to see photos. Circa 1984
Chris Johns
CHIEF EDITOR
A future blog about Chris Johns will be added here. Enter now to see photos. Since 1979.
Bill Abeel
A future blog about Bill Abeel will be added here. Enter now to see photos. Circa 1995.
Edie Capa
JEWISH MOTHER
A future blog about Edie Capa will be added here. Enter now to see photos. Circa 1974.
Laurie Balmuth
PAINTER/LAWYER
Future blog about Laurie Balmuth will be completed. Enter now to see photos. Since 2001.
Ken Winner
DESIGN/ENGINEER
Future blog page about Ken Winner will be added here. Enter now to see photos. Since 1998.
Jess Lee Perry
WRITER/WATER PROTECTOR
Future blog page about Jess Lee Perry will be added here. Enter now to see photos. Since 2016.
- 541-380-0907
- sacredridgejc@gmail.com
- P.O. Box 994 Mosier, Oregon 97040
©JOHN CHAO All rights reserved
don't
kiss goodbyE
©JOHN CHAO All rights reserved