Volume II: Issue 16
Our Recent Losses
When tragedy strikes a community as small as ours, it affects us all. We are still grieving the loss of students Scott Charlson and Edrik Gomez; former student Steven "Caleb" Renno; and David Steele, son of our graduate student Susanne Steele.
All four were working as firefighters for Grayback Foresty when their helicopter crashed in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest on August 6. A survivor of the crash and the helicopter’s copilot, William "Bob" Coultas, also has ties to us—he is the father of student Ricci Coultas. We wish Bob a swift recovery and healing from this traumatic experience.
Affecting so many members of our community, the accident reflects how closely our university is knit with the surrounding region. The tragedy has also highlighted the selfless commitment and civic responsibility shared by so many students here at SOU.
Scott was a senior communication major and former sports editor for The Siskiyou. He also wrote sports articles for the Ashland Daily Tidings. As an editor, Scott made The Siskiyou an important voice on the SOU campus. As a student, he brought intelligent and well-reasoned thoughts to the table.
Communication Chair D.L. Richardson remembers countless encounters with Scott that made him realize he was going to be great at his profession. Scott’s advisor, Associate Professor of Communication Dennis Dunleavy, wrote a poignant reflection on this tragedy at his blog.
Edrik was a junior communication and political science double major. Sparkling with life and energy, he always found time to be active in the Multicultural Resource Center and the Ecology Center of the Siskiyous. He was the younger brother of Erim Gomez, an outstanding environmental studies alumnus who graduated in 2007. Edrik had chosen SOU because of the very positive experience Erim had with us. Edrik’s loss will be felt by the many people he touched.
David was the son of Susanne Steele, a part-time master of arts in teaching (MAT) student who works in the Schneider Children’s Center on campus. David’s family members say he had wanted to be a firefighter for years, even going on ride-alongs to learn about his future job. A graduate of Ashland High School, David was taking firefighting and EMT classes at Central Oregon Community College and working for Grayback to pay his tuition.
Steven last took classes at SOU in winter 2007, having attended for several terms as a pre-anthropology major. During the 2005–06 year, he was a distance runner member of the SOU cross-country and track and field teams.
Together, we celebrated the lives of our students during a support meeting on Monday, August 11, in the Commuter Resource Center. We grieved together as the friends and families of Caleb, Edrik, David, and Scott described how profoundly we had been touched by their presence.
Siskiyou Saxophone Workshop
During this sad and difficult time, the arts on campus can provide respite and help us heal.
Associate Professor of Music Rhett Bender led the eighth and most successful Siskiyou Saxophone Workshop in July. A collaboration between SOU and the Britt Festival, the workshop is taught by music professors from universities in Wyoming and Georgia, as well as by Bender, the workshop’s director.
This year’s workshop was composed of twenty-six intermediate to advanced saxophonists from British Columbia, Hawaii, Washington, Wyoming, California, and Oregon who ranged from thirteen to thirty-one years old.
The saxophone orchestra performed on July 10 at the Lithia Park bandshell. The workshop culminated in a July 11 performance in our Music Recital Hall, featuring five quartets and one sextet.
Schneider Museum of Art Exhibition
I encourage you to explore the breathtaking landscapes featured in the current Schneider Museum of Art exhibition. James Lavadour: The Properties of Paint, Selections from Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts will be available through September 13.
Lavadour is a nationally recognized Oregon artist well-known for his exploration of landscape as both inspiration and subject. His work is already familiar to the campus: his paintings hang above the fireplaces in Hannon Library, purchased as part of the One Percent for Art program.
In 1992, Lavadour and a group of supporters founded Crow's Shadow Institute of the Arts. The institute is designed to bring technology instruction and cultural exchange to artists on the Umatilla Indian Reservation in eastern Oregon. The exhibition features prints by artists Rick Bartow, Edgar Heap of Birds, Joe Fedderson, James Lavadour, Truman Lowe, Ryan Lee Smith, Kay Walkingstick, and Marie Watt.
On Tuesday, August 5, Lavadour visited campus to present a special joint lecture with Rebecca Dobkins, faculty curator of Native American Art at Willamette University's Hallie Ford Musuem of Art. Together, they explored Lavadour's inspirations and artistic processes.
I hope you will find healing and solace in the beauty of music and art, as all of us continue to grieve our recent losses.
