"Renaissance Man"

I often marvel at the many talents possessed by my hubby of (almost) 41 years. The term "Renaissance Man" always come to mind. I think it's fair to say that I may be just a little prejudiced but, if a wife can't be, who can? I looked online for the definition of Renaissance man and found the following: "A man who has broad intellectual interests and is accomplished in areas of both the arts and the sciences." Well, let's take a look at that. He has his Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy) with an emphasis in aquatic entomology and retired 4 years ago from MO State University where he was a faculty member and, the last seven years, head of the Department of Biology. He's published more than one book, won awards for Outstanding Teacher, and has served on more major committees than one could shake a stick at, including Chair of the Faculty Senate at MO State University. And there's certainly lots more but I think that speaks to his "intellectual interests."

At the same time, he served in the U.S. Army Reserves (a Preventive Medicine unit), and was actually deployed to Iraq to serve in Desert Storm. When his unit returned, Steve was made Commander and retired as a Lt. Colonel.

Now, for the "arts" part: Steve and I spent last week in Loveland, CO, where we attended the Federation of Fly Fishers National Conclave. Steve has been involved in this organization for as many years as I can remember, serving at the local level (President, Conclave Chair, etc. of the Southern Council) as well as at the national level (Senior Advisor, etc.). He has been awarded both the coveted Man of the Year and Federator of the Year national awards. As a scientist, Steve has a great respect for nature and a desire to preserve our resources for the generations to follow. For those reasons, he donates countless hours to charity projects to help raise funds for education and conservation projects. This also has a lot to do with his "exercising" the native fish and returning them to their natural habitat, to be caught by future generations of fishers. The only time we keep and eat the fish are when they are "farm raised." Because Steve enjoys the sport of "exercising the fish," he can have a good time catching catfish and carp ("trash fish" as some would call them), as well as the beautiful native trout, baby tarpon, salmon, etc.

Because a primary purpose for my blogging is to record the stories of our lives for our children and grandchildren, I wanted to record here some of my thoughts about Steve's talents, and the ways in which he uses them to bless the lives of others (myself and our family included, certainly).

For this Conclave just concluded, Steve designed seven "fly plates." That term likely won't mean a lot to anyone who has not seen one, but perhaps you can get an idea from the photos that I'm including. The artwork and flies (imitations of the insects used to attract the fish when fly fishing) featured in the plates are donated from some of the best fly tiers from around the world. Steve designs the plates and then builds them, including the matting and framing. Three of the 7 plates for this Conclave were built for a special subgroup to which Steve belongs (The Fly Tiers Group); the remaining 4 plates were auctioned off at the live auction, bringing around $4,000 for the Federation, to be used for a variety of worthwhile projects.
A woman by the name of Jean, pictured in the bright green sweater, was in awe of the plates and of Steve's craftsmanship, and she ended up buying three of the four larger plates. Jean is a widow and enjoys fly fishing, so when a friend "conned" her into volunteering for the Conclave, she agreed. She ended up having so much fun. She was darling and we enjoyed getting to know her better before the Conclave was over. It turns out that she lives in Loveland, and also loves The Master's Art Gallery that I wrote about in an earlier blog.
Steve taught a one-day class on designing fly plates at the Conclave, and was also one of the featured fly-tiers who demonstrated for Conclave attendees some of the techniques of fly-tying. Because Steve's scientific specialty was aquatic entomology, he has always has a greater than casual interest in the insects that the dry flies are made to imitate.

Yet another thing Steve is known for in the Federation is his custom-designed, hand-held wooden bobbins, used to hold the thread while tying the artificial flies. He has never sold one of his bobbins (they are truly a "labor of love"), and many tiers have come up with some pretty ingenious ploys to con Steve out of one of them. The opportunity to spend time with my hubby is the highlight of the trip for me. In addition, we enjoy cultivating the many friendships from all over the world that we've made over a lifetime in this organization. The organization is full of fun and very TALENTED people. People like Gary Borger, who wrote not only this quote on fly tying, but who writes and presents beautiful prose on nature at its best. (It was Gary's son Jason who REALLY did the fly casting depicted in the movie A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT.) People like Oscar Felieu (from FL by way of Chile), who not only ties beautiful flies, but who entertains us each year at the BBQ with his fabulous (professional opera) voice. He's as charming as he is beautiful! Dave Ruimveld is another human being who is as nice as he is talented. (Check out his website at www.davidruimveldstudio.com.) We've known Dave since his two girls were very young, and we looked forward to hearing an update every year. With the older daughter now in college, they no longer join their dad at Conclave, and it ages us to think they could be that old!
We have spent an inordinate amount of time participating in Federation activities at the local, regional, and national levels, and that time has been richly rewarded with friendships and experiences too numerous to mention. Our grandchildren are just beginning to fish and we hope they will enjoy the sport and everything associated with it as much as we have/are.