TOM CRUM - John's Friend ======================== Tom Crum co-founded the Windstar Foundation with John. He spoke at John's Memorial Service in Aurora, Colorado and also at the one in Aspen. His words were inspiring... - * * * - Excerpts of Tom's Speech from the John Denver Memorial Service Faith Presbyterian Church / Aurora, Colorado October 17, 1997 "I'm Tom Crum. I have been a very close friend of John's for many years. I love John Denver and I am sorry that he died, but I am so very very happy that he lived. Even though I have tears up here, this is a time of celebration for this person's life. He was such a great spirit as you know. When he was in nature you could see it. When he was in nature, it didn't matter what he was doing, whether he was photographing flowers or skiing or running through the hills or fishing or flying, when he was in the wild land something happened to him. In nature there was that marriage, that bond that was so expressed in his music. He was like a little boy. He always had a little boy-like quality to him. I'm sure St Frances of Assisi would have been proud of how he was in nature and his music brings it to us. I don't care where we were, maybe, if there was a lagoon somewhere, if there was a waterfall or a cliff, he would jump in, he would jump off that cliff. Truly, we'd jump off the cliff, John would dive off the cliff. He went head-long into life. Zach & I were talking about that the other day with Anna Kate. He was full-throttle! As Annie said, he wanted to do everything, he wanted to do so much, the people he worked with and his family, we were in chaos around him, it was a mess. I mean, he wanted to do everything. Talk about a friend, there are just so many instances; We were helicopter skiing in British Columbia one time and I went off a cliff, not on purpose, and I hit the snow and that gave way and I went under a tree-well and John found me. You see, bottom line, John was there for people, maybe it's a close friend, but it didn't matter. I'd see him stop where a guy needed to be pushed out of a snow-bank, motorists, he'd help people with their luggage - he didn't even know them - in hotels. He'd pick up trash...the guy would go across the street to pick up trash. We'd be on the golf course and he'd go in the rough to pick up trash. He was in the rough a lot, he was! And his friendship: Zach and my son played hockey on the same team and they had a state championship game in Colorado Springs. It was a big game, we were all pumped up, there were about 50 people in the audience and John stood up and sang the National Anthem. Talk about standing up in life, this guy stood up! Then we won that game as you remember, Zach and we went out to a restaurant and John didn't just buy us dinner, as he always did, he bought the whole team, all the parents and then he bought everyone in the restaurant dinner. We know that his heart was unbounded. Hal knows that, writing checks, unbounded! I remember Zach, when we had come back from some unbelievable tour, John singing in front of thousands and coming back to an elementary school in Aspen that next day and Zach was there and John was sitting in the bleachers singing to all these little kids and Zach was with Lynn, I believe, and he had this ukulele and with every song, Zach got closer and closer. Four songs into this, he was sitting right by his side with that ukulele. So, we had a loving father in John Denver, you know John struggled in this life and John had a lot of pain in this life, we all have that, but somehow John's struggle was real deep. It was as if this body that he was in and the stuff that human condition comes in, the relationships and the struggles, the human daily stuff, there was that and then there was this incredible spirit that spoke to all us when he sang and stepped forth for humans and life and there was that struggle; and that's probably why he had this fearless capacity to him that's why, probably, he is more at home now in the spirit than in the body. I know that, but I'll tell you what, no matter what story John had going on whether it was a deep personal issue, some legal battle, some mess that he had gotten himself into, he stood up for what he believed in. It never held him back. It never held him back for standing up for children, for the environment, for the hungry, for life. What an inspiration! He brought out the best in us when he did that. The best in us, I mean, there are great spirits, we have lost a lot this year, we have lost Jacques Cousteau and Mother Theresa and Princess Di and now we have lost John Denver. So there is this emptiness. Let's face it, there's an emptiness, but I know when we summon the courage to stand up for what we believe in, no matter how much stuff we've got going on, when we stand up for children or the environment or hunger or peace, we fill that space inside ourselves and I know John's spirit will sing out again and again and again." _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Tom Crum's Aiki Works http://www.aikiworks.com "For Tom Crum" by Karen D'Attilo I love to see the gentleness of the mountains walking in a man grace of being quietly dancing in ever warming eyes resonance of peace, knowledge flowing towards other's will to understand passive strength active love stretching potential a visible, moving energy centered beyond conflict on a focused journey... filled with spirit and smiling stories a sensei of magic and light living the moment helping to erase the distance between wrong and right _______________________________________________ Copyright October 2001 by Karen D'Attilo From the book "In The Moment" by Karen D'Attilo