Prairie Restoration

Pacific Rim

Purchase of Smith Prairie
Celebration Address by John Loeks

I am pleased to represent the board of trustees of the Au Sable Institute this afternoon in this wonderful place on Whidbey Island,
upon this significant occasion and celebration.

Dale Roundy, our attorney here at Whidbey, sent me a copy of the proposed deed transferring title from Washington State to the
Institute. Upon reflection, I thought how little title any of us ever has to precious places and how short the duration of the title
which we do have. This brings to mind a story about a New Orleans lawyer who sought an FHA loan for a client. He was told
the loan would be granted if he could prove satisfactory title to a parcel of property being offered as collateral. It took the lawyer
three months to track down the title to the property, back to 1803. After sending the information to the FHA, he received the
following reply:

"Upon review of your letter adjoining your client's loan application, we note that the request is supported by an Abstract of Title. While we compliment the able manner in which you have prepared and presented the application, we must point out that you have only cleared title to the proposed collateral back to 1803. Before final approval can be accorded, it will be necessary to clear the title back to its origin."

Annoyed, the lawyer responded as follows:

"Your letter regarding title in Case No. 189156 has been received. I note that you wish to have title extended further than the 194 years covered by the present application. I was unaware that any educated person in this country, particularly those working in the property area, would not know that Louisiana was purchased by the U.S. from France in 1803, the year of origin Identified in our application. For the edification of uninformed FHA bureaucrats, the title to the land prior to U.S. ownership was obtained from France, which had acquired it by Right of Conquest from Spain. The land came into possession of Spain by Right of Discovery made in the year 1492 by a sea captain named Christopher Columbus, who had been granted the privilege of seeking a new route to India by the then reigning monarch, Isabella. The good queen, being a pious woman and careful about titles, almost as much as the FHA, took the precaution of securing the blessing of the Pope before she sold her jewels to fund Columbus' expedition. Now the Pope, as I'm sure you know, is the emissary of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And God, it is commonly accepted, created this world. Therefore, I believe it is safe to presume that He also made that part of the world called Louisiana. He, therefore, would be the owner of origin. I hope you find His original claim to be satisfactory. Now, may we have our ... loan?"

They got it.

As most of you know, the Au Sable Institute was originally founded in the State of Michigan twenty years ago. In the past few years its teaching program has expanded west to Whidbey Island, East to the Chesapeake and across the Atlantic to Kenya,
Africa. Today, for only the second time in our history, we attach ourselves to a particular parcel of real estate. The belief I have
is that the Institute has crossed over to a new land. It has crossed the continent to a significantly different Pacific Rim and marine environment. This crossing over reminds me of a brief passage in the Book of Joshua which tells the story of a significant crossing to a new land. Let me read the passage:

Joshua 4:4-7
Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, "Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, 'What do these stones mean?' tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever."

The tribes of Israel faced numerous obstacles including the Jordan River itself! Likewise, Au Sable faced numerous obstacles in reaching this place. One by one those obstacles have been removed. It is the firm belief of the Institute that the hand of God has opened up the way for it. Like the Israelites, we need a stone, a stone of remembrance.

I have carried with me two stones from Michigan. In fact, they are the official stone of Michigan, known as the Petoskey Stone.
Petoskey stones are probably 350 million years old. I wish to present them today to the representatives of Washington and
Whidbey Island and to Dr. Calvin DeWitt, as stones of remembrance.

To be sure, they are a reminder of Au Sable's Michigan origin. Even more significantly, they are a reminder of a time before there
was a Michigan or a Washington. A time before memory. A time when there was a marine environment in the center of North
America. A time when God was at work creating the earth and the animals-- one of which is reflected in the polished surface of
this stone.

It is therefore my prayer that for whatever brief time Au Sable dwells here that it will be found a faithful steward of this land and
all that inhabit it.

In high school I first encountered Longfellow's Psalm of Life, in which the poet expresses at least a desire for, if not a belief in,
eternal life and achievements that last. The end of the poem reads:

Lives of great men all remind us we can make our lives sublime And, departing, leave behind us footprints on the sands of time.

The name Au Sable literally means on the sand. Living, as I do, on the shore of Lake Michigan, I know something about sand.
Yesterday I observed hundreds of footprints on the beach near my house left there from a party the day before. Those footprints
will be gone today. Wind and water currents will quickly cause them to vanish.

The poet Shelly suggests the futility of taking too much pride in the work of one's own hands.

In a poem titled Ozymandias he writes:

I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert". Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings;
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.?
- Shelly

If Au Sable is to be a good steward of its property, then it must remember that it will be the footprints of God that last. If Au
Sable is to do something of lasting significance that will be to point to and preserve God's footprints. Remembering our name, we
will allow our footprint to disappear in the God created beauty.

John D. Loeks, Trustee
Au Sable Institute
Whidbey Island, Washington
July 31, 1999