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!
VARANASI, INDIA
NEW WORK: It’s my last day in India and I wanted to return to where Life and Love are perfected.
Ken Winner
DESIGN/ENGINEER
Future blog page about Ken Winner will be added here. Enter now to see photos. Since 1998.
Bill Clinton
FORMER PRESIDENT
A future blog about Bill Clinton will be added here. Enter now to see photos. Since 1979.
Michael Gebhardt
FILM PRODUCER
A future blog page about Olympian Michael Gebhardt will be completed here. Enter now to see photos. Since 1983.
Tony Milbank
BANKER
A future blog about Tony Milbankwill be added here. Enter now to see photos. Since 1975.
Wes Lapp
AERONAUTICAL ENGINEER
A future blog about Wes Lappwill be added here. Enter now to see photos. Circa 1998.
Hubert Baudoin
RESORT DEVELOPER
Future page about Hubert Baudoin of the Moorings will be completed. Enter now to see photos. Since 1985.
Walter Ordway
ORGANIC FARMER
A future blog about Walter Ordwaywill be added here. Enter now to see photos. Circa 2010.
Maggy Jacqmin De Xivry Kitchen
BELGIAN ACTRESS
A future blog about Maggy Kitchenwill be added here. Enter now to see photos. Circa 2014.
John Jessey
AIRLINE EXECUTIVE
Future blog page about John Jessey will be added here. Enter now to see photos. Since 1998.
Teresa Heinz
Welcome to the future page about Teresa Heinz, widow of former U.S. Senator John Heinz and the wife of former U.S. Secretary of State, longtime U.S. Senator, and 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry.
Robby Naish
WINDSURFER
A future blog about World Champion Robby Naishwill be added here. Enter now to see photos. Since 1989.
Paul Jernberg
PROFESSOR
A future blog about my longest known friend Paul Jernberg will be added here. Enter now to see photos. Since 1969.
Gavin Grow
WRITER/PARAPLEGIC
A future blog about Gavin Grow will be completed. Enter now to see photos. Since 2014.
- 541-380-0907
- sacredridgejc@gmail.com
- P.O. Box 994 Mosier, Oregon 97040
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©JOHN CHAO All rights reserved