tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6915033531179438334.post2203101007264323645..comments2014-08-15T07:50:19.239-07:00Comments on In Celebration of Brian O’Neill: A Celebration of Brian O’Neill’s LifeMark Pothierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09379055663467552454noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6915033531179438334.post-12832758373429820922009-06-22T10:00:59.216-07:002009-06-22T10:00:59.216-07:00Dear Marti and family,
The Celebration of Life in...Dear Marti and family,<br /><br />The Celebration of Life in honor of Brian was so moving. I know Brian would have been so proud how it was handled. It was so good to see you Marti and the family.<br /><br />Thank you so much for sharing Brian with all of us for all these years. We all wish we could have shared him longer together. As you know Brian made such a great impact on so many lives and parks. Golden Gate National Park is where his biggest legacy exists, but he helped the entire national park system and all park lands. Brian was always ready to be of assistance with his great smile and can do attitude. <br /><br />As I came in as National Park Service Director, I already knew Brian due to his outreach to state and local parks. He was known for his establishment of a partnership culture everywhere he went. His fundraising/friendraising was a concept he taught all of us. One of my goals as director was to further enhance the partnership culture in the national park service. Brian was ready and certainly able to help me. He was my go to person in this area and, as you know, he was willing to come to DC and help me set up the first ever Associateship for Partnership for NPS. I had wanted him to stay and be the permanent head of the office, but he said no. He wanted to be with you and his Golden Gate back in San Francisco. I understood but was sad he wouldn’t be just down the hall.<br /><br />Through my almost six years as Director, Brian continued to be there for me and the national park service. Brian use to tell me how in earlier years his style was one not always fully appreciated in the national parks. I think though through my time and to current, Brian’s style and advice was in constant demand. He was so innovative and creative. He helped so many. Even recently during my time after NPS and now at Clemson University, Brian was always a part of my life. Most recently he authored an article for the South Carolina Park and Recreation Association’s Magazine on the 21 success factors for partnerships. We were reviewing an article for another publication and attempting to nominate him for the American Academy of Park and Recreation Administration. I want you to know that he will continue to be in my life and heart forever. <br /><br />I know how much he loved you and your great family. We will all miss him, but as we look around Golden Gate and everything he touched, we will know his legacy continues and how he made such a difference in everyone’s lives. <br /><br />Thanks again for sharing Brian with all of us. Please call on me if I can help you in any way. <br /><br />My prayers and thanks are with you. <br /><br />Fran P Mainella<br />16th Director of the National Park Service <br />Visiting Scholar Clemson UniversityLori_Furtadonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6915033531179438334.post-25927046945568663602009-05-31T14:18:54.579-07:002009-05-31T14:18:54.579-07:00Thank you Golden Gate National Parks Family for th...Thank you Golden Gate National Parks Family for the most beautiful service. The atmosphere was perfect, simple yet so decadent all at once. Very thoughtful and loving. With each unique speaker, we all laughed and cried together as one. We all walked away with a regained sense of a new beginning, invigorated, rebirthed and ready. Thank you endlessly for the opportunity to share as a community over this great loss and breathe together into the next step.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6915033531179438334.post-65805950834810900592009-05-29T22:32:24.928-07:002009-05-29T22:32:24.928-07:00Dear Dad,
On this journey, I have
Come around aga...Dear Dad,<br /><br />On this journey, I have<br />Come around again<br />To behold you as I have done so many times<br />To take in your smiling face<br />Your radiance, your joy, the pure goodness of your spirit<br />To see the magnificent designs<br />Of your soul<br />Like a wonderfully intricate web interwoven with vibrant jewels <br />To feel your tender side<br />Outlined in your large, warm, hands<br />To embrace the profile of a man<br />An image of a human being<br />Whose heart has left such a mark!<br />Only love, and the sheer pleasure of living can leave such a mark!<br />As you have…<br />On me, our family – and the world<br /><br />The delight and/enchantment I feel for you<br />Seems as vast as the universe itself.<br />I find myself looking out<br />Upon a cloudless night sky <br />Wrapped up in your space and time here on earth<br />And it is as if every star represents a part of your being<br />Oh! To reach out and grasp the lights<br />Let them pour into my hands and carefully place them in my pocket <br /><br />There was a special magic in your being<br />A transcending energy<br />Reflected everyday in that twinkle in your eyes<br />And pouring outward<br />A compassionate glow<br />That permeated all (those)<br />Who you touched<br />For you, it was about friending people<br />Oh! The ways you touched our lives<br />What gifts bestows a caring soul such as yours<br /><br />There is a special message I hear in your voice<br />Resounding boundlessly<br />Like (a thrust) an eagle spreading its wings<br />Embracing the creative will of others<br />Your spirit had to tell us<br />“Who’s to say we can’t do everything, well we’ll try”<br /><br />Dad, I know your humility<br />Tended to soften the glow of your magnificence<br />But you shall always remain among the greats!<br /><br />Some memories of you now<br />Are dearer to me than what<br />I can describe<br />So dear and so present in me,<br />Of recent years <br />As I have fathered a family of my own<br />Of happy, happy, joyous times<br />Walking the beach<br />And splashing around the sandbars,<br />And looking for fossil shark’s teeth<br />At the Chesapeake Bay,<br />Of you holding my wife Anne and children, Kieran and Sean<br />Who felt your glow and warmth so deeply,<br />And loved your buoyant nature,<br />To frolick alongside you in child-like glee,<br />To cuddle during bedtime stories,<br />We all wanted that feeling<br />To last forever<br />Those short visits<br />When you came to us and we to you<br />When we had each other<br />When we had a precious piece of you.<br /><br />Dad,<br />From deep within my being<br />Where I shall always remain connected to you,<br />I want to say<br />Thank you!<br />Thank you for the magnificence of spirit<br />That we share in you<br />I love you!<br /><br />________________<br />by Brent O'Neill<br />Spoken on Thursday May 29, 2009<br />Celebration Event on Crissy FieldBrent O'Neillnoreply@blogger.com