This past Tuesday night, April 29th, 2008, Southwest Virginia lost one of its greatest promoters. Dr. Forrest Benedict Green, better known to friends as “Fess” died after holding on for a week in intensive care from being struck by a car while riding his bike at the entrance to Bisset Park in Radford. He was a professor in management at Radford University, a historian, and a civic leader. It was a tragic end for this larger than life man whose 2003 book “Wilderness Road Odyssey” was based on his bicycling the 850 miles of the Wilderness Road over a period of four years.

I worked with Fess on a project for putting together a documentary on the Wilderness Road. I chuckled when I read that his RU colleague and fellow Pathways member Liz Altieri referred to him as a “bulldog”. She meant that if he had a viewpoint different from yours, he would firmly hold his ground. The last time I saw Fess was in a meeting for the Wilderness Road Documentary Group. We got into a passionate discussion about historic integrity. Fess didn’t back down, nor did I. But because of that we both came to an understanding and quality filled collaboration—not compromise. If you’d like a sample of his delicious tenacity, read this article he wrote in which he challenges other historians.

Fess was a dedicated cyclist and very detailed oriented. I’m sure he would take every safety precaution possible. Nearing retirement, he and his wife have been building a home on the South Carolina shore. It’s too sad. The driver of the car which struck Fess, Ryan Brinkley Sherman was only 20 years old. At the time of this writing, he has not been charged.

Twenty years old. Fess was sixty-seven.

Life is so fragile. It’s easy for me to get stuck in the pondering of age and what that means, and the argument of “life is short” vs. “life is long”. I’m sure if Fess could speak he would argue with “life is short”, and Mr. Sherman going through whatever he is currently living through must be feeling, “life is long.” Fess’s students have an exam of his to take tomorrow. Many of them will be pondering these questions as well, and most likely feel very, very strange and sad.

Southwest Virginia is grateful for Fess’s short life. He was a charter member of the Pathways group which has created beautiful trails for walking and biking in Wildwood Park and Bisset Park along the New River. Pathways is sponsoring a Ride of Silence on Wed. May 21 to honor Fess. Check their website for further details.

With his book behind him, Fess was a driving force in getting the Wilderness Road designated with Virginia Tourism. This is just a partial list of his accomplishments. The whole United States is grateful for Fess’s contributions in the armed forces, particularly in Vietnam. Seems weird to have survived Vietnam, only to be struck down by a careless driver at the entrance to the park he helped enhance.

There will be a celebration of Fess’s life Sunday, May 4 at 7pm at the Ken Bondurant Auditorium in Preston Hall at Radford University. The Green family has requested that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Fess Green Wildwood Park Memorial Fund in-care-of Pathways for Radford. Pathways will be on hand at the celebration to accept donations, and starting May 5th will accept online donations at http://www.radfordpl.org/pathways/.

They can also be mailed to:

Fess Green Wildwood Park Memorial Fund
c/o Pathways for Radford
P.O. Box 1283
Radford, VA 24143

If anyone would like to share Fess’s experience of biking the Wilderness Road, read his marvelous book based on his journal writings while biking the trails from 1994 to 1998. “Wilderness Road Odyssey”, ISBN-13: 9780936015941, can be ordered from the publisher, Pocahontas Press by going to their website at http://www.pocahontaspress.com/. If you’d like to try biking the Wilderness Road yourself, visit http://www.cyclingdoubleheader.com/WRR.html where folks can go on an organized bike tour.

Life is short, so live it up. Life is long, so fill it up.

Happy trails, Fess.

-Lucinda McDermott Piro

Teenagers.

Does the phrase raise the hair on your neck? Unpleasant memories? Current fears?

My husband and I have been working with the youth group at our church for the last couple of years—actually, with another parishioner, we started the group because, being a small church, there wasn’t one. Sunday School stopped after the 6th grade and we realized that a lot of the teens in the church were drifting away at a time when they probably needed an entity that could love and support them most. So we started Teens @ Grace, or T@G. None of us had any background in youth ministries. In fact, I would say all of us would be the last pick for such a venture. But we knew that the kids in our community needed something. There is no place in our town of Radford other than the library that is appropriate for teens to hang out and do the socializing that is so necessary to their social development. Okay—that sounds really antiseptic—but where can a teen go to be with other teens that is safe?

We started a teen club that would meet once a month called Club 210 (the address was 210 4th Street). High school garage bands could play there and we accepted a donation for a different charity each month. We converted the basement of the church to look as much like a club as we could; lights, stage, biggums speakers. . . When we could get the bands, it was a great evening and successful. Sadly, our lives have become busier and we can’t maintain the club as we did. I wish we could have the club going every week on a Friday night. Imagine if someone decided that for a business? Or how about the equivalent for a Chuckie Cheese for teens? In areas that have Books-A-Millions, and Barnes and Nobles, I hear the teens hang out there. Malls become a gathering place, but because of that many have curfews for anyone 18 and under without a parent have been imposed. One of my freshmen college students was kicked out of a Roanoke mall recently because she was 18 and with friends.

Does your community have a safe and appropriate place for teens to socialize? Wouldn’t an investment like that symbolize an investment of the community’s future?

We were able to arrange a rebuilding mission trip to New Orleans last year, and are planning another trip this summer. For the past three years the T@G kids have collected toys for a local Christmas toy charity, and they’ve done other helpful work in the community. I’ve watched some progress from sullen, seemingly apathetic bystanders to a step-in-and-take-charge helper. I saw perspectives change before my eyes when we entered New Orleans and they realized how truly blessed they were. I saw the light of understanding turn on when one fifteen year old heard a single mother tell of life for her and her three teenage children in a small FEMA trailer. These evolutions are stunningly beautiful to me, and I’m quite proud to have played a part. It’s one of the reasons I came back home to a smaller area—to be able to engage in something bigger than myself.

So I highly recommend engaging with the children in your community in some way. There’s no better investment. After all, they ARE the future.

-Lucinda McDermott Piro