Asylum on a sea of rock: - The Mountaineers

steppingup
The University of Puget Sound recently awarded Helen Engle of Tacoma an honorary Doctor of Science degree
Coming from a heritage
connected to the earth, Helen
Engle has spent most of her life
advocating for the environment.
A Tacoma Mountaineer for 60
years, Helen’s commitment to the
world around her was celebrated
most recently by the university
of Puget sound (uPs) when it
awarded her an honorary Doctor
of science degree.
Calling her a “model of democratic
citizenship,” uPs noted
Helen’s ability for thoughtful,
critical thinking.
“Our activities were oriented
to the outdoors,” Helen says of
her growing up along the Chehalis
river in Grays Harbor County,
where her grandparents settled in
1871. “We had the oak savannah,
the river, forests, the ocean, and
lots of lakes for camping. Wildlife
was plentiful and healthy.”
When finally starting a family
of her own, Helen and her
husband, stan, who joined The
Mountaineers five years before
Helen, found it important for their
children to share the legacy of
their experiences. The two were
14 the mountaineer » july/august 2011
inspired by many conservationists,
including Aldo Leopold’s philosophy
of the land, John Muir’s
reverence for natural parklands,
the spirited work of Mountaineers
guidebook author Harvey
Manning and collaborations with
other notable Mountaineers,
such as Polly Dyer, Wolf Bauer
and Dee Molenaar.
A recipient of many
awards and tokens for her
achievements, Helen’s resume
promises more to come. Her
leadership role in Audubon, as
one of the Tacoma chapter’s
co-founders, and the Washington
Environmental Council (as
president) led to appointments
to several state government
advisory councils, including the
interagency Committee for Outdoor
recreation and the Wildlife
Diversity Council to name just a
couple. With each new position,
appointment and experience, her
influence and impact grew.
“Long before Earth Day we
were actively speaking up for
wilderness, free-flowing rivers,
parks and open space,” Helen
Eric Becker photo
notes. Later, she expanded her
knowledge and experience by
taking courses and attending
conferences and seminars all
over the country.
she says it is more important
today than ever for people to
recognize what things were like
“Long before Earth
Day we were actively
speaking up for
wilderness, freeflowing
rivers, parks
and open space.”
before the environmental laws
were passed. Countless activists
for the environment were
motivated by their experiences
and encounters in their time, she
notes. Her motivation occurred a
couple years before joining The
Mountaineers.
One day in June of 1953
or ’54, she says, her three
little boys were playing in their
sandbox, climbing the big royal
Ann cherry tree, and riding their
scooters and trikes. ”That day
helen engle
Working for the
environment
just came
naturally
by Jen Ludington
there was an inversion, with air
so sulfurous one hated to take a
deep breath,” she recalls. ”At the
end of the day all the leaves on
the cherry tree were shriveled and
dropped off. i wondered if those
smelter fumes (did) that to this
big tree (and) what they were doing
to my little boys?”
As a concerned mother Helen
saw reason to devote her life to
environmentalism. Her immediate
impact can be seen in her seven
children, who are now strong
advocates for the country’s grasslands,
forests, rivers and marine
resources. As an environmentalist
she sees the need everywhere for
prevention, protection and change.
Just as she was inspired by the
works of other environmentalists,
Helen has worked hard to plant
seeds of inspiration in others—
quite possibly her biggest contribution
to the natural world.55
About the author
Jen Ludington, a Mountaineer,
majored in communications and
creative writing at the university of
Washington, where she wrote, edited
and photographed for the Daily, the
student newspaper.