Built
with the creativity and time and energy and generous donations of people from
all over the world, the memorial has taken a long road to what it is today.
A simple gift
The
memorial was conceived as a simple wood carved plaque to be given from one
friend to another as a way of recognizing the depth of that friend's grief and
loss upon John's passing.
A gift to others
It
became clear, from visits to the message boards on the web where John's fans
gathered to share their thoughts and deal with their grief, that a memorial was
needed for everyone. The sentiments
expressed by so many people seemed to come back, time and time again, to the
need to carry on John's work and his music.
The scope of the plaque was changed to that of a gift to the world which
would, in some small way, meet those aims.
Finding a home
We
wanted to build the memorial in a place that best fit with what John stood
for. John loved raptors so much, and he
was instrumental in working toward raising awareness about them. Because of their work with raptors, and
because the mission of the Austin Nature Center fits so well with the values
that John modeled for us, we decided that the Birds of Prey Sanctuary at the
Austin Nature Center would be the most appropriate place.
What form would it take?
The
memorial morphed through several forms, from a simple wooden carved plaque hung
on a hawk's cage, to a plaque and sign on a gateway built at the entrance to
the sanctuary, to a wood plaque set inside an informational kiosk within a
gazebo, to our final form. For reasons
of durability and permanence, for beauty and form, for placement and size, for
preservation of trees, we decided that ours would be a memorial made of stone. Because we are all of the earth and from the
earth, our memorial would be of the earth as well.
~~~~~~