Originally read at the Celebration of Caleb on Nov. 18th at All Souls Gathering, Shelburne, VT
Thank you all for coming to share in this Celebration of Caleb!! Before I share a few words about Caleb, Winslow and I would like to thank you for the tremendous support we have received from our community of family, friends, neighbors and my coworkers at TCHC. You have provided us with delicious meals, checked up on us, gone for hikes and long walks and sent heart felt tributes and cards. I also want to recognize all the hard work that Arlin, Audrey, Randall, Tommy, Eric, Winslow, Francesca, Suzanne and Vince to mention just a few who helped in putting this Celebration together. And of course thank you, Caleb, for bringing all your wonderful friends into our world and sharing them with us through many adventures.
As most of you have been fortunate to know Caleb at different chapters in his life you experienced a young man with a rare blend of smarts, courage, skill and charm (compassion). The only reason I can stand up here today, is knowing he is saying what he would say to me when I looked down a steep pitch…Mom you can do it!! Winslow and I raised our boys to love the outdoor world from the mountains to Lake Champlain!! As soon as they could get into ski boots we had them on the ski slopes, and in boats learning to be comfortable on the water. Caleb took to Alpine and Freestyle competition at Sugarbush and CVU, climbing at Petra Cliffs, Ultimate Frisbee at both CVU and Dartmouth and Summer’s waterskiing and sailing on the Lake.
I knew Caleb was becoming more passionate about climbing, but not until his years at Dartmouth did I understand the extent of this passion. On more than several occasions, I would be on the road coming back from a (road trip) or a conference in Boston, excited about seeing him at Dartmouth, to not find him on campus, and later he would call me and say “sorry I missed you mom I was at Rumney climbing." I found out in Chile from Randy, his climbing partner, that on many afternoons at Dartmouth they would leave campus as soon as classes were done (I think Randy said 1:00 pm) and head up to Rumney to climb, on some weeks, 5 days a week. I know Winslow and I would chuckle that we were paying Dartmouth tuition for you to climb!! I should have known, like most of the passions that Caleb pursued, he would pursue until he perfected them…. whether alpine skiing, Ultimate Frisbee, waterskiing, rockclimbing and/or mountaineering….Caleb you did an amazing job of balancing your outdoor activities with your academics, which you also excelled at. I know many of your teachers who are present would agree you excelled in school as well…when you put your mind to a goal you achieved it and made it look easy.
During his early years at Dartmouth, Caleb was excited about pursuing a medical degree in emergency medicine, but it quickly got put on the back burner, once he was bitten by the thrill of being in the mountains challenging himself to climb tougher routes and teaching others. After graduating from college he was hired by RMI in Washington State to learn to be a mountain guide. Caleb you told me you had a 5 year plan to work at becoming a Certified AMGA guide in rock climbing, backcountry skiing and alpine guiding. And if guiding did not work out for you, you would buckle down and pursue Medicine. I held the hope in my gut that you would tire of the guiding lifestyle, but no that was clearly not happening. You had a impressive list of climbs that you had completed, and were headed back to one your favorite ranges in the Argentine Patagonia, the Fitz Roy Massif with the goal to climb Cerro Torre. There is no doubt you left us in one of your happiest places, climbing and skiing, and starting a two month trip in the Chilean and Argentine Andes with your buddy Randall. Caleb as we think of you going forward, I know you will be with us every time we are in the backcountry,on the ski hill, hiking mountains and enjoying the Lake…but we will always keep missing you, and know your accomplishments had just begun. I love you babe.
