In the summer of 2005, Stephen led many groups of high school kids and inner-city kids into the wilderness of Wisconsin. Here is one picture of one group of kids. His co-leader, Katie Evans, is holding the coil of orange rope. She became a friend of Stephen and shared some wonderful memories with Stephen's parents.There is a funny story how Stephen was paired with this group of kids. Originally, Katie had another co-leader, who injured himself and had to be retrieved by the organization. Stephen was told to find the group and become the substitute co-leader.
With only a canteen cup and a sleeping bag, Stephen set out to find them. He thought he knew where they were, but when he reached the shoreline of Lake Superior they weren't there. Hmmm, left or right, left or right? Stephen turned right.
After walking four miles along the shoreline he realized he made the wrong turn. So he turned around and walked four miles back. The sun had long set. It was dark. He had no flashlight, no food. He told me he remembered thinking, "I have a sleeping bag, I can drink water from the lake, I can survive for several days. I can do this!"
According to Katie, "When [my original co-leader] was taken away, I was left alone with seven 15-16 year old boys, all very fun, but very full of life and of lots of other things, too. I was promised a replacement male leader to get through the trip two days later. We found a spot to camp on Lake Superior that was very easy to find and very accessible for any person that would be the next leader."
"Well, I waited and waited and waited.... and waited for someone to show up. At about midnight on the day that I was supposed to have someone come and "rescue me", the boys and I were on the beach around a campfire. We saw a tall, thin shadow approach waaay down the beach around the peninsula. This figure was waving his arms and calling out "Hello! Who are you people?" and "Does anyone here know Katie Evans?" I just about fell over with laughter realizing that Stephen would be my co-leader and that there must be a story behind the 10 hour tardiness of my co-leader. "
"We had a great trip together. Stephen touched the lives of those kids with his thoughtfulness and care."
2 comments:
I was not on his trips, but I became his friend at HoneyRock. I was actually at the Wrangler Breakfast for one of his groups. Stephen was such a great guy and really loved exploring. I think of him often.
Livi Egeland
Thanks for the thought, Livi. We think of him often, too.
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