by Maureen Eppstein
I have just come from the memorial gathering for Skip Wollenberg, a former member of the Mendocino Coast Writers Conference committee and a good friend. Longtime conference attendees may remember that Skip used to help lead the nature walks that were part of the conference program. An engineering geologist by profession, Skip was renowned among those who knew him for his willingness to make understandable the geology of any landscape. My personal connection with Skip was geological: various kinds of rocks have appeared in my poems, and Skip was pleased both that I would make poems about geology, and that I got the geology right.
Skip wrote entertainingly about his work and travels. Some of his stories can be found on the Mendocino Stories website.
As we sat in the garden of his family home, carved out of the forest east of Fort Bragg, we heard family members, writing group partners and friends honor his life and work.Words like calm, laconic, thoughtful, committed and lovingkindness filled the air. “We fell into friendship the way people fall in love,” said one friend. He will be missed.
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