ANPR is moving forward on your behalf! In the previous months we traveled to Washington, D.C., and met with congressional staffers on NPS subcommittees and with the NPS deputy director to introduce action items that we believe benefit both ANPR and the NPS. We’ve taken an official position in opposition to a request by 47 U.S. senators for the Interior secretary to revise the NPS regulation on firearms to allow them to be transported or carried in parks based on state law. There has been a recruitment effort started in a different direction — college chapters of ANPR, and we hope the first college chapter will be formed soon. ANPR’s membership has begun to rise again, currently in the vicinity of 1,100. We’ve asked you to consider ANPR in your gift/estate planning to help our advocacy for NPS employees and the National Park System beyond your own years. Detailed information on these activities is available on our website, and I invite you check in often to see ANPR’s progress and send us your feedback.

We all know that ANPR would not be a respected organization without our members, past and present. The loss in January of Golden Spike National Historic Site Superintendent Maggie Johnston, a life member of ANPR, is the most recent reminder of the friendships and professional expertise that we’ve been lucky to have in ANPR for 30+ years. ANPR’s deepest sympathies go to Jim McChristal (Maggie’s husband) and family and to Maggie’s close friends and coworkers at Golden Spike and throughout the NPS.

I want to tell you about two former ANPR members that I remember fondly and am grateful for their friendship.

Debbie Trout was ANPR’s third treasurer and first business manager. She worked tirelessly for ANPR in its early years to establish it financially and professionally even though many still characterized ANPR at that time as a “good old boys’ club.” Debbie certainly did not fit the mold of a “good old boy.” She took every opportunity to promote ANPR and spoke highly of its members, always with a wide, inviting smile on her face. Early in my ANPR years I was trying to decide if I wanted to become more involved in ANPR business, but I felt “underqualified” somehow to speak up with legendary rangers in the room. Debbie, with support from Ron Arnberger, convinced me that the opinions of younger members were valid, wanted and needed in ANPR’s future. The memory of her friendship and support has sustained me to stay active in ANPR for the last 20 years.

Steve Jarrell came from his native state of Georgia and Andersonville National Historic Site to Horace Albright Training Center in 1986 to attend Ranger Skills training. He was in my class. He had an easy smile and laugh that made for a quick friendship with a fellow Southerner. Later he married another one of our classmates, Joni Mae, and he took her last name as she took his to become Steve and Joni Mae Makuakne-Jarrell. As many of you know, Steve was murdered in the line of duty on Dec.12, 1999, at Kaloko-Honokhau National Historical Park while responding to park visitors’ complaints of dogs running at large on the beach. Steve was not a regular Ranger Rendezvous attendee, but occasionally he would call or write to talk about something ANPR was or was not doing. He offered his perceptions without expectations that I would bring them to ANPR’s Board of Directors, just wanting me to hear another opinion from a field employee.

Steve was thankful for ANPR’s part in establishing Ranger Careers, which ultimately upgraded his position to the GS-9 level, especially important with Hawai`i’s cost of living. He obviously believed ANPR membership was important, and that his contributions would be useful to us. Without thousands of members like Steve, dedicated to the NPS mission and his fellow NPS employees, ANPR’s accomplishments would have been fewer and less significant.

In memory of Debbie Trout and Steve Makuakne-Jarrell I ask you to become active in ANPR. Help us accomplish those things that will be long remembered by those who follow us in service to our national parks, long called “the greatest idea America ever had.”

— Scot McElveen