Remembering Rex

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Today, we celebrate the life of Rex McDaniel, friend to Ijams and friend to me.

Rex loved to explore slowly the grounds at the nature center, Cades Cove, Roaring Fork or just anywhere outdoors. Rex had an inquiring mind, a patient and thoughtful observer, an artist always ready to capture the fleeting moment with his camera. Because all moments are fleeting. 

Rex was an owl whisperer, he could find one if it was there, he had the "attentive eye" and always reminded me of the famous Ralph Waldo Emerson quote.

“To the attentive eye, each moment of the year has its own beauty, and in the same fields, it beholds, every hour, a picture which was never seen before, and which shall never be seen again.”  

As I was remembering him I began to look back at the times he appeared in this blog over the years or in my emails from him with a subject line that simply said: "A photo for you."

The consummate interrupter naturalist, Rex shared nature through his photographs and stories. So here we begin our time of remembrances of Rex.

Click: strolling about

Above photo/graphic by Chuck Cooper.

Today, we met at the Ijams Homesite to celebrate Rex's life and share memories of him. And we know the quiet space was special to him because there and down the Discovery Trails to the pond and wetland, Rex could always find an owl, if it was there to be found. Because Rex was the owl whisperer.


Miss you, Rex. 


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