River Rambler

I first met Steve Ponder (orange vest), a professor of news/editorial at the University of Oregon School of Journalism, when I was hired as an instructor of public relations. We hit it off, having a common interest in hiking, and particularly river rafting, on the great rivers of the Pacific Northwest. Like me, he was hired by Ken Metzler.

Steve passed away this month at age 78. Turns out, we had both worked for the Lake Wenatchee Ranger District of the Wenatchee National Forest, he in the 1960s and me in the 1970s. We shared stories of hiking the Buck Creek Trail and exploring the wonders of the Glacier Peak (bottom photo) and Alpine Lakes Wilderness Areas.

An active volunteer with the Deschutes Land Trust and other environmental groups, he was an avid outdoorsman, and spent many years conquering mountain trails on foot and wilderness rivers behind the oars of a raft, including the Colorado River five times through the wonders of the Grand Canyon.

Steve was born in Bakersfield, California and grew up in Wenatchee, Washington, working his way through college at the University of Washington as a U.S. Forest Service lookout. During his journalism career, he reported for the Associated Press and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, among others.

A favorite memory of Steve was how he responded to the question: "Why did you switch from being a journalist to being a professor of journalism?" His stock response was that he had "three main reasons: June, July and August." He loved to raft the rivers of the Pacific Northwest and would look for any excuse to go.

After Steve retired from UO SOJC, he continued to teach classes, as is the custom for retiring tenured professors, and we shared an office in the UO SOJC. We jokingly deferred to ourselves as the "denizens" of 313 Allen and spent our free time reminiscing about the days of yore. Steve was a great colleague, mentor and friend.