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Meet Our Donors

We thank all our planned-gift donors for their generous support. Here are some of their stories.

Walter F. Tingle and Thea F. Holmes

As a kid growing up in Southern Delaware, I spent most of my free time swimming or fishing in the local ponds and enjoying the nearby coastal beaches. By the time I was a teenager I thought I knew all there was to know about water.

Then I saw my first river, the Susquehanna! I was an Explorer Scout and our Scout leaders organized a long canoe trip through west-central Pennsylvania. We canoed and camped along the river for ten glorious days and I fell in love with moving water!

There have been many river trips in the half century since that awakening. Rivers like the Bio-Bio in Chile, the Rufiji in Tanzania, the Alagnak in Alaska, all exciting, but none more so than that river of firsts. There I had seen my first mountains, first rapids, first deer and wild turkey, and first felt the thrill of anticipating what might be around the next bend of the river.

My working career first as a Navy pilot and then an airline captain afforded me a unique view of rivers around the world. From several miles high I could see their beauty and their blemishes. I began to realize how the natural flow of so many rivers had been killed by dams and how many others were little more than conduits for our wastes. During this time, I had become an avid (some say fanatic), fly fisherman. Trout and salmon needed clean, cold, healthy rivers to survive, and fewer and fewer rivers could sustain them.

I began to worry about the future of rivers, and I began to look for an organization totally dedicated to their health and survival. I found American Rivers to be that organization. American Rivers has a “big tent” philosophy, welcoming all lovers of rivers to work together to protect and nurture them.

Knowing that the fight for healthy, free flowing rivers will never be over, my wife and I decided that we would like to continue to help American Rivers beyond our lifetimes by leaving a legacy. We know it will be in good hands.

We hope your family will consider joining us by establishing your own legacy, you’ll be glad you did.