Tony Angell: Remembering Tom Jay

Tom Jay and a big fish [PHOTO: Jeff Day]

My friend Tom Jay passed away a few days ago and yet he remains amid us. 

I say this feeling his presence when I read his essays and poems in his recently published book Blossoms are Guests at the Wedding or come upon his many monumental sculptural pieces celebrating the Pacific Salmon that we find in communities along Puget Sound. 

I can sense Tom's influence and presence in his community of Chimicum on the Olympic Peninsula where he and his wife Sara invigorated the sense of awareness and commitment to understanding and sustaining the health and vitality of their vast and complex watershed. 

In the most personal way I can converse with Tom in memory of the adventures we shared together, our creative projects.  When I fashion a form from clay or stone I remember the wisdom and skills he so selflessly shared with me just as he did with countless other artists.   Tom's friendship, crafted over time, will remain with me forever. 

Even with all the prodigious and singular work Tom produced he still had more to complete and such was a feature of his life.  He always seemed to have another honorable community goal or sculptural project out there to achieve.  Such self expectation kept him going.  He was instructed by his mistakes and unavoidable setbacks.  His indomitable will is an enduring reminder that we can choose a path to wisely use every moment of the precious life we are fortunate to possess.  He provided worthy examples for us in the diversity of his work and commitment to aligning with Nature. 

The path he followed is one we will always walk together.

Artist, author and environmental educator Tony Angell lives and works in Seattle and on Lopez Island.