By French Hill, US Representative and OS LIFE Member
Long lives and long friendships, like wonderful meals or memorable trips are to be savored, shared with others and talked about often. Reflecting over my six-decade friendship with Don brings daily intersections with my deep affection for Don and all the ways that he directly influenced my life.
Don spent his adult life deeply committed to the teaching, preservation and collecting of American and Arkansas history. We collected together and both served as volunteers at the Historic Arkansas Museum, formerly the Arkansas Territorial Restoration. He was an amazing conservationist and environmental steward. He devoted much of life to the cause of conservation professionally as a partner in private legal practice and as general counsel of the Little Rock Wastewater Utility. He was an active member of the Ozark Society and regular participant in the Society’s outings, even the ones where Bill Steward wandered off the trail. Don served the National Wildlife Federation as a national board member.
Don was a tremendous influence on my life. He always had a new place to explore and, as a boy, I was always proud to tag along. I treasured the often wet, frequently cold, mostly uncomfortable float trips initiated by my dad, Jay Hill, or Don on the Big Piney, the Illinois Bayou, the Mulberry, the Cadron Creek or the Buffalo. The float trips always produced memorable stories, broken limbs and gravel bar fires to warm up. One of my most memorable canoe trips was in fact one of the most peaceful. After Martha and I returned to Little Rock in 1993, Don invited me to do something I had always wanted to do which was to float the Buffalo from Rush down to the White River. Just the two of us. It was a perfect summer night sleeping out on the gravel bar under the summer sky.
It was Don that took me up to Flatside Pinnacle on a cold February day in 1983 to look at the proposed Flatside Wilderness Area spread out to the west. It’s amazing that some 40 years later I am fully engaged with the expansion and protection of Flatside — and that it was the subject of our last time together, a wonderful lunch with Tom McClure and Kirk Wasson on July 13th.
Following the success of the Arkansas Wilderness Act of 1984, Don continued that early work in furthering the protection of our natural areas and wildlife habitat. Arkansas is a better place because of Don Hamilton. One hundred years from today some kid will be following their parents scrambling down the steep ravines above Hamilton Falls in search of the famed Twin Falls of the Devil’s Fork or Richland Falls. They will have that experience deep in the wilderness due to Don’s advocacy and passion.
One of Don’s most amusing wilderness role models was the eccentric and iconic Edward Abbey. Abbey offers advice to all of Don’s beloved decades of friends across the country: For his funeral, Abbey stated “No formal speeches desired, though the deceased will not interfere if someone feels the urge. But keep it all simple and brief.” He requested “gunfire and bagpipe music, a cheerful and raucous wake… and a flood of beer and booze! Lots of singing, dancing, talking, hollering, laughing and lovemaking.” What a tribute!
Rest in Peace – DF!