By Mona Blaber
I met Eric Patterson at a Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge cabin where Rio Grande Chapter volunteers and staff stay for chapter meetings.
Within minutes of walking through the door, Eric had somehow determined that I had gone to high school with his son thousands of miles away. That became part of Eric’s go-to introduction at chapter meetings:
“I’m Eric Patterson. I live in beautiful downtown Valdez, NM. I run our Water Sentinels Rio de Taos program, and I’m the only one here who cared enough to attend Mona’s high-school graduation.”
That intro concisely described Eric: Always with the jokes; loving his life with his wife and garden in his tiny rural Northern New Mexico town; leading truly impactful work by teaching students to protect our waterways; and always seeking out new people and making them feel comfortable, special and seen.
Eric passed away in December at the far-too-young age of 82, leaving behind his wife, Nora, sons Jason, Tad and Eric, four grandchildren and a newborn great-grandchild he met in November. His life of education, friendship, water-monitoring and joy was celebrated by many friends and family in January in Taos.
Below are a few memories from Water Sentinels colleagues:
Shannon Romeling, Water Sentinels, Amigos Bravos:
I met Eric in 2013, new to my job, when he taught water-quality training for the Water Sentinels with my colleague. His style of making the training fun, emphasizing “safety first” and using practical examples to explain different aspects of water quality were the pillars I carried on over the years as Eric began to retire and I took over the trainings.
I really started to get to know Eric when he took me out to sample water on the Red River. This was to teach me the sites and to solidify and practice what had been taught during the training. I don’t remember the many things we talked about in the car that day. But I remember laughing hard, feeling supported and knowing I was in the right place at that moment in time.
Shortly after that, he also introduced me to volunteering for the Sierra Club and prepared me to take over one of his positions. I still volunteer with the Sierra Club, and I will always have him to thank for the valuable experiences and friends that come with that work.
Over the 13 years I knew Eric, he became family. He invited my family over every year for his birthday to pick raspberries and eat his homemade ice cream. He came to my wedding, and even as we saw each other less through work and the Sierra Club, he always called to check on me and congratulate me on life milestones. His enthusiasm for life was infectious, and I will miss it. In the space left by his loss, I hope to carry even a part of his enthusiasm for life to others.
Rachel Conn, Amigos Bravos:
Eric walked into the Amigos Bravos office 20 years ago with a proposal to start a local water-quality sampling program.
It was his vision, his energy and his connection to the Sierra Club’s Water Sentinels that got our program up and running. We started small, focusing mostly on the Rio Hondo those first couple of years. But now the program has expanded to sample three to four times a year in seven streams in the Taos area and now also includes numerous sampling sites in the Pecos, Gila, and San Juan drainages. This is Eric’s legacy to clean water in New Mexico – being a forerunner of citizen water-quality sampling across the state.
To give context to how critical citizen water quality sampling is, the state Environment Department only has the resources to sample rivers and streams once every 9-10 years. Without leaders like Eric making citizen monitoring possible, we wouldn’t know year to year if many of the streams in Taos County are safe to swim in, irrigate from or safe for wildlife and livestock to drink. Eric’s legacy lives on in our annual sampling program.
Eric was passionate both about gathering the data to make sure our waters were safe and about the science of water chemistry. I will always remember the many volunteer sampling trainings we conducted and the joy he had when he could fully embody his high-school science teacher self and explain the chemistry of dissolved oxygen or pH.
Over the years, my family got to know Eric and Nora through visits to their garden, raspberry patch, chickens, apple trees and hot tub. And oh, the tractor rides! My two boys just adored getting to ride the big orange tractor with Eric.
Eric had a big heart. Both our local rivers and my family are better off because of his generosity with his time, knowledge and love.
Teresa Seamster, Sierra Club, Water Sentinels:
I have lots of memories of Eric:
“Bad data is worse than no data.”
“Nora has her way of getting water and I have mine — you pick!”
“Always check the parking lots for runoff (into rivers).”
“Food is on the table!”
Eric got me started on testing the upper Pecos five years ago, and I will always bless his memory for opening this world of water protection to me and the wonderful team of volunteers and advocates we have in Pecos.
Teresa’s article on Water Sentinels in Pecos
Article in Sierra Magazine
Eric’s Sierra Club National Service Award
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