How many organizations?  How many committees?  How many boards? 

How many subscriptions?    How much can one keep in one’s head?  and still be able to access the information?

Dad could read very fast – though not a whole book in 10 minutes with total recall as someone recently claimed – and related knowledge of scientific and linguistic research to environmental, economic, anthropologic, and political issues.  He figured  that the more he learned, the easier it was to make sense of and retain, because each new fact related to something else he was interested in.  Everything was tied to something else, “like a spider web.”

Niilo’s Causes and Committees…the list will be too long for any one person, but I’ll start it off for all to add to:  Community Building,  Community Self-Reliance

Healthcare – access for all

Neighbor Helping neighbor – one of founders of:

            Chena Goldstream Volunteer Fire Dept

            Northern Schools Federal Credit Union (now Spirit of Alaska FCU)

            Head Start in northern Alaska

Local Agriculture – Niilo harvested hay, had pride in the family garden

….

There are many many more, but Heather is too tired right now, so please add to the list via Comments!