Russell Cahill
Welcome
Aloha . Some of you already know me. For those who don’t, let me introduce myself. I am Russ Cahill. I am descended from Hawaiians on my dad’s side, and Pilgrims on my mom’s. I live in a forest adjacent to a salmon stream just north of Olympia, Washington with my wife, Narda Pierce. My children, grandchildren and great grandchildren are scattered from here to Alaska. Who am I? Born at UC Hospital in San Francisco in 1938, I was raised in and around The City. After High School in Campbell, I attended Michigan State on a football scholarship. I was a mediocre engineering student and a backup center and middle linebacker. The world is a better place since I left engineering. I interrupted my college to do military service and worked as a Deputy Sheriff in San Jose while I raised a family and got my biology degree from San Jose State. In 1966 I joined the National Park Service and served in Yosemite, Glacier Bay, Katmai, Washington D.C, and at Haleakala National Park on Maui. Later, I was appointed Director of Alaska State Parks under Jay Hammond and then Director of the California State Parks during Governor Jerry Brown's first term. I have worked in natural resources fields for about fifty years. My Favorite Things. I am the cook, gardener and minor repairman in our household. My favorite things are travel, razor clamming, walking, kayaking and playing Forty-Two, (doubles dominoes), with friends and family. Narda and I have practiced a scheme called, "Retire Early and Often" and have made it to about twenty countries over the past thirty years. We work for about five years and take a year off to travel. In 1974, with my late wife Susie and our three children I built a cabin in the forest at Gustavus, Alaska. I spend part of each summer there. Writing My newest book, Kepa, A Hawaiian in the Wild West, is a historical novel. It follows a Hawaiian sailor washed ashore from a shipwreck off Santa Barbara in the 1820s. His travels take him with Native Americans through the conflicts at the Spanish Missions on to the settlements by the Hudson's Bay Company on the Columbia River and back to the California Gold Rush. Author Talks If you have a book club or other group that is interested in any of my books, I am pleased to attend your meeting in person, or at a virtual session. Contact me at woodardcreek@comcast.net. |