Last week, I learned that Gary Hausladen passed away. Gary was one of my geography professors at the University of Nevada. One of our colleagues described him as the quintessential geography professor. I’ve been thinking about what to say to honor Gary. He is one of those people who played a key role in my life–he smoothed the way for me to attend graduate school. He helped remove obstacles that might have prevented me from pursuing my degree. And he provided encouragement when I really, really needed it. For that, I will be forever grateful.

Gary, I will miss you. I wish I could hug you one last time, but I am glad I hugged you twice the last time that I saw you.

I will re-read Western Places, American Myths: How We Think About The West and think of you.

Thank you for being my teacher.