Many of you will have known Victor Emanuel, founder of VENT.
I started in the tour leading business in the mid-1980's, due to the urging of Phoebe Snetsinger. I had met Victor Emanuel and Ben Feltner several years before that and i received a phone call/ invitation to meet Victor and talk about starting to lead some tours.
At that time I had just begun working at Centerre Bank in Columbia (previously First Bank of Commerce), so it was going to me complicated, but it was the first indication that I was going to be able to create - at least- a hybrid career as a birder.
Victor flew me to Austin and we co-led a Texas coast tour. Then I set up the first tours to Nebraska centered on the Platte River Sandhill migration. Victor helped me create a long lasting successful tour.
I will have more on my interactions with the remarkable man, but I am in Darwin, Australia preparing to return to the USA, as I received word of Vic's passing. I wanted to share this with you all, because of the close connections national birding has developed over the years.
Tim Barksdale Mokane, MO
------------------------------------------------------------ The Missouri Birding Society's Wild Bird Discussion Forum
