Honoring Wilma Dykeman | Photo Gallery
Opening Remarks by Lee Russell
“Once again the TCWN has made a wonderful choice for the recipient of the Bill Russell River Hero Award. While I am personally acquainted with the previous three awardees, I knew Wilma Dykeman chiefly from her writings. And what wonderful writings they are — not only her books, but her numerous newspaper columns, through which the humanity with which she looked at the world reached so many readers!
“The recent drought our region has been suffering has woken many people to the importance of water to life on Earth; almost everyone has always been taking water for granted. But water is not just something we drink and that serves our economy. The creeks and rivers that convey it to us from the sky are essential places of beauty that become integrally incorporated in the history and sociology of a region. Rivers nourish the souls of the people who behold them. This is what Wilma Dykeman excelled at making us realize.
“And this was a feeling very strong in Bill Russell, after whom this award is named. He was a great admirer of Wilma Dykeman’s, and he would have been very grateful to the Tennessee Clean Water Network for their work and for recognizing Tennessee’s River Heroes.”