Tribute to Phil James

Tribute to Phil James
9 Dec 2018 - Boulder, Colorado
M. Burget

Thank you Carlos – and thank you, Carol, for the leadership you are providing for The Nature Conservancy here in Colorado. And thanks to all of you who make The Nature Conservancy such an amazing organization.

I am very happy to be here among such good friends. You here in Colorado are my most immediate Nature Conservancy family.

Tonight, I am honored to be able to share a few words about our dear friend Phil James. I feel so strongly Phil’s spirit continuing to resonate, here in this room this evening.

What a friend, what a man, what a champion of nature! How lucky we have been to know Phil James.

Twice in my life I have faced excruciating career decisions that left me in near total turmoil. By coincidence, both times I found myself sitting alone on a park bench in Manhattan. Not sure exactly why, but there I was, sort of like Jimmy Stewart on the bridge in It’s a Wonderful Life.

Both times, distraught, I knew I had to phone a friend. But out of all of humanity, who to call?

No question: Like so many of us in such times, each time, I called Phil James.

Sure, like Clarence in that great movie, Phil was a somewhat improbable guardian angel.

Yet both times, I called.

And darn it. Both times I got voice mail.

A funny thing about Phil, even his voice mail message brought a smile, and comfort in troubling times. Phil’s voice itself was heart-warming.

But wait – both times, sitting on that bench, my phone rang back within minutes of leaving my message.

“Bur-Gay! Bur-Gay! Bur-Gay!”

Phil was quirky. Phil made up his own versions of names for many of us. I think that he wanted us to know that he considered his relationship with each of us special, unique. Why use the name that our parents had given us?

I was so grateful to Phil for both of those phone calls. Both times, Phil essentially said to me:

“Know who you are. Be true to who you want to be. Don’t worry about what others will think or say, but rather, choose the path that is true to you.”

Seems to me that Phil lived HIS wonderful life in just that way.

Over the past few years, I was lucky to visit a few times with Phil and Susan in Fort Collins. It was hard on Phil, I know, as every interaction took energy, a lot of energy.

During one visit, over a year ago, Phil and I sat by that big window in their home, the warm and welcoming home that Phil and Susan made together. I imagine that Phil and Susan spent many days in front of that window. It’s a beautiful Colorado scene. Geese and ducks on the water. A Colorado breeze blowing.

That day, it was obvious that I was more distraught than Phil was. Sensing my sadness, Phil said to me:

“Don’t worry Mark. Really. We are all just a part of the Great River of Life.”

I think all along that Phil’s kindness, and his extraordinary generosity, flowed from a deep understanding and love for that Great River of Life. Somehow, early on, Phil learned, or maybe he knew inherently, that what matters most in this world is our place on the great continuum that is life on Earth. Each of us is a part of the river, each of us touches other lives, each of us ripples out.

Who we are, how we show up, how we ripple out, matters. Actually, it is all that matters. Phil James taught us this essential lesson, again and again.

I recently spent a week, in the territory of the Mohawk Nation, as a guest of the elders from the Haudenosaunee Confederacy – we know them as the Iroquois. Like many other indigenous people, the Haudenosaunee don’t believe that anyone ever leaves this living Earth. That is why they hold everything around them, plants, animals, rocks, water and fire – especially water and fire – in such reverence.

The Haudenosaunee would say of Phil James, he’s not gone, he’s only “crossed over into the spirit world.”

What I know for certain is this: In the great and wonderful family that is The Nature Conservancy, we have been blessed by the presence of a great and wonderful man. We are blessed that Phil’s spirit continues to ripple out through our TNC family and touches all of the rest of life on Earth.

Up in Fort Collins, that beautiful Colorado scene endures…. Geese and ducks on the water. A Colorado breeze blowing. Phil James in the spirit world.

Susan, Ryan, Katy, and Kirk -- our deepest gratitude goes to you and your family. Thank you for sharing your great and wonderful man with us.

I know you have given many gifts to The Nature Conservancy. But the biggest gift, the most meaningful gift, the one that will last forever, is the sharing of Phil himself – his commitment to our mission, his perseverance, his humor (wacky though it was), his kindness, and his love.

So now, before we bestow this year’s Phil James Conservation Award, let us offer a deep-hearted toast to the greatest of mentors, and the dearest of friends, to Phil.