John M. Golden Memorial Statement
We have raised enough funds and John's Memorial Outdoor Classroom will begin construction this academic year!
John M. Golden,
UNF’s chief nature trail ranger for nearly 20 years, was born
in Brooklyn, NY, and grew up in New York City. Family say even as a
young child, John loved the outdoors and often would disappear for hours
in the nearby woods when visiting relatives outside the city.
After completing a B.A. in English at Wagner College in Staten Island,
NY in 1972, he headed out West. There he continued his undergraduate
studies in biology, education, psychology and linguistics at Arizona
State and worked as an EMT.
It was in Seattle in the mid-80’s that he met wife-to-be Cathy
E. Clark. Cathy’s job opportunity brought them to Jacksonville
and John to the UNF campus in 1984. He volunteered on the trails for
a month, then was hired by UNF Campus Recreation Director Becky Purser.
Calling himself an “environmental moderate,” John partnered
with University faculty, staff, students and administrators. There were
many strategy sessions on John’s back porch with the ever-present
National Public Radio in the background. His drive and vision eventually
transformed the trails from a campus recreational opportunity, into
an environmental education resource for thousands of school children,
college students, and the Northeast Florida community. In the 90’s
he simultaneously worked as a seasonal park ranger with the National
Park Service at Jacksonville’s Timucuan Ecological and Historic
Preserve at Fort Caroline.
Always seeking and sharing knowledge, he became a Certified Naturalist
Interpreter in 1998. He designed, implemented and taught one of the
first Eco-Tourism/Heritage Tourism Providers credentialing program in
the First Coast area in ’99-2000. The 40 hour course used UNF
faculty and staff to teach providers environmental ethics, Nature Based
Assets, Cultural Assets, Pedagogy and other issues that would enable
them to provide high quality programming in environmentally responsible
ways.
The next year he was awarded the EPA’s Wild Neighborhoods Grant,
which made it possible for 850 area low-income school children to participate
in ranger-guided environmental programs at UNF and at Talbot Island
State Park where, for some, the ocean became a reality for the first
time.
He was appointed as the Audubon Natural Resource Manager with responsibility
for assuring that UNF’s golf facility would be as carefully managed
as possible from an environmental perspective, with native plants and
respect for habitat. During the same period he created the first EcoCamp
for children ages 8-12 years, centering on environmental initiatives
while integrating math and science curriculum.
In summer 2001, John and his student-staff proudly occupies office space
suitable for their program needs in the Hayt Golf Learning Center. John
was particularly pleased when the administration also dedicated other
space in the Center to labs for faculty environmental research.
Then, just as he had reached his stride, John was diagnosed with lung
cancer in Fall of 2001. He fought the “alien” as he called
it, in his body with the same tenacity that he had approached most obstructions
in his life: head on. His once booming voice reduced to a whisper, Chief
John persevered, in spite of the severe physical discomfort and reduced
mobility caused by his treatment. And, even in his final months, continued
to amuse us with a sense of humor and a language of his own, such as
calling his dedicated student-coworkers “pups”.
His hard work and commitment also leave a legacy that those who loved
him and believed in him must ensure continue. To borrow John’s
environmental vocabulary, we hope his work and his memory are “sustainable”.
Click here to view the "John’s Memorial Pavilion Expansion
Project"
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