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Tribute: David L. Larsen David L. Larsen, champion of interpretation and education for many years in the National Park Service (NPS), passed away of a heart attack at his home early on the morning of Monday, January 17, 2011. This tragic loss for his wife Susan and their family is being felt likewise by his countless friends and peers inside and outside the service, as evidenced by the hundreds of posts on-line, emails, phone calls, and other gestures and testimonials that have poured in since the word was first shared. David’s life passion was facilitating better visitor and public engagement with the meanings of the resources and associated stories that we preserve and protect within the NPS. He understood that we alone cannot preserve these resources and what they represent without enlisting the support of tens of thousands of individuals who, with our skillful assistance, might discover a personal link to a resource or a story and decide to help protect it themselves as well. David contributed to his profession in profound and farreaching ways as few others have. His legacy is an enlightened interpretive workforce, committed with passion and enthusiasm to interpretation and education. His contributions to the principles and practice of interpretation and its highest ideals are an example of how one person’s energy can make such a far-reaching difference. Upon hearing of David’s passing, Director Jon Jarvis penned a remembrance of him that we are honored to include below: A few years ago, the National Leadership Council (NLC) met in Olympic National Park for three days at the Olympic Park Institute (OPI) Rosemary m i c h a e l w a t s o n
t r i b u t e : d a v i d l. l a r s e n facility. The meeting was full of distraction because Fran Minella was leaving and there was much speculation about who would be next director. Fran decided not to attend at the last minute. The focus of the meeting was on the new direction for Interpretation and Education. We had a panel planned with our partners from OPI, the North Cascades Institute and the Golden Gate Conservancy. But David Larsen, Sheri Forbes, and I were struggling to figure out how to launch the discussion, how to really engage the NLC in a meaningful way. I cannot remember which of us suggested it, but we convinced David to just do one of his signature interpretive programs from his time as an interpreter at Harpers Ferry. He was nervous. This was the NLC, not the public. We were 3,000 miles from Harpers Ferry. Where was the PowerPoint? The NLC came back from break and with only a very brief intro, David launched into his story of John Brown, the Civil War, and the forgotten people from 150 years ago. In characteristic David style, he charged back and forth across the room, bellowed and whispered and transported us all back to the banks of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers. No one was looking at their blackberry. No one got up to get coffee. He had the NLC in the palm of his large hand. David was the Tilden of our time, an inspiration to us all, an embodiment of the power of interpretation. His passion infected us all and lives on in every walk, talk and program carried out at campfires, trails, visitor centers and classrooms across the nation. —Jon For the past seven years, David served as the training manger for interpretation and education at the center. He spent 13 years as a frontline interpreter at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and the Washington Monument. He also taught environmental education for two years at Hard Bargain Farm in Accokeek, Maryland. David worked for the Library of Congress, the National Archives, and for History Associates, Inc. For five years, David was the interpretive historian for the National Capital Region Support Office. David traveled all over the country conducting interpretive training, field evaluations, and interpretive planning. Since 1995, he was a leader and champion for the creation of professional interpretive standards through a national curriculum, peer review certification program, and coaching network implemented through the National Park Service’s Interpretive Development Program. David worked extensively with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on similar standards, as well as with the National Association for Interpretation. In recent years David reached new heights in his leadership role. As the cochair of the National Education Council, he helped author the Interpretation and Education Renaissance Plan, providing a blueprint for reinvigorating the profession and its impact to achieve the NPS mission. He engaged in intensive leadership training through Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government Executive Education. He coordinated interpretive planning for the new Flight 93 National Memorial. And he played an important role supporting the National Park Service’s Second Century Commission, helping to craft the vision and direction for the service for generations to come. David wrote and directed the training video An Interpretive Dialogue and edited Meaningful Interpretation—a publication on interpretive philosophy and best practices. 6 j o u r n a l o f i n t e r p r e t a t i o n r e s e a r c h
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