Friends describe Larry Levine as a quiet man who loved rivers, his fishing buddies and the blues. Levine was an English instructor at Umpqua Community College. He even looked the part of a professor, with a grizzled gray beard, and sometimes smoking a pipe.
In the fall, he would disappear into the forest for long stretches. Then he’d show up at his friend’s homes with bags of wild mushrooms as gifts.
Friend Joe Howell: “I just would like his legacy to be how much he loved the river, fly fishing and its environs and everything connected to it. “He was jovial and always joking and laughing. I never heard him say an unkind word about anybody. He had a big heart.”
In an essay in Fly Fisherman magazine Levine described a moment while fishing, eating a peanut butter jelly sandwich on a warm day.
He wrote:”Standing in the sun overlooking the river, I think there has never been a more delicious moment.”
Rest in Peace, Larry.
Much more about Larry at the link:
http://www.opb.org/news/article/roseburg-remembering-lawrence-levine/
Thank you LaLouve, for posting all of this information about the victims. Each one of these people were unique and loving people, who gave so much to everyone around them. Although I have never met Larry, his writings echo the spirit of the Oregon rivers that so many of us grew up around. From dawn til dusk, my summers were always filled with fishing and swimming in these beautiful waters. I can remember learning many of life's lessons while being out there.
From what I have read about Larry Levine, is that he was a fly fishing purist. His writings reflected well beyond just fly fishing. He also spoke about his philosophy of the beautiful waters. His life and writings remind me that of David Duncan's, who wrote "The River Why". Duncan was a graduate of Reynolds High School back in the late 60's(same school district as last years shootings). In the movie and the book, The River Why, the father is a purist fly fisherman and the mother is just the opposite. She has no problem using bait.
https://youtu.be/AV5o7L4_DYU
Gus, their son, is caught between both philosophies and shares his own journey throughout the movie, reflecting on his own thoughts about philosophy, fishing and life. The same "spirituality of fishing" that Duncan shares, seems to have shined brightly in Larry Levine's life and stories, too.
The Oregonian tells a story about Larry, which life seemed to imitate art. The duality of fishing methods, became a reality, in a story told by Larry's friend.
Schaffer, who fished and tended bar with Larry in Grants Pass, told the Oregonian:
"Levine was a purist about fishing. Bait was below him," Schaffer said. "He wasn't squeamish. It was his ethics."He also had a competitive streak. One morning, the two in Schaffer's 15-foot drift boat, Levine watched as Schaffer pulled up fish after fish using worms. Schaffer caught about 25 steelhead while Levine had nothing. After awhile, Schaffer noticed that Levine had switched to night crawlers."
http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-n...f/2015/10/oregon_college_shooting_lawren.html
Larry belonged to a fly-fishing conservation group called The Steamboaters. WW2 veteran Frank Moore was a founding member of this group, which started back in the late 1960's, to protect the beautiful North Umpqua River. Frank taught a friend of mine how to fly-fish many years ago. Last year I contributed to Frank's Indiegogo fund to help create the movie "Mending The Line". I am sure that Larry and Frank had a lot in common with the art of fly fishing and protecting the beautiful North Umpqua River. I see both of their names in the Steamboaters newsletter.
Here is a video with Frank Moore (Pioneer of Steamboaters) showing fly-fishing on the beautiful North Umpqua River.
https://youtu.be/YcoFFzPXv4w
Frank Moore's "Mending the Line" trailer
https://vimeo.com/78837964
After seeing how beautiful the waters of the North Umpqua River are for fly fishing, you can see how these experiences heavily influenced Larry's writings. In the Summer 2013 issue of The Steamboater Whistle, Larry takes the reader on a poetic journey, telling about the beautiful North Umpqua River and the lessons that it taught him.
Larry writes:
…."Over a period of time, an eon ago, the river whispered to me so softly as to be inaudible. Little by little, its voice grew louder, until I could decipher the message. Much akin to the lyrics of The Band's song, "The River Hymn," it called, "Son, you ain't never seen yourself / No crystal mirror can show it clear, come over here instead." It made me an offer to which I put up no resistance, and I've been here ever since. I like that when it addresses me--and address me it does--it always does so as "Son." It parents; it taught me to walk its rocky, slippery bottom, taught me to walk its banks; it taught me a language I work to understand, and it gave me hope that eventually my voice would be accepted into the choir that sang the language that I alone could not. I wasn't born to it; I'm adopted, and being here only gets better the more here I become…"
Then he finishes by sharing his visions of the river, located below his cabin:
"Today, I stood where the wide ledge below my house meets the deep part of the
river. Where the river ran over it, the ledge was the color of wet sand with a patina of moss green highlights. It was ninety degrees; I was summoning the courage to jump in. As I gazed into the depths, I saw my shadow and rays of light emanating around my silhouette. The light danced to the rhythm of the breeze on the water; it was all in one and magical, and that was what I dove into."
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs159/1110504438198/archive/1114239897066.html
Rest in peace Larry Levine! May your spirit carry on, in the people and on the beautiful waters that you loved so much!
