Last month’s appearance at Globe Life Field by The Eagles reminded me of the day I spent with the world-famous band’s co-founder, Don Henley.
Jealous? Well, here’s how that happened, and its occurrence tells the story of his passion that began long before the debut of the band’s breakthrough hit Take It Easy in 1972.
As an eight-year-old youngster in the mid 1950’s, Henley’s dad took him fishing on Caddo Lake, the state’s only natural lake, on the border with Louisiana.
He repeated that occasion many years later with his own sons, developing, as he describes, a “rite of passage, creating a wonderful bond as I had done with my father.”
He refers to the mysterious and incomparable ecosystem there as his church.
Even though he has palatial dwellings elsewhere, Henley’s modest home on the shore of Caddo Lake is his retreat. I will share how I got to have lunch with him there.
It was during my role as the Environmental Protection Agency’s Regional Administrator during the George W. Bush presidency. The EPA had led the massive cleanup of the U. S. Army’s 8,000-acre ammunition plant developed during WWII just beyond the shoreline of Caddo Lake.
The facility’s decades-long operations resulted in the epic contamination of soil and groundwater with volatile organic compounds, perchlorate, explosives, and even Pershing missiles.
Following the restoration of the entire land area, the property became the Caddo Lake National Wildlife Refuge and was opened to the public.
I represented the EPA on the day in 2004 when a big public gathering at the site took place to formalize the transfer from the Army to the people.
It was a modern-day celebration of beating swords into plowshares or, as the Center for Faith and Culture would define it, “no longer a weapon of destruction, but a humble tool of cultivation.”
While at the podium on the occasion, I recognized Don Henley in the front row of the audience. At the time, I had no idea of why he was there or of his role in what was taking place.
I would later learn that most of what we were celebrating may have never happened were it not for him.
When the lake was under attack in 1992 with a proposal to dig a huge barge canal through it and across its main tributary, Henley and his lawyer created Caddo Lake Institute.
A year later, thanks to the institute’s work, Caddo Lake became a designated U.S. Wetland of International Importance, joining the Everglades and Chesapeake Bay, and ensuring the natural wonder would not be disturbed. Ever.
In my comments, I explained that during my teen years, I lived nearby in Shreveport and had often been on the lake fishing with my dad, somewhat amazed at his navigation skills to return us to the dock when I thought we were totally lost among the ancient forest of moss-laden cypress trees throughout.
Then I said doing that was one of my favorite three things to do, the other two being my growing interest in girls and (apologizing to Henley) waiting to hear Elvis’ next hit.
From his seat, he said, “That’s okay, I loved the king too – he was very much a mentor for me.”
That exchange made a connection. Following the formal ceremony, I got to visit with him longer; he issued the lunch invitation, and the rest was memorable, for me at least.
I told him our family’s favorite enjoyment of all the Eagles songs was listening to them as road tunes on our car trips. His response, “Well, that’s likely since many of them were written as we traveled in our bus across the country.”
And, yes … I’ve had my picture taken next to the statue of Henley’s longtime best friend and Eagles co-founder, Glenn Frey, standing on the corner in Winslow, Arizona.
