A wonderful friend from long ago passes on

Ellen died on Thursday 20 January 2022. Her transition was peaceful. She and her wife was surrounded by dear friends local to the area. Pancreatic cancer is a horror. So many people I know have battled cancer of all kinds. Some died, such as my parents, a grandfather, and my partner’s Mum. Cancer is an umbrella term for a complex of nightmarish diseases. May cures for all cancers be found. Put cancer in the past. Make it history. Kill it, dammit. Kill it! Because I miss my friend. Wish we’d had more time to visit. Last saw her in circa 1995 when she and Ron last visited me and Gwen at Orca Landing, an urban cooperative household in Seattle. They were on their way from southwestern North Carolina to bike the West Coast. Decades slid by in time. She and Deb were gonna come out and visit us in Seattle before heading into the North Cascades National Park Complex back in the Summer of 2020. The double punch of the COVID-19 Pandemic and megawildfires with smokestorms, unfortunately, caused them to cancel. So never got to reconnect in person. We texted a few times. She and Deb decided to get away into the Boundary Waters Wilderness instead. There they had a great time canoeing and camping, and that was the last I heard from her.

Yeah, I miss my friend. Ellen had a delightfully chuckley laugh that could range from a loud bark to a jolly trainwreck of silly giggles. Ellen loved animals and spent much of her later life rescuing and caring for them. Was an activist in PAWS. Born in New Jersey and worked in New York. Worked for Playboy even! For the corporate NYC side, that is. Was too much for her. So she met Ron and together they moved away from the big urban corridors for a life of outdoor adventure and rural, small-town living. She had strong opinions and fierce convictions. Loved exploring the wilderness by foot, by boat, and spent many long miles pedaling her bike. Ellen Kilgannon is forever unforgettable.

From my words to her on the Caring Bridge site:

William Bass | 16 Jan 2022

Sad to learn about all of this, dear long ago friend. Many rascally fun memories from those yesteryears. Sending you lots of love & gentle growly bear hugs

William Dudley Bass | 16 Jan 16, 2022

Hi Ellen & Deb. So many stories flood my memory from our time . The SNL skit you shared, the one about the alien abductees, LOL, reminded me of when you & Ron had Gwen & me over back when you lived in a little gray & silver shack way up some curvalicious road & had us sit down and watch Tim Allen’s “Men are Pigs!” As Gwen & I were in a we-don’t-&-won’t-have-a-TV-but-we’ll-watch-yours! phase, LOL, I hadn’t even heard of the guy. Left us in stitches! Drove home giggling.

Oh god, how bout that time crabbing our way like drunken moles thru Mahoosuc Notch when you & Ron joined Gwen & me, aka the Pregnant Rhinos, on the AT in Maine back in late summer of 1991? You, Ellen, came up with your absolutely bonkers little ditty bout getting our crotches stuck in the notch cuz well, accidents happen when you thruhike without any underwear, LOL! And then there was the time you & Rondalar & me backpacked up to what, the Hangover(?) in Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock Wilderness one subfreezing February. We riled up a huge momma boar hawg who dashed across the snowy trail into the woods with her little biddies & we screamed like idiots & ran up the trail thru the snow! Remember that? And we ended up camping at Naked Ground & called it Frozen Ground. Was so cold our water bottles froze inside our tents & stoves couldn’t start in the morning. Temps dropped below 0 that night. Colder than I’ve experienced out here in Cascadia! We were too hungry to eat only snow & icicles and our energy bars were rock hard, so we braved giant wild pigs to skeedaddle on back down to the TH where our car actually started. Especially as no rodents made it up under the hood to chew up any wires & stuff. Crazy, huh?

Fond memories, too, of you & Ron seeing us off atop Springer Mtn on the first day of Spring 1991 as Gwen & I headed north, then rejoining us as we scrambled up Katahdin on the last day of our thruhike? Hey! Remember the moose ruttin’ away in the middle of the trail halfway up that day? They were NOT HAPPY MOOSE, LOL! We crept and snuck around thru the trees along the edge of a cliff while they snorted and pawed at us. Afterwards, what a great time together, the 4 of us adventurers, down at Acadia NP seeing the ocean after so many long months traversing the Appalachians. Then later, after we relocated to Seattle, y’all visited us a coupla times on other trips west.

Ahhh, so many laughs and so much bawdy, raucous fun in such a few short years in those days before the Internet! I miss you, Ellen Kilgannon. Miss you chortling about working for Playboy in New York City! Yeah, gonna miss you even more, old friend. You are one fierce, compassionate, loving human being. Will always be grateful you & Deb hosted my daughter Morgan (now goes by Dylan) back when she was on the AT in 2015. All the Best no matter what. Lotsa gentle growly bear hugs, too!

PS added later on 5 March 2022: Uh, um, I think I was the only one of us 3 who screamed at the wild boar hogs we rustled out of the rhodies on that bitter cold but spectacularly beautiful winter trip. We must have gone up the Naked Ground Trail. Lots of knobs, balds, and gaps along those crumpled Appalachian ridges. Hangover Creek flows down the opposite side of the ridge we approached. Maybe we camped atop or near Hangover, but I don’t recall. I do recall an intersection of trails. A frigid sunset and a glorious sunrise bookended a long, dark night. Yeah, I was the only one who screamed. You guys shouted and laughed like deranged happy hikers, LOL! Was one of my favorite backpacking trips ever, and not just due to the physical and mental challenges and the amazing scenery. You two made it extraordinary. And you two did it again, making my memories of thruhiking the Appalachian Trail with Gwen also extraordinary. Love you guys!

William Dudley Bass | 22 Jan 2022

In remembrance of Ellen: 

Atop Mt. Katahdin on the AT in Maine: me (William Dudley), my then-now-ex-wife Gwen Hughes, Ellen Kilgannon, her then-now-ex-husband Ron Roman; 3 Oct 1991. Don’t remember who took the foto. It’s a little messy as the old picture survived the 2010 housefire.

Beers off the AT in North Carolina: L2R: my daughter Morgan (now Dylan) Bass, aka “Weasley” on the AT, her friend Margaret, aka trail name “Witch,” also from Seattle, Ellen’s wife Deborah Allen, Ellen; Spring of 2015 when Ellen & Deb hosted my (& Gwen’s) oldest daughter Dylan Blair (then Morgan) & travel buddy Margaret, both from Seattle, as they hiked northbound on the AT. This was the first time Ellen got to see Dylan since they were Baby Morgan back around 1995. Sadly, twas also the last time. Tears heal, a mentor once told me long ago as I grieved another’s death, and, yet, life goes on for the living.

RIP if you wanna, old friend, and a have a fun, rambunctious Afterlife, too!

William Dudley Bass
Saturday 5 March 2022 
Seattle, Washington
USA
Cascadia
Earth
Sol

Copyright © 2022 by William Dudley Bass. All Rights Reserved by the Author & his Descendants until we Humans establish Wise Stewardship over and for our Earth and Solarian Commons. Thank you.