Pete Seeger, May 3, 1919 – Jan. 27, 2014
Today, on the one-year anniversary of the loss of Pete Seeger, Hudson River Sloop Clearwater’s executive director Peter Gross took a moment to reflect on what Seeger meant to the organization, to the Hudson River Valley and to the world:
“Pete Seeger was the founder of Clearwater. As a man, as an iconic folksinger and an environmental activist, and as the creator of a vessel as remarkable and enduring as the sloop Clearwater, he is an irreplaceable person. A unique, extraordinary presence left this world one year ago today. Yet as Pete himself said of the sloop, which is undergoing restoration now – and which has had virtually every one of its component parts replaced over 45 years – we always sail on. We continue the voyage and the mission of protecting and celebrating the great Hudson River.
In the last month, Clearwater completed a successful online campaign that attracted numerous small donations from far and wide to help us purchase a new mainsail and boom for the sloop. We’ve been given a much-appreciated grant from the Hudson River Foundation to continue our work. Only yesterday, a check arrived in the mail from the estate of a New York woman who lived nearly as long as Pete, who wanted to support Clearwater’s educational, environmental and music programs long into the future. We miss Pete a lot – and we sail onward.”
