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In Memoriam

OT Blount

1968-2023

OT Blount joined our Park Stewards team in October 2020 and was a calm, consistent, and positive contributor for the last three years. He died of a heart condition in August 2023.

He didn’t like his given name and insisted on being called OT, for “Old Timer.” He lived up to this title by being a mentor to the younger Park Stewards.

He rarely missed a day and rarely spoke of having a pacemaker. He did the same strenuous work as everybody else. He filled hundred of bags of trash, leaving a positive mark on the woods of Ward 8. 

The youngest of five children born in Hampden, Virginia, OT moved to Southeast DC in the 1990s.

Volunteer Connie Kurihara wrote, “OT was not so very O! He was such a kind and loving and caring man. He made me feel so welcome. I kept thinking I would be so very happy to see him if I ever made it to the Woods again…Why do such gentle souls always go first?”

Reporter Kaya Benjamin wrote a touching profile of OT in The Washington Informer.

Chuck Tree

Chuck Jenkins

1990-2023

Chuck Jenkins worked as a Park Steward with us from January 2021 to May 2022. He was fatally stabbed near Eastover Shopping Center in August 2023.

As his obituary explains, “Chuck as a boy had a zest for adventure. He grew up in a sprawling apartment complex divided by a meandering creek. Chuck and his brothers, along with a handful of friends, made the creek their haven. Every weekend in spring and every day during the summer break they could be found there, skipping rocks and pursuing crawfish with homemade traps. The creek, its hidden wonders and mysteries, transformed as a representative of the organization.

In May 2021, Chuck participated in a forest bathing session that was written up by Washington Post reporter John Kelly. In the photo accompanying the online version of the article, Chuck stands on the bands of Oxon Run with “deer ears” to amplify the sound of water.  

Linton

Linton Avery Harrington

1972-2021

The older brother of our founder Nathan Harrington, Linton preceded Nathan as a graduate of Bates College, a classroom teacher, and an environmentalist. For more than 20 years, he worked as an environmental educator on the south coast of Massachusetts, first with Trustees of Reservations and later with Youth Opportunities Unlimited (YOU). His sudden death in September 2021, from a heart condition, was a huge loss, but his memory continues to inspire the work of YOU and Ward 8 Woods.

Learn more about Linton and his legacy:

New Bedford Youth Group Mourns the Loss of Inspiring Director

Interview by the Pond

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