Principle – Respect grows from our actions. We gain other’s respect through our own actions that demonstrate respect.

To a certain extent the principle of respect seems circular – respect begets respect. Other’s will show us respect as they witness us being respectful to others and their property. By some measures Quig cut a fairly small swath in the overall scheme of things, but there were some constants that were ever present; showing respect was one of those.

The Kanosh Ranger Station was on main street in Kanosh. There wasn’t much there – 3 gasoline stations, 2 small (4 or 5 room) motels, 2 small family owned grocery stores, and a church. Beyond that, main street hosted barns, chicken coops, pastures, and homes. Highway 91 was main street in town, the primary highway running north/south between Las Vegas and Salt Lake City. In the 1960’s and 1970’s it was quite a busy highway – especially in contrast to today where I-15 bypasses the town by many miles. Now there is one gas station and one family owned grocery store still in business.

As I was growing up, it was not unusual on this busy stretch of highway to have two or three cars broken down in town each week. These travelers were a real mix of the well-to-do and the not-so-well-to-do. It made no difference to Q&A what the background was for any given stranded family, their helping hand was available. Some might have thought that Q&A were easy marks for the wandering to take advantage of, but Q&A looked at each family as someone in need. They would arrange transportation, food, tires, batteries, and blankets no matter the apparent circumstance of the family. This respect for others was not limited to strangers. They often repeated the words that “a friend in need is a friend indeed.”

Quig respected other’s property. It was not the pending inspection that motivated Quig to keep all the government equipment and property in good condition. After every use, Quig insured the equipment was cleaned, stored properly, and ready for the next use – his way of showing respect.

During one particularly wet spring, a series of rainstorms brought threats of flooding to Kanosh. Scores of people and equipment were scurrying to divert the raging waters. The National Forest was seen as an immediate source of rock to help shore up the diversions. Quig headed to Corn Creek canyon to direct equipment and traffic. Not far from the National Forest boundary fence is an excellent source of rock. Quig quickly walked the area and found petroglyphs among the rock rubble. This signaled to Quig the likelihood that this area was a burial ground for the tribe of Indians that inhabited the area anciently. Without hesitation, Quig signaled the equipment operators away from the site and to another further up the canyon. Quig also knew that if he announced this find to others, the likelihood of someone digging at the site in search of artifacts was high. To my knowledge he never announced to the crews or the public why he pushed the rock gathering to a site further from the pending flood, but it taught me a lesson I will never forget. That lesson, respect even for those not present to speak their mind is being respectful.

Growing up in our household, spankings were unheard of. Cross a line that you shouldn’t and you would be summoned to the kitchen table for a discussion with Q&A. How many times would I rather have had a licking than sit at the table for that discussion? Show disrespect and the chances were high you would end up at the kitchen table. These discussions were not shouting or swearing or ranting. They usually began with the phrase “We are disappointed that you…” These were tough and hard to take sometimes, but I never felt disrespected in the process.

As a preteen I was enamored with motors. The Ranger Station where we lived had this great self-powered lawn mower. It was the reel type of mower with a five horsepower Briggs & Stratton engine mounted above two large wheels that had lots of power. I loved to whip around the yard mowing the lawn with that mower. I felt empowered to be in control of that machine. It occurred to me that this machine had the ability to become a little profit center for me – not in mowing other peoples lawns, but in moving friends up and down the street. I set about to design a people mover by attaching the red wagon behind the mower handle. By kneeling up in the wagon so I could steer the mower, there was room for a friend to sit behind. If I put the mower on the sidewalk there was plenty of power and traction to pull us both up the street to the store and back. For a mere nickel my friend could get the thrill of a whirlwind ride up and down the sidewalk.

The plan was working perfectly. I was using gasoline I didn’t even have to buy, making money like crazy, and having fun all at the same time. There were rubber tire skid marks all the way up to the store from the mower having to work especially hard to pull the kids older than me. I was literally having the time of my life, that is, until Quig got home. I remember the sinking feeling as I headed back from the store run and could see Quig on the sidewalk in front of the Ranger Station waiting for me. My paying passenger abandoned ship before we even arrived at the Ranger Station. I brought the people mover to a halt in front of Quig. I recall him saying “Take the mower back to the garage and then lets talk.” Oh no, not the kitchen table.

Yes, it was the kitchen table for the next ten minutes. No loud words were said. No cussing. No smacks aside the head. I was reminded that the mower belonged to the government, not me. The gas was paid for by the government, not me. I had failed to ask permission and was not showing respect for other people’s property by my actions. Before we even started the discussion I knew all these things. But for reasons I can’t fully explain I had not acted in accordance with what I knew. I had failed to show respect and Quig was teaching me what I needed to hear.

In the 1960’s the Forest Service encouraged Forest Rangers to take their kids with them to the mountains to help with all the tasks. We rode in the Forest Service green fleet to count cattle onto the Forest, to mend fence, to repair water developments, to measure forage, and to check campgrounds. We even rode the government horses to get them in shape for the summer season’s work. Those were the days. I am sure it was those times that convinced me I should work for the Forest Service. Quig spent as much time as possible in the woods and away from the office. This was typical of the Forest Rangers of that time. It still is a lament that paperwork has forced the Ranger to spend more time in the office than in the field.

As a kid, I was excited to get to go with Quig. The work was fun, I thought. When we arrived back at the Ranger Station I wanted to move quickly to the next adventure. Quig was adamant that all the equipment we used that day be cleaned and put away. The saddles needed to be stored, horses groomed and fed, shovels cleaned, and the truck cleaned up. Quig used to say, “You never know when you will need that again, and it might just be an emergency.” In hind sight he was teaching respect as well as preparedness.

As a young Assistant Ranger, I was working for a Ranger who reminded me in many ways of Quig. Tom Eberhardt had been on the Conejos Ranger District of the Rio Grande National Forest for over 25 years by the time I started there. He had many habits that classified him as being from the “old guard.” Some were interesting quirks while others were quite intriguing. For instance, he had away of ignoring the Forest Headquarters that caused us as Assistant Rangers to have to follow closely behind him. We could never quite figure out why we were in trouble with the Supervisor’s Office so much until we discovered how Tom handled the mail. He would sort the mail into piles. Letters from a permittee, contractor, or the public would go in one pile, letters from politicians in another, and letters from the Regional Office or Supervisor’s Office in another. He would open his three desk drawers on the right side of his desk, take the letters from the bottom drawer and toss them in the waste basket, move the letters from the second drawer to the third drawer, and place the Regional Office and Supervisor’s Office letters from his desk pile into the top drawer. He then would proceed to open and answer the letters from the other two piles. I asked him once why he ignored the letters from the RO and SO. His reply was simple, “If they haven’t asked for it three times, they don’t really need it.” The other Assistant Ranger and I learned that we needed to occasionally sort through his desk drawers to see if the RO or SO was asking for something for the third time.

I thought it was interesting how a seasoned Ranger had sorted his priorities for showing respect. It was clear he had a pecking order to that. I suspect Quig did something similar but I was not in his office enough to witness his routine regarding mail.

I did gain a special insight into respect for the land and natural resources from Quig and Tom. If you work at the Ranger District level you will take your lunch break in the mountains many times. I learned early on with Tom that his style of lunch break was different from any I had ever before witnessed. He would stop somewhere along a mountain road and each a sandwich quickly. He then would grab a shovel and a saddle bag full of grass seed and head to a road cut bank, you know the steep embankment on the uphill side of the road. He would use his shovel to lop off one shovel full of dirt from the very top of the cut. He would proceed to do this for about 100 feet, then he would get his bag of seed and scatter seed into the newly cut turf at the top of the cut. He would proceed to do this for about 100 yards along the cut bank before it was time to get back to work. Why did he do this? He shared with me that it was his intention to treat every cut bank on the District if he could. In reality the road banks on that District were among the best maintained I have witnessed. He did it because he respected what Mother Nature had provided. He was a true steward of the land.

On another occasion I witnessed Tom run across a sagebrush flat to catch a caterpillar operator who was not scarifying the ground the way Tom wanted it done. The old timers seemed to grasp the significance of respect for the resource. They were certainly not victims of any system – they were in the driver’s seat. Today I witness many Forest Service employees who are tied to their desk and computer. I have not seen someone run across a sagebrush flat since that day in 1976. It is truly the passion that I witnessed in Quig and Tom that I feel we should all be showing toward those things that are important in our lives – important enough that they deserve our respect.

It seems to me that respect should be a given in all our lives. This holds especially true for those we love and hold dear. I fear sometimes that it is those we love the most that we find hard to respect. We see them do things that disappoint us and cause us to lash out. A good friend of mine was finding it hard to say something positive about his 16 year hold son. Yet I was seeing a young man who was bright, trying to head in the right direction, but also was struggling with some issues. I knew how Q&A got us to rise to our potentials – that was speaking positively to us and praising the good we did, showing us respect. In the end my friend’s son has a lovely family now and is very successful in life and his profession. The positive in him overcame the negative. He still have my respect.

I can’t say why it is that we seem capable of disrespecting those we are most closely associated with – our loved ones, our colleagues, our friends, our bosses, and our buddies. It seems as though humanity knows no bounds when it comes to showing a lack of respect. I have been guilty of more than I want to admit, but I will say I have improved much in the last 20 years. It seems as though life’s lessons came my way in this regard with triple doses. Maybe someday I will even feel comfortable writing about those lessons. For now, suffice it say I am more respectful for the trials everyone faces.

Bottom Line – Respect for others and their property will, in turn, result in others showing you respect. If you want respect, don’t demand it, rather show it to others and it will come your way in return.

Thomas M. Quigley