We’re still absolutely shocked by the news of Amy’s sudden passing. The e-mail reached us one hour before we left for a short vacation. We talked so much about her this last week. There are so many memories that we share with Amy.

We met in 1997 at Yellowstone NP where she then worked as a ranger. We just started talking and there it was: the famous click. It felt so good that we visited the Grand Tetons together and Amy even came over  to The Netherlands the next Christmas! She stayed for two incredible weeks. What an unforgettable time that was. The next summer we were back in Yellowstone to stay with Amy and Ely for 5 whole weeks. She showed us many hidden secrets of the Park she was so proud of. Not only did we get to know her as an extremely capable and devoted parkranger, we were especially impressed by the person she was. We shared many many happy moments as well as our deepest thoughts and emotions. After this, Amy visited us two more times in The Netherlands. One of those visits was really long: 6 weeks.

Since 2000 we’ve only had a long distance kind of contact, in which Amy was so much better than the two of us. She was a lot in our minds though. Amy was always there and we were sure we were going to meet again. We still had to raft down the Colorado river together, as we agreed before…

We’re so thankful that we got to know Amy and that we’ve had the chance to be a part of her life. We’re very very sad that we’ll never meet again.

Our deepest sympathy to Kelley and the family.

Rita and Jessica

The Netherlands