<font color='black' size='2' face='arial'><font size="2"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">You can send condolences to Matts Myhrman and family at </font></font><span class="street-address">1039 E Linden St</span><span class="locality"><font size="2"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">, </font></font>Tucson</span>, <span class="region">
AZ</span>,<span class="postal-code">85719<font size="2"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> - the Out On Bale Unlimited address - which is also their home address. Thank you for asking, Robert.</font></font></span><font color="black" face="arial" size="2">
<div> <br>
</div>
<div> David Eisenberg<br>
</div>
<div> <br>
</div>
<div style="font-family:helvetica,arial;font-size:10pt;color:black">-----Original Message-----<br>
From: Robert Laporte <robert@econest.com><br>
To: Global Straw Building Network <GSBN@sustainablesources.com><br>
Sent: Mon, Dec 26, 2011 6:14 pm<br>
Subject: Re: [GSBN] The saddest news...<br>
<br>
<div id="AOLMsgPart_2_0edb6a4d-a0ef-47e8-adb9-6e63cc70d2c0">
Hi Janet,<br>
<br>
Is there an address we can send our condolences to Matts?<br>
<br>
Gratefully,<br>
<br>
Robert<br>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Dec 26, 2011 at 3:54 PM, janet johnston <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:janetjohnstn@earthlink.net">janetjohnstn@earthlink.net</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
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<div class="MsoNormal"><font color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">Love to you all and especially to Matts. Judy was one of my
personal role-models. I am forever grateful that I got to spend a little time
with her. –Janet <u></u><u></u></span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><i><i><font color="black" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:7.5pt;font-family:Arial">Janet Armstrong Johnston, Architect</span></font></i></i><u></u><u></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><i><i><font color="black" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:7.5pt;font-family:Arial">StrongArm Construction</span></font></i></i><u></u><u></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><u></u><u></u><i><i><font color="black" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:7.5pt;font-family:Arial">PO
Box 2141</span></font></i></i><u></u><i><i><font face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:7.5pt;font-family:Arial">, <u></u>Joshua Tree<u></u>,
<u></u>CA<u></u> <u></u>92252<u></u></span></font></i></i><u></u><u></u><u></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><i><i><font color="black" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:7.5pt;font-family:Arial"><a value="+17603664774">760-366-4774</a> </span></font></i></i><a target="_blank" href="http://www.strongarmconstruction.com"><i><i><font color="black" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:7.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:black;text-decoration:none">www.strongarmconstruction.com</span></font></i></i></a><u></u><u></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size:7.5pt"><a href="mailto:janet@strongarmconstruction.com"><i><i><font color="black" face="Arial"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:black;text-decoration:none">janet@strongarmconstruction.com</span></font></i></i></a></span></font><u></u><u></u></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><font color="black" face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:">
<hr align="center" size="2" width="100%">
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<div class="MsoNormal"><b><font color="black" face="Tahoma"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;color:windowtext;font-weight:bold">From:</span></font></b><font color="black" face="Tahoma"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;color:windowtext"> <u></u>GSBN<u></u>-<a href="mailto:bounces@sustainablesources.com">bounces@sustainablesources.com</a>
[mailto:<u></u>GSBN<u></u>-<a href="mailto:bounces@sustainablesources.com">bounces@sustainablesources.com</a>]
<b><span style="font-weight:bold">On Behalf Of </span></b>John Swearingen<br>
<b><span style="font-weight:bold">Sent:</span></b> Monday, December 26, 2011
2:03 PM<br>
<b><span style="font-weight:bold">To:</span></b> Global Straw Building Network<br>
<b><span style="font-weight:bold">Cc:</span></b> <a href="mailto:gsbn@sustainablesources.com">gsbn@sustainablesources.com</a><br>
<b><span style="font-weight:bold">Subject:</span></b> Re: [<u></u>GSBN<u></u>] The saddest news...</span></font><font color="black" face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"><u></u><u></u></span></font></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="h5">
<div class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Arial"><u></u> <u></u></font></div>
<div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><font color="black" face="Arial"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Judy found the heart and soul in the
straw revival, and, like the greatest of souls, connected each person she met
to that heart, and rooted us there. She can only be missed in the
ordinary sense, because her extraordinary vision lives on in so many of
us. <u></u><u></u></span></font></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Arial"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">With gratitude prayers, love, and best wishes to Matts and her family,<u></u><u></u></span></font></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Arial"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">John<u></u><u></u></span></font></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Arial"><u></u> <u></u></font></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><font color="black" face="Arial"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><br>
On Dec 26, 2011, at 12:17 PM, <a href="mailto:strawnet@aol.com">strawnet@aol.com</a>
wrote:<u></u><u></u></span></font></div>
</div>
<blockquote style="margin-top:5.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt" type="cite">
<div>
<div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Dear friends and colleagues, I have very sad news to pass on. Our
inspired and inspiring friend, colleague, leader, mentor and more, Judy Knox,
lost her battle with cancer early Saturday morning. Here is an excerpt from a
message from her brother Tim that we received this morning: </span></font><u></u><u></u></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext"> </span></font><u></u><u></u></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-left:.5in">
<div class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">On Christmas Eve we heard the heartbreaking news that
Judy has finally lost her battle with cancer. Matts and Judy<u></u>'<u></u>s daughter-in-law Donna were with her when she died
peacefully at 1:45 am on Saturday. Philip had been helping out for
several days and he and his children were all in the house. We understand
that she had gone downhill very fast in the previous two days – she had been
having great trouble breathing and she and Matts had been considering a
hospice, but then things spiraled downwards. </span></font><u></u><u></u></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-left:.5in">
<div class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext"> </span></font><u></u><u></u></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">For those of you fortunate enough to have met Judy
over the years, or who know what an extraordinary human being she was, you will
recognize the enormity of the loss, and at the same time what unimaginably good
fortune to have had her in our lives and work for all these years. I first met
Judy and Matts in 1991 though I had been hearing about them for a couple of
years prior to that meeting. They changed my life in innumerable ways. </span></font><u></u><u></u></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext"> </span></font><u></u><u></u></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">Rather than try to find words to describe her this
morning I realized that I could share an excerpt of the "Straw Bale
DEtour" column I wrote for the Women<u></u>'<u></u>s
Issue (#61) of The Last Straw journal - TLS being one of Judy<u></u>'<u></u>s many contributions to the world – about some of
the women who have been instrumental in creating and shaping the straw bale
revival. This is the part related to Judy: </span></font><u></u><u></u></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext"> </span></font><u></u><u></u></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">======</span></font><u></u><u></u></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">It is not a DEtour to take the time to honor at least
a few of the women who have helped lead the modern emergence of straw bale
construction. It is, however, a very risky thing to do because I know that I
leave out some who are worthy of mention, people who either never came to my
attention or have slipped through the ever-more porous sieve of my memory. So
apologies in advance to those not mentioned here, and please trust that I have
real gratitude for you and your contributions. I will name a few who I know
helped open the door for many others who have been drawn into the realm of
straw bale and natural building. </span></font><u></u><u></u></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext"> </span></font><u></u><u></u></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">I can<u></u>'<u></u>t
imagine starting with anyone other than Judy Knox, who I’m quite certain is
responsible for the humane and generous character of the straw bale revival.
Judy came to a leadership role in the straw bale revival somewhat unwillingly,
seeing it as a distraction from what she saw as the larger work she had been
engaged in – a coherently integrated set of activities around the rights and
well-being of children, community empowerment, education, micro-economics,
international relations, environmental stewardship and more. When the New York
Times put an article about straw bale building and Judy and Matts Myhrman (her
husband and co-conspirator in their little business that emerged from all this,
Out On Bale) on the front page of a section of the Sunday Times, the world
(literally) beat a path to their door with a flood of mail arriving daily and
the phone ringing off the hook for months. As a result of the depth and breadth
of her experience and her commitment to action in service to larger ends, once
swept into the strong and rising current of the revival, she realized that they
would not soon return to their former lives. </span></font><u></u><u></u></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext"> </span></font><u></u><u></u></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">In her unique and powerful way, she saw straw bale
construction as a vehicle to empower people, especially women, to go, as she
put it so clearly, "from <u></u>'<u></u>I can<u></u>'<u></u>t<u></u>'<u></u> to <u></u>'<u></u>I can!<u></u>'<u></u>"
And it was her attention to the human and personal potential of this movement,
that shifted the revival to being much more than about a building technique or
material, or a more environmentally responsible way to build. It was all of
that, but she also nurtured a foundational aspect of the revival, helping
people see what they were capable of doing. She has always been on the lookout
for champions—a champion of champions—seeking to pull people into their fullest
potential. She certainly had a big influence on me.</span></font><font color="black" size="3"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext"> </span></font><u></u><u></u></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext"> </span></font><u></u><u></u></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">The structure of the Out On Bale Workshops, which I
was fortunate to be invited to attend and eventually to teach, paid as much
attention to the process, and the possibilities emerging from the workshop
participants, as to the importance of sharing the most current and best
technical information available. As a result of Judy<u></u>'<u></u>s
focus on process, those workshops became a safe place for everyone to explore
possibilities about their own capacities and for each participant to share
their deepest feelings about what was most important to them. This was also
about building people and community. And thus the straw bale community was
seeded with a communitarian spirit and a generosity rare in building circles.
Judy and Matts made it clear that this was a building system that was part of
the commons.</span></font><u></u><u></u></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext"> </span></font><u></u><u></u></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><i><font color="black" face="Arial" size="3"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext;font-style:italic">The Last Straw </span></font></i><font color="black" size="3"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">grew out of
a vision of having a vehicle to expand that community and enable those of us in
it and coming into it, to take responsibility for guiding what we were creating
with our ever-growing collective knowledge, which occasionally rose to the
level of wisdom. While Matts was tirelessly, inquisitively, brilliantly, and,
thankfully, often hilariously exploring and working on the physical and
technical and historical details, Judy was attending to the health and
well-being of the movement and all of us who were involved with it. Judy<u></u>'<u></u>s initial and essential framing of the revival in
terms of community and personal potential carried forward and out as straw bale
construction echoed out into the rest of the world. I know how deeply her focus
on these things affected me then and how it resonated in me and became part of
who I am and how I do what I do in the world, a gift for which I am profoundly
grateful.</span></font><u></u><u></u></div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote style="margin-top:5.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt" type="cite">
<div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:">_______________________________________________<br>
<u></u>GSBN<u></u> mailing list<br>
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</blockquote>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br>
_______________________________________________<br>
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<br>
</blockquote></div>
<br>
<br clear="all"><br>
-- <br>
Robert Laporte<br>
<i>"Building the Builder</i>"<br>
<a target="_blank" href="http://www.econest.com">www.econest.com</a><br>
EcoNest Co.<br>
541-488-9508<br>
<br>
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<pre style="font-size: 9pt;"><tt>_______________________________________________
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