Good afternoon. My name is Steve McEvilly.

On behalf of our mom, Dottie, my brothers and sisters, and our entire extended family, thank you for being here to celebrate Dad's life.

It's an honor for me to be able to say a few words about Dad's life. As our family gathered in St. Louis after Dad's death and we began to talk and think about Dad's life, we kept coming back to a couple of thoughts that defined our fondest memories with him. Dad loved life in all its facets and complexities.

He was a world renowned scientist and engineer with an unquenchable appetite for learning. He loved exploring the earth and visiting its farthest reaches. He was truly a citizen of the planet. And I think it is most fitting that we gather here today to celebrate his life on Earth Day, 2002, a day that millions of people around the world join together to celebrate, educate and activate for the earth Dad so loved.

My dad was a loving husband to Dottie for 31 years. He was a guiding father to six children and nine grandchildren. Most notably he had a wonderful zest for life. Dad was an entertainer extraordinaire!

I think any conversation about Dad has to begin with his and Dottie's love of good company. The gatherings of friends, whether in Berkeley, The Lake, St. Louis or Acapulco were always surrounded by such generosity and hospitality. The delicious food Dad and Dottie often prepared together, occasional trips to the wine cellar, all led to warm and wonderful conversation and camaraderie around the family table. Our father certainly loved to live and his appreciation of life's gifts was wide and diverse. From Mozart to Dylan, Joplin to Handel's Messiah, he found appreciation in them all.

Picture a mid-morning Sunday on the deck on Alvarado Road. The Ave Maria is blaring out onto the deck. Dad's out there in his U.C. tank top and running shorts, reading the Chronicle, cup of Peet's coffee in one hand and his cigar smoldering somewhere nearby. That was Dad in California.

During the past 20 years my Dad and Dottie would spend much of their summers at the Lake of the Ozarks. It was there that they truly demonstrated their generous spirit. Everyone who came to The Lake and gathered at their table was served not only delicious food, but large helpings of laughter, side dishes of great stories and always hospitality and generosity. Anyone who was headed for a week at the lake with Dad and Dottie was truly in for a remarkable time.

My fondest memories of The Lake have to be bass fishing in Grandpa Henry's bass boat with Dad, my brothers, and other family members. Quite surprisingly to us we didn't always catch fish! But with Dad, you were assured of a good time and great conversation. Dad loved being on the lake in the early morning; the mist on the water, the cool air. We'd sit and talk about the grandkids, who's doing what in school. He'd catch up on old friends and how work might be going; truly wonderful experiences that brought our family closer together.

Dad greatly loved all the outdoors. He had a thirst for sunshine, cool waters and streams, mountains and forests. The love of outdoors is certainly part of the legacy he passed along to his children; skiing in the Sierra, backpacking in Yosemite, camping across the Canadian Rockies or the Baja Peninsula, traversing Mexico from one coast to the other. He and Dottie did it all and they did it with five, and later six kids in tow! My siblings and I have often said to each other how fortunate we were that Dad and Dot gave us those experiences. Believe it or not, we weren't always the well mannered group you see before you today! Those trips and many others were truly a great gift and another example of their generous spirit.

In addition to that generous spirit, humor, appreciation for fine food and music, Dad just happened to be a world famous scientist. Dad was born September 2nd of 1934 in East St. Louis, Illinois, to a family who put a high degree of value on education. He grew up in East St. Louis, in Belleville, and in San Diego. He earned his Bachelor's degree in Geophysical Engineering in 1956 from St. Louis University. After earning his degree, he worked for several years as an exploration seismologist, until 1960 when he returned to St. Louis University to earn his Ph.D. in Geophysics.

It was during this time as a graduate student that Dad taught us another of life's lessons; that of hard work. My brothers and sisters and I began arriving on the scene in the late 50's and early 60's. Our father was a student, part time engineer at Sprengnether Instrument Company, and then drove a cab in East St. Louis at night to make ends meet. This man was not a couch potato.

In 1964, Dad completed his studies at St. Louis University and the family moved to California where Dad continued his work at UC Berkeley in seismology. However, Dad never considered it "work", particularly 30 years later after he had entered the so-called "retirement" phase of his life. After this "so-called "retirement" in 1994, Dottie would on occasion remind him that he was officially retired. He would explain his activities by telling her that now that he was officially retired, he was entering his "hobby stage" in life and he had decided to take up seismology as his retirement hobby.

The St. Louis born poet Maya Angelou must have had Dad in mind when she wrote: "I think growing old is like everything else: It can be approached with humor and grace and gratitude, and you can keep working. Finally, all one will be remembered by, all that will be important in the legacy that one leaves is: How much did you dare to love and how much did you care to work?"

During his 38 years here in Berkeley, Dad and Dottie made many dear friends from the Bay Area and around the world; many with whom we shared our almost annual Thanksgiving Bash; many of whom have sent beautiful and touching letters to Dottie and our family; many of whom are here today.

So that's a little about our Dad; famous seismologist, engineer, lover of the earth, technology enthusiast, explorer, generous host, fisherman, father, grandfather, loving husband, and a really fun and funny guy. He was all these things and more.

I'll remember him most, I think, sitting down by the lake at the picnic table; tank top, cigar, eyeglasses hanging down low on the end of his nose, listening to NPR or the local country music station as he works on preparing his fishing poles for the next morning's adventure. For me that's a pretty picture of a wonderful man's life. And a very full life it was.