
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 10, 1991                   TAG: 9104100205
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY   
SOURCE: Cathryn McCue
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

EDWIN FRANCIS WESLEY JR.

He's a recent transplant from Maryland where he worked, for pay, as a college teacher and, for free, as an environmental advocate. His love of the outdoors comes from years as a weapons instructor for the Army, working outside in rain, snow and sunshine.

He enrolled at Virginia Tech two years ago to learn about Appalachian geology. "I had a feeling I didn't want to die without knowing something about the Earth I live on."

While studying the region's subterranean history, he became involved in issues he believes can drastically shape its future. A familiar face at Blacksburg and Montgomery County government meetings, he urges local officials to plan for preservation.

\ NAME: Edwin Francis Wesely Jr.

\ NICKNAME: "Just Ed, I guess."

\ AGE: 60.

\ RESIDENCE: Blacksburg.

\ MARITAL STATUS: Single.

\ HOMETOWN: Bethesda, Md. "It's unrecognizable now."

\ EDUCATION: Amherst College, Mass.

\ PETS: Two goats, Frisbee and Wimbles, still in Pennsylvania with a friend, and a stray cat named Sneezer.

\ OCCUPATION: Student and president of the New River Valley Environmental Coalition, formed about six months ago to promote awareness of local environment problems. Neither job pays.

\ WORST JOB: In an office in Chicago after he left the Army. "I went crazy. I found it very hard to work in an office."

\ BEST JOB: Hiking. "That's not a job, but I've learned a great deal from it."

\ FAVORITE SPOT: Big Walker Creek. The coalition is trying to get it listed as a scenic waterway.

\ WHAT DO YOU LIKE BEST ABOUT THE VALLEY? Canoeing on Big Walker Creek.

\ LEAST? "Some of the development patterns I see here." Ed mostly opposes the proposed Blacksburg-Interstate 81 link as "a big waste of money and environmental resources."

\ SMARTEST THING YOU EVER DID: Help fight for the preservation of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal along the Potomac River in the 1960s. The canal is now a national park.

\ DUMBEST THING: Not appreciating his years in college and wasting that time. He's now trying to make up for that by taking college courses.

\ WORST HABIT: Having a short fuse. "I get damn mad when I see someone despoiling the land."

\ FAVORITE AUTHOR: Aldo Leopold, who wrote "Sand County Almanac"

\ LAST BOOK READ: Currently reading about Einstein's theory of relativity, but can't remember the title offhand.

\ LAST MOVIE: "Driving Miss Daisy."

\ PERSON MOST INFLUENCED BY, MOST ADMIRES: "An old black man named Will Clipper who's father was a slave," one of the last men who worked on the canals in the early part of the century. "Before Will died, he said, `When I'm gone, don't let them spit in the river.'"

\ IF YOU COULD CHANGE THE WORLD, WHAT WOULD YOU DO? Change U.S. education to stress learning firsthand about the natural world. If children learn about the living world, they might not be so quick to destroy it as adults. -

Memo: CORRECTION

by CNB