St. Maarten Private Eye

Below I have inserted the article from the Trentonian about yesterday's Memorial Celebration of Joel's Life. It was lovely. I'm sure he joined us all as we shared our stories with everyone. Both Joel's brothers spoke, good friends, Amy, ... and Georgia gave a very funny slide presentation with her father's great sense of humor which she has inherited.

Thanks, everyone, for all you have done during this saga. I'm so appreciative of the people of Saba and all the teams & friends that came down to help from the States. Amy, during her tearful words yesterday, expressed her fond feelings for the island and the people there who put in so much time and effort .

To Joel: Adieu. I love you.
Moongirl

Monday, January 7, 2008

Uber-adventurer, environmentalist spread to rest ... but the continents await even more

By Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman
TRENTON — Dozens of people packed the Ellarslie museum at Cadwalader Park yesterday to pay their final respects to the late environmentalist Joel D. Gove. Later in the day, his ashes were returned to the Mother Earth he loved so much.

But not all of his ashes. His 16-year-old daughter, Georgia, has been given the task of scattering the rest of her dad’s remains on all seven continents.

“I’m excited, especially to go to Antarctica,” Georgia Gove said after the Ellarslie ceremony. “I think that will be very fun. So I think I’m going to pour them and be like, ‘OK, it’s freezing. We’re gonna get out of here now.’ ”

A resident of Trenton’s Glen Afton neighborhood, Joel Gove, 47, went missing on a leisure trip to the Caribbean isle of Saba in December 2006.

He was found two months ago, dead inside a sulfur mine on the island, in a near-mummified state.

“Joel died doing what what he loved,” said KidsBridge Executive Director Lynne Azarchi, a nonprofit of which Gove was a founding board member. “But honestly, it provides little comfort — until you invert the statement a little bit.

“Because for most of his life, Joel lived doing what he loved. Whether it was hiking on the island of Saba or setting up an office in Trenton as an economic development commitment.”

More than 100 people squeezed in the museum to reflect on and honor Gove’s memory. A PowerPoint presentation was shown to highlight Gove’s love for life and community.

The slideshow featured pictures that ranged from Gove trekking shirtless to him sporting long and cornrow hairstyles. Normally one to keep his hair cut short, the various array of pictures brought smiles to faces and occasional laughter.

Lauri Shea, who dated the environmentalist, said Gove’s sense of humor is what she liked most about him. “We had a picnic once in November at 8 p.m. — now picture that,” she said.

Friends, family, neighbors, co-workers and former classmates of Gove’s were among the attendees.

“He really touched a lot of people,” said Amy Gonzales, Gove’s former wife. “I think more people would’ve been here if they could have been.

“Here I am, his ex-wife. He was a good person. Maybe not the easiest person to live with, but I just think he was really a special person. And this was a very special place for him here, too. We almost got married here.”

“We are Amy’s and George’s neighbors,” said Dave Maynard, 64, who attended with his wife. “Over the last five years we have met Joel, and we decided to come and honor him.

“It’s really great they were able to recover the body,” Maynard added. “It just makes some very nice closure for the family. And that’s what it was all about.”

Many of Georgia’s friends came to show their support, too.

“Georgia is a good friend of mine; I met her dad a couple times,” said Georgia’s friend, Tom. “He seemed like a really nice guy.”

“I’m a close friend of Georgia’s, and I’m coming in support of her. I never actually met Joel,” Scott Samuel said.

“It’s just nice to have everyone around,” Georgia said. “It’s nice to have people that care about you around when something bad happens. It always makes you feel better.”

At the ash-releasing ceremony, Georgia brought the biodegradable package containing her dad’s ashes.

In a kayak on the creek behind his home, she scattered daddy into the water.

And now the rest of the world awaits, because Georgia Gove and Amy Gonzales are Paris-bound to kickstart the intercontinental Joel Gove ash-scattering tour.