RyanCafferky
Been here a while
- Location
- Hood River, Oregon
Last night I lost one of my best friends and the PNW arborist community lost an amazing member of our family. Tom Ford was one of a kind. Unstoppable in so many ways. A sharp questioning mind that would pick apart a problem to its finest detail while also zooming out to look at the problem from distant perspectives to see how the problem fit into the grand scheme of things. Along with his mind, Tom’s physical stamina was legendary. Whether it was the stories of him going for lunchtime swims in the waterways of Seattle during his time with STP or his long evening hikes or cross country skis by headlamp often after long days of tree work. He just never seemed to want to stop once he started moving. Tom is one of the rare individuals who has skied around Crater Lake in one day on multiple occasions. He never seemed to lose his desire to push himself physically to the limit.
Tom and I met when we both were working for Northwest Tree Specialists in 2004? I’ll never forget the first day we worked together. He showed up, set a footlock line, went up a big leaf maple and pruned it very efficiently. I was intimidated, realized that this guy was better than me, and quickly realized I wanted to learn from him and get better. Working together in 2004 we fed off of each other’s knowledge and refined our SRS systems for doing more effective access of the firs we were constantly pruning. We were always trying to push each other to get better in different aspects and do more challenging things in the trees. Over the years I’ve had multiple romantic partners refer to Tom as my “wife” because we argued like an old married couple and we would talk on the phone for hours at a time covering topics from politics, trees, tree work, or whatever other type of puzzle either one of us was trying to solve at the time. We worked together on countless tree jobs in the Portland area and throughout the northwest, built a treehouse together at a buddhist monastery, worked clearing trees in Humboldt county so the pot farmers could grow more plants, helped build a zipline course in Idaho, worked doing wildfire cleanup in California, worked for NATS together in California on many projects. So many fun adventures.
When Tom moved to Klamath Falls 16 years ago I remember a conversation where he told me “I could cut down every tree in this town in 1 month”. Over the years I teased him about that because there are still a lot of trees here. When he came here he seemed to think this town was the end of his career. In many ways he loved it and in other ways it challenged him considerably. He worked tirelessly to try and save a lot of trees and to change how people did tree care in this area. He worked closely with John Bellon (Urban Forester City of Klamath Falls) on countless projects and initiatives to help make this city more livable and once again to change how tree work was done here. Now, once again there is only one certified arborist here and that individual works for the city.
Tom inspired me and likely many of you to think differently about what an arborist is and what our job is. He used to tell me that he thought that our job as arborists is to work to make this place like Eden. We are supposed to make the place better and not just be led around by our greed, debts, and financial responsibilities. Better to have a collar of ethics and a leash of morality. He used to talk about how suburbia and much of the urban environment was hell because every yard and the tree care in that yard is planned individually rather than zooming out and thinking about what we are doing to trees and what we are doing on the landscape scale. Are we planting yards that have to be redone every 15 years or are we planting for the long term? What is the remedy? These conversations would go for hours. I’m going to miss that mind and those conversations as frustrating as they could be sometimes. Rabbit holes into rabbit holes and I was chasing and arguing with one of the smartest rabbits out there.
Well Tom is finally resting. He was diagnosed with advanced cancer in early April. It was hard to watch someone slip away so painfully and so fast but in some ways I think it was a true blessing that it was so quick. Lastly, some advice from me (like Tom) who avoided the doctor and the western medical system like the plague that it is, please consider cancer screenings.
Tom is survived by his wife Kathy Benson who is the most amazing caregiver I’ve ever witnessed in action. If you get a chance give her a huge hug. At some point in the not so distant future we will likely hold a memorial for Tom at our place in Hood River. Kathy will be there. Everyone will be invited and camping will be available. I’ll post when I know a date.
Tom and I met when we both were working for Northwest Tree Specialists in 2004? I’ll never forget the first day we worked together. He showed up, set a footlock line, went up a big leaf maple and pruned it very efficiently. I was intimidated, realized that this guy was better than me, and quickly realized I wanted to learn from him and get better. Working together in 2004 we fed off of each other’s knowledge and refined our SRS systems for doing more effective access of the firs we were constantly pruning. We were always trying to push each other to get better in different aspects and do more challenging things in the trees. Over the years I’ve had multiple romantic partners refer to Tom as my “wife” because we argued like an old married couple and we would talk on the phone for hours at a time covering topics from politics, trees, tree work, or whatever other type of puzzle either one of us was trying to solve at the time. We worked together on countless tree jobs in the Portland area and throughout the northwest, built a treehouse together at a buddhist monastery, worked clearing trees in Humboldt county so the pot farmers could grow more plants, helped build a zipline course in Idaho, worked doing wildfire cleanup in California, worked for NATS together in California on many projects. So many fun adventures.
When Tom moved to Klamath Falls 16 years ago I remember a conversation where he told me “I could cut down every tree in this town in 1 month”. Over the years I teased him about that because there are still a lot of trees here. When he came here he seemed to think this town was the end of his career. In many ways he loved it and in other ways it challenged him considerably. He worked tirelessly to try and save a lot of trees and to change how people did tree care in this area. He worked closely with John Bellon (Urban Forester City of Klamath Falls) on countless projects and initiatives to help make this city more livable and once again to change how tree work was done here. Now, once again there is only one certified arborist here and that individual works for the city.
Tom inspired me and likely many of you to think differently about what an arborist is and what our job is. He used to tell me that he thought that our job as arborists is to work to make this place like Eden. We are supposed to make the place better and not just be led around by our greed, debts, and financial responsibilities. Better to have a collar of ethics and a leash of morality. He used to talk about how suburbia and much of the urban environment was hell because every yard and the tree care in that yard is planned individually rather than zooming out and thinking about what we are doing to trees and what we are doing on the landscape scale. Are we planting yards that have to be redone every 15 years or are we planting for the long term? What is the remedy? These conversations would go for hours. I’m going to miss that mind and those conversations as frustrating as they could be sometimes. Rabbit holes into rabbit holes and I was chasing and arguing with one of the smartest rabbits out there.
Well Tom is finally resting. He was diagnosed with advanced cancer in early April. It was hard to watch someone slip away so painfully and so fast but in some ways I think it was a true blessing that it was so quick. Lastly, some advice from me (like Tom) who avoided the doctor and the western medical system like the plague that it is, please consider cancer screenings.
Tom is survived by his wife Kathy Benson who is the most amazing caregiver I’ve ever witnessed in action. If you get a chance give her a huge hug. At some point in the not so distant future we will likely hold a memorial for Tom at our place in Hood River. Kathy will be there. Everyone will be invited and camping will be available. I’ll post when I know a date.
