Remembering Dede. What do you do with your one precious life?

“Tell me,
what is it you plan to do
with your one
wild and precious life?”
― Mary Oliver

Each day I am reminded how fortunate I am when I see, or smell or touch the ocean. Life is precious and ephemeral and I have been recently reminded of this by the passing of a dear ocean friend. I first met Dede Teeler following her move to Fairfax from Italy. Dede volunteered for our campaign to pass the California Shark Fin ban. Her cheerful demeanor and ever-present smile were a beacon of sunshine as she helped collect signatures and accompanied us to Sacramento to lobby for the bill.

She lived simply in a shared home, and without a car, so I often drove her back from events and got to know her in the process. Gifted in languages, a tall, long haired woman with a bad foot that made her limp and kept her in chronic pain, Dede was a fill time giver. She served as a paralegal and Coordinator of Marin Community Court and related community outreach for a non-profit providing legal services to low-income and under-served residents of Marin County. She also served as volunteer in the Marin County Court system assisting including the California Appellate Project assisting death row inmates. Passionate about the oceans and film, she volunteered every year at the San Francisco International Film Festival and other local film festivals,as well as for non profits like the Save Japan Dolphin Project and Shark Stewards.

The last time I saw Dede we were together protesting the Taijii dolphin massacre in San Francisco, with fellow Earth Island Institute advocates Kevin Connelly, Rose Aguilar, Chris Winn and others. Afterwards we went to the Dolphin Club where we had just completed our Swim for Sharks, and we celebrated with a little Lagunitas Ale next to the Bay, another of Dede’s joys in life. Finally able to muster enough funds, Dede underwent an operation on her foot. A few days later, Dede died suddenly at home in the company of close friends from possible complications from the surgery. She lived ardently with passionate commitment towards helping people and marine life in need. Dede’s giving was inspirational and reminds me of my own mortality and why I fight for sharks.

Suffering my own shoulder injury from a fall while working in Cambodia, we last lamented our chronic pain at the Dolphin club where I still insist on swimming one armed, awaiting my surgery. Swimming yesterday in the Bay, I reflected on my friends and what brings us together, and unifies us. Some are surfers, some swimmers, many are ocean activists, but like Dede, we all love the ocean, and our wild and precious lives will live on through the sea.

Its what we do with our time here that makes a difference. She did.