I just read an obituary about a person who taught high school biology at Bellport High School, a high school on Long Island not far from the high school I attended. If I had lived closer to that school district, he might have even taught me high school biology. We played Bellport in football; I do not recall whether they were good or not, but I think that they were fair to middling.
The person's name is Art Cooley. The obituary says that he lived in East Patchogue in the fall of 1965, when my high school freshman year began. I have been to Patchogue. It was not the likeliest place for a miracle.
But in the fall of 1965, Mr. Cooley and others began to organize what eventually became the Environmental Defense Fund. Their small group of friends shared concerns about the use of DDT on Long Island at first. As time went on, they expanded to reach the entire nation. Mr. Cooley's obituary says that the EDF "reported $221 million in support and revenue in its 2020 fiscal year." DDT, on the other hand, is now banned across the entire nation.
The obituary reports, without amplification, that Mr. Cooley's marriage ended in divorce. We have no way of knowing, at least from this obituary of course, but you have to wonder if the end of Art Cooley's marriage was one of the costs of the miracle that started with friends gathering together and, years later, ended up with the Environmental Defense Fund.
Rest in peace, Mr. Cooley.
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