Showing posts with label obituary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label obituary. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 13, 2021

Kathy Hemenway - World Citizen & Resident of Snowflake, Arizona - 2011

 


Kathy Hemenway, at home in Snowflake, Arizona - Click for larger image (http://jamesmcgillis.com)

Kathy Hemenway - World Citizen & Resident of Snowflake, Arizona

After leaving Needles, California, my next stop was at Homolovi State Park, near Winslow, Arizona. While staying there, I visited my friend and fellow environmentalist, Kathy Hemenway at her home in nearby Snowflake, Arizona. Some might think that the Holbrook Basin and Snowflake in particular is a remote location for a former software engineer from Menlo Park, Californian to live, and they are Kathy Hemenway's front yard, Snowflake, AZ - Click for larger image (http://jamesmcgillis.com)right. When she built there in 1998, remoteness from sources of electromagnetic radiation and other sources of environmental sensitivity were her main goal.
 
Although sensitive to volatile organic compounds all of her life, Kathy became severely ill after unexpected exposure to pesticide pollution. When an exterminator accidentally sprayed her yard in Menlo Park, it precipitated a debilitating illness. From that time on, Kathy was hypersensitive to both chemical pollution and electromagnetic radiation. Exposure to cleaning solutions or electronic equipment was more than she could take on most days.
 
Arizona wind power - Wind turbines in the American desert - Click for larger image (http://jamesmcgillis.com)Although she admits that the design of her home might be “overkill” for the problems she then faced, she designed a state-of-the-art “safe house” for herself. From its concrete-block construction, steel roof and steel panels inside all interior walls, to ceramic tile floors and walls, she attempted to eliminate all sources of chemical and electromagnetic pollution. If there was a logical theory on how to ameliorate any of those issues, she employed it in the construction of her home.
 
In 2009, Kathy Hemenway’s pioneering work in “safe house” design and construction caught the interest of the Los Angeles Times. The result of that association was a landmark article on “environmental illness” and ways to avoid its most deleterious effects.
 
Arizona Public Service (APS) Joseph City coal-fired power plant, or generating station - Click for larger image (http://jamesmcgillis.com)Although she does not consider herself a radical environmentalist, Kathy does monitor potential threats to her sanctuary. Over the years, she has helped keep giant wind turbines away from residential areas in Snowflake. From a atop her tiny travel trailer,she allowed the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) to facilitate air quality monitoring on her property. When the subject of emissions from nearby Arizona Public Service (APS) coal-fired power plants in the area comes up, Kathy attends every meeting. When she and I met, it was to discuss the possible impact of in-situ potash mining planned near Holbrook, Arizona. As of this writing, she was in Tucson, Arizona for a meeting of the Arizona Legislative Mining Caucus. She hoped to meet the potash fellows, as well as the state geologist, state oil and gas administrator, and others.
 
Virga streams down ahead of a desert thunder shower near Snowflake, Arizona - Click for larger image (http://jamesmcgillis.com)Over a decade after her departure from the rigors of software engineering in Silicon Valley, I am pleased to report that Kathy Hemenway is well, safe and happy in Snowflake Arizona. If you contact her, please be aware that she lives in two worlds. One of her worlds connects to all via telephone, the internet and visits with friends and neighbors. Yet, the address of her house does not appear on Google Maps, MapQuest, Yahoo or Bing. If you follow any of their directions, you will end up on a dirt road to nowhere. All of that is acceptable to Kathy Hemenway. Visits to her unique world are by invitation only.
 
Obituary: Dr. Kathleen Hemenway passed away at home in Snowflake, Arizona June 9, 2016. She was 61 years old.
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By James McGillis at 05:47 PM | Environment | Comments (0) | Link