Dodie Gann, photo: Jeff Corwin

Dodie and Ernie Gann

Dodie Post Gann, a lifelong adventurer, accomplished pilot, inductee in the U.S. Ski Team Hall of Fame, land conservation leader and, along with her husband, was perhaps the San Juan Preservation Trust’s earliest benefactor, died peacefully at home on Christmas Eve 2012 following a truly remarkable life. Born on September 10, 1922, Dodie and her husband, the renowned novelist Ernest Gann, purchased their 800-acre Red Mill Farm on San Juan Valley in the 1960’s. In a series of transactions beginning in 1980 and ending in mid-2012, Dodie and Ernie ensured that their farm would remain protected in perpetuity by the San Juan Preservation Trust. As Dodie recounts in a video produced by the Preservation Trust a few years before her death, land conservation became personal as she settled into her new island home. “If you have something like this, you don’t want to lose it” she would say. “It’s the natural thing to want to save it forever.”

Tim Seifert, SJPT Executive Director, recognizes Dodie Gann at 2012 Annual Meeting.

Photo credit Jane Fox

Kathleen Foley, SJPT Program Director, and Dodie Gann at 2007 Summer Social at Red Mill Farm.

Red Mill Farm, photo credit Jane Fox.

from the December 2012 Newsletter