Close your eyes. Imagine it’s a hot day in July. You are 10 years old. You and your friends are skipping stones into the New River. You are the first one in the water and pretend you are an otter swimming effortlessly to and fro. The cool water flows over your head and down your back. The sun glistens on ripples as you glide over rocks. Your friends laugh. You could do this all summer long.
These kinds of memories are integral to river folk. Perhaps you too grew up on the New River, or a creek or a lake in the New River watershed. Now you are grown and know a special place on the river you take your friends or children as they too become river folk. We all are members of a particular club found the world over. People of the New.
One such member was Lillie Hining. As a young child, her parents Kevin and Staci watched Lillie as she played on the banks of the South Fork of the New. Frogs, lizards, and snakes were her sometimes unwilling “friends,” and found their way into her pockets and home. Once she got a fishing rod in her hands, she spent hours fishing. Play-doh fish and frogs created by her hands inhabit the house. She was always up for an adventure, whether it be snorkeling, scuba diving, kayaking or fishing. Lillie grew up with a sense of wonder, as exploration and discovery come naturally to children. Especially those children of the river. Lillie took that wonder to her art and to college. It was a central part of her.
In the fall of 2024, Lillie lost her life when she was a college freshman. Kevin and Staci have chosen to celebrate Lillie’s life and love of the New by giving back to their watershed community. With their help, we are working to purchase a river access on the South Fork and build steps down to the river she loved. A walk for Lillie, if you will.
Lillie’s memory lives on in the waters and the bugs and the thousands of stories her family and friends tell. Indeed, all our stories live on in the same way. We bring them out year after year around campfires, or while paddling or floating. “Remember when we…” You know how it goes. The river holds our memories of births, weddings and the passing of friends and family. It’s part of why we return. To remember.
The New River Conservancy has protected your stories all these years. Together we are working to make sure the grandchildren of our great-grandchildren have their own wonderful stories to tell.
We all want the next generation to share the same incredible memories of the river we had as children. We all want the next generation to have incredible experiences on the waters in which we, and they, grew up.
As adults, we look back on those river days with longing. Not a care in the world is had by some lucky children as they play in the waters of the New. As adults, we know that there are seen and unseen challenges to keeping these waters clean and safe for children of all ages.
Perhaps you would like to join us, as Kevin and Staci have, by making a donation to support the protection and improved access to the New River and help build the memories of generations to come.
Learn more about Memory and Honor Giving HERE.
Learn more about Lillie Hining HERE.
