Passages

Tom Amneus, 1907-2004

Tom Amneus, longtime Sierra Club member and a past chair of the Angeles Chapter, passed away on Aug. 22 at the age of 97.

Amneus joined the Sierra Club in 1955, and served as Chapter chair in 1959. Back then, in order to join the Sierra Club you had to be sponsored by two members. However, the Angeles Chapter Membership Committee had the power to 'blackball' any person they deemed undesirable-a ruse for excluding blacks and other minorities. When a Los Angeles school teacher who happened to be African American tried to join the Sierra Club, she was rejected by the Membership Committee. Amneus was outraged by this and, in the face of vituperation from some of those who wanted to keep the Angeles Chapter an exclusive social club, and with the support of Sierra Club president Nathan Clark, led a successful battle to end this form of racial and ethnic discrimination.

Amneus was an active hiker who led many backpacking trips in the Sierra Nevada, both for the Chapter and the national club. He earned his Sierra Peaks Section (SPS) Emblem in 1958 and his SPS Senior Emblem in 1979. He received his Desert Peaks Emblem in 1959 and was a Hundred Peaks Section List Finisher in 1989, at 82 the oldest person to complete the list. He backpacked in the High Sierra up to the age of 88.

Amneus was a staunch conservationist, an animal-lover and a vegetarian because of it. Those of us fortunate enough to have crossed his path are forever enriched for having known him.

-John W. Robinson

Paul Lipsohn, 1932-2004

Paul Lipsohn led his first Sierra Club outing in 1969, and so great were his enthusiasm and demonstrated leadership skills that by 1971 he was chairing the Hundred Peaks Section (HPS). In 1972, while serving as HPS Mountains Records chair, he came on board the Desert Peaks Section (DPS) as vice-chair and the Sierra Peaks Section (SPS) as treasurer. The following year, as he continued in his post as HPS Mountain Records Chair, he was elevated to the dual-chairmanship of the DPS and SPS.

Lipsohn was a meticulous recorder of routes, and some of his descriptions are still in use by the mountaineering sections more than 30 years later. He was also the driving force behind having a peak named after Weldon Heald, the founder of the Hundred Peaks Section and a noted conservationist.

In 1974, Lipsohn accomplished one of his most cherished goals, that of completing the Desert Peaks List on South Guardian Angel in Zion National Park, this after already attaining emblem status in HPS, DPS, and SPS. But what probably gave Lipsohn an even greater sense of satisfaction was his role in helping his elderly friend Fred Bode complete the DPS list.

This sense of caring for others became central to Lipsohn as he moved away from mountaineering and into volunteerism with the American Red Cross. But he still made good use of the route-finding skills he had honed during his climbing days. As he traveled to various disaster sites around the nation, he always packed his hiking boots in order to work on his last great project-to walk the perimeter of the United States. With his crossing of Michigan's Mackinac Bridge in 2002 he accomplished this unique goal.

A recipient of many awards, including the HPS John Backus Leadership Award, HPS R.S. Fink Service Award, and the Angeles Chapter Chester Versteeg Outings Award, Lipsohn never let it go to his head and always remained approachable by friends and newcomers alike. During his active years he was an inspiration to a generation of younger mountaineers, such as R. J. Secor, who wrote, 'Paul was one of my mentors during my teenage forays into the High Sierra . . .Thanks for all the good times, Paul.'

-Bob Cates, Angeles Chapter Historian

Ella Power Wheelock, 1926-2004

Ella Power Wheelock, longtime friend and companion of Hundred Peaks Section chair emeritus Walt Wheelock, died at home on Aug. 13. She joined the Angeles Chapter in the 1940s and was an active member for most of her life.

-Wynne Benti

Jack Goldberg, 1924-2004

Jack Goldberg passed away on Nov. 21, 2004. Goldberg was front desk volunteer at the Angeles Chapter office for 22 years and at all five offices that the Chapter has had. He received the Irene Charnock Award for Office Service for the year 1989. He was active with the Cabrillo Section, served as elections chair for the Chapter Executive Committee, and handled the bus insurance for Chapter trips. He was honored several times for those varying services.