Good morning.

First, I would like to welcome the family, friends and colleagues of Rocky Spencer to this remembrance of him and the celebration of his life.

I'm Jeff Koenings. As director of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, I was one of Rocky Spencer's co-workers and he was one of our family. Again, welcome to this celebration of Rocky's life - even at a time of immense sadness.

In a few moments, you'll be seeing a video tribute from Rocky's friends and colleagues. They'll be telling us-in words and images-how much Rocky meant to them both as a wildlife steward and as a friend, but mostly as an incredible colleague!

Hundreds of department staff members are here today -biologists, enforcement officers, customer service staff, wildlife managers and others-because they knew Rocky's friendship, his enthusiasm for his work and his dedication to wildlife.

And there are hundreds of community members here, too, because Rocky conveyed his passion for wild animals to students, teachers, news reporters and many others.

Rocky was a scientist who used high-tech equipment and data to study the state's largest carnivores-black bears and cougars.

Rocky also was a wildlife manager who was convinced that humans can peacefully co-exist with those animals.

And, as most of you know, Rocky was an educator, who had a remarkable talent for sharing his knowledge of cougars, bears, and other wildlife with people.

Recently, books and news stories have warned of "Nature Deficit Disorder" among our children. Rocky Spencer was a one-man antidote for that problem. When Rocky walked into a classroom, and demonstrated how a wildlife-tracking collar works by putting it around the teacher's neck, he had kids' attention. When Rocky placed a stethoscope on a sedated animal and asked: "Have you ever heard a cougar's heartbeat?" he really had them hooked.

Rocky's enthusiasm was contagious. Students wrote to him about their plans to follow in his footsteps.

While we carry on his work, we know that Rocky was one of a kind. His loss is a large one. His tragic death stunned the community, including the community of state employees.

This week Governor Chris Gregoire wrote:

"State employees like Rocky contribute tremendously to making Washington a better place for us all."

In my mind as director of the agency, Rocky was a walking, talking billboard of the following advice:

Avoid unchallenging occupations - they waste your talents.

From the bottom of the ocean while diving for sunken treasure or to the top of the mountains while capturing big horn sheep, Rocky fully lived that advice.

And now the Department family will share memories of the many talents Rocky displayed throughout his career . . .