Inspiring trips to fulfill a final wish
— Nancy Zingheim barely knew Rita Poe when Poe approached her office at the Washington state RV park. Poe, a shy registered nurse, had a request for the RV park business manager: Could Zingheim help her with her will?
Weeks later, the 66-year-old Poe died of colorectal cancer. In her will, she left nearly $800,000 to a dozen national wildlife refuges and parks, mostly in the American West. She named Zingheim the executor.
Zingheim knew little about Poe, who had moved to the Evergreen Coho SKP RV Park in the small town of Chimacum just five months earlier. She knew even less about national wildlife refuges.
That was in 2015. This year, Zingheim embarked on a 4,000-mile road trip to learn more about the woman who lived in an Airstream trailer with her dog and cat — and the wild places that captivated her.
“I wanted to see what they were,” said Zingheim, 62. “I decided that I wasn’t going to suddenly write checks to places at face value. I wanted to do my due diligence and find out what they needed.”
Over nine days, she drove Poe’s Ford pickup truck in a loop of the American West. She visited six national wildlife refuges in California, Idaho, Oregon and Washington — part of a vast network of reserves across the United States where wild lands are protected for wildlife.
President Theodore Roosevelt established the first refuge in 1903 at Florida’s Pelican Island. The U.S. Fish and WildSEATTLE life Service manages more than 560 such refuges. From wetlands in Florida to tropical forests in Hawaii, the lands are set aside for migratory birds, alligators, bears and countless other creatures. There’s at least one in each state, and a majority are open to the public for free.
At each stop, Zingheim asked around: Do you know Rita? No one did. One person recalled Poe’s 27-foot Airstream trailer but little else.
“To this day, I don’t think any of us knew a lot about her,” Zingheim said.
Zingheim also took a tour of each refuge. She asked refuge managers what they needed and wanted. And she tried to imagine how Poe connected to these places.
“The reserves, they’re quiet places. I could see Rita there,” she said.
In time, bits of Poe emerged. Poe grew up in Southern California, worked as a nurse at a suburban Los Angeles hospital and spent time in Texas.
Terry Poe said he last saw his sister in 2007. After their parents died, leaving them money, he said, she bought a trailer and traveled around the western U.S. to various refuges and national parks.
“She enjoyed nature and being out in nature,” he said in a telephone interview from southern California.
Rita Poe owned several highend cameras. She was a birder. On her computer, Zingheim found stunning photographs of birds, bears, ocelots and bobcats. There were trips to New Mexico, Arizona and Canada.
Zingheim said that in the process of carrying out Poe’s wishes, she felt she’d been granted her own bequest. And she’s grateful for it.
“I saw things that I would never have seen,” Zingheim said. “I didn’t know a national wildlife reserve even existed. I don’t think a lot of people out there know about them. They should. They’re wonderful places.”