Christine Ann Colasurdo

I am so sorry to learn about Christine's passing. I knew her during her year in Poitiers. We had a class together on "Feminine Passion in the Nineteenth Century." She was so clever and vibrant. The professor for one half of the course was quite taken with her and referred questions to her often. She was such a nice person too. I will be thinking of her and her family.

I worked with Christine at MSH for a few years and learned from her the phrase "understory" which meant that there is another story beneath the one we see. I just found out about her passing and wanted to make sure her stories and words lived on - so I assigned some of her writings to my introduction geology class this term. They loved reading her words and felt connected to MSH just like she was. If anyone is in connection with her immediate family, I would love to pass on my student's...

I was hoping to thank Christine personally for her informative and inspirational book "Return to Spirit Lake". I used it as a field guide for my own literary return to Spirit Lake. I had forgotten so much from age 8 when my family worked at Harmony Falls. But Christine's tremendous detail of the lodge and knowledge of native plants took me back to 1959 as I wrote -- and just published -- my first novel, "Losing June: Coming of Age at the Foot of St. Helens." I included a long grateful...

It was indeed shocking to learn of Christine's passing. She seemed a force of nature and one of the most balanced and positive of people, who exuded creative energy and happiness. She brought several classes of calligraphy students to the Reed College special collections where I was always happy to show early hand-written manuscripts. Her enthusiasm was contagious, and I enjoyed our continuing friendship with happy meetings here and there, and receiving her lovely stories and cards at the...

I was shocked beyond measure to learn of Christine's death. Like so many of us who knew and loved her, I am heartbroken and miss my friend. Dear Tom and Luke, I truly hope you will publish her beautiful essays as a book. They would inspire and give joy and hope to so many people. The one she wrote of the Song Sparrow was magnificent. I'm happy to help in any way I can. We are all going to miss her and her beautiful, generous soul terribly.

My dear sister, Christine. Your suffering is over and may you now rest in the peace and tranquility of the great mountain and beautiful lake in heaven. I miss you and hope we can meet again in the serenity of happier places. P.S. Say hello to Jim Lund and Harry Truman. Love you forever, Bernie

I was lucky enough to cross paths with Christine via the GeoGirls program with the Mount St. Helens Institute in 2017. She shared some childhood memories of Spirit Lake for the girls, and guided a room full of future scientists, naturalists, and citizens of the world to think about the arts, and appreciate nature beyond what we can see in a field notebook. She ended her visit by reading some beautiful passages from her book that have stayed with me since. My heart hurts for her loved ones,...