For most of us RM was our leader, our hero, and our friend. He never met a stranger and he never gave up on establishing our dream trail from Hanging Rock State Park to Pilot Mtn. State Park. He visited with landowners and established this trail not once, but twice. I know that 40 years of teaching school and swimming in Stokes & Surry Counties helped him make a lot of contacts, but I think it was his enthusiasm and love of the land that convinced people to allow the trail to cross their property.  He enlisted countless volunteers from college students to boy scouts and community service workers who he would introduce only as volunteers.  RM always packed an extra lunch for those who could not bring one and there was a long standing joke about his peanut butter and crackers which were always reduced to a bag of crumbs by the time he was ready to eat them!  RM shared his beautiful saddlebred horses with countless landowners, politicians, reporters and friends. He was often found riding the trails on his saddlebred horses with a cutback saddle, a full bridle and carrying a chainsaw on his knee. He was unstoppable in his determination to establish the Sauratown Trial despite whatever Mother Nature or new Landowner threw his way.
In 2003 when we dedicated the Sauratown Trail as a section of the Mountains to the Sea Trail, Governor Mike Easley awarded RM the prestigious Order of the Long Leaf Pine Award for his work on recreational trails on the recommendation of STA President Larry Reeves. RM's contribution to trails included serving as equine representative on the State Trails Committee and on the Pilot Mountain Advisory Committee. He was a long term Board member of the NC Horse Council.
RM left us on August 21st, 2006 following a long illness. I used to think that STA might not continue without him, but I know now that because of him we will survive and continue the Trail in his honor and his memory. We will never forget you. Rack on, RM, until we meet again on Maggie & Blue....

Bev Duval and Emily Grogan