Class members and friends gathered at the Kingsley Manor Retirement Community Rooftop in Los Angles (a stone's throw from Route 66) to honor Lewis. On hand:

• Lewis MacAdams with daughter Natalia and son Torii
• Lewis' former wives Phoebe MacAdams Ozuna and JoAnne Klabin
• Various other friends from LA including a HS classmate from Dallas, writer David Ritz (rejected by Princeton!)
• Barbara and Glenn Goltz, Rich Reinis, Viggo Boserup, Jon Wiener, and Paul Boorstin '65

Address by Glenn Goltz

Good Afternoon. Thanks to each of you for being here to help us, Lewis' Classmates of the Princeton Class of 1966, to join the many voices honoring Lew here in Los Angeles and throughout the country.

My name is Glenn Goltz.  I am one of Lew's Princeton classmates and serve as the Class Secretary.  Today, this award was to be given by our Class President, Kit Mill who, unfortunately, has been unexpectedly hospitalized. 

In addition to thanking each of you for being here, I want to especially thank Lewis' son Torii MacAdams and honored classmate, Jon Wiener.  Both helped us find this time and place to present this honor.  Thank you.

The Class of 1966 Locomotive Award

The Class of 1966 Locomotive Award was established by the Class Executive Committee under the leadership of Bill "Roller" Leahy, Vice President for Participation.  It is the highest honor given by the Class.  It is presented from time to time to a "Classmate who has done extraordinary work in his chosen field of endeavor."  It recognizes a classmate who is the embodiment of "'66 in the nation's service and in the service of all humanity".

"Lewis MacAdams has done extraordinary work in his chosen field of endeavor"
"Lewis MacAdams is the embodiment of "'66 in the nation's service and is in the service of all humanity".

Lewis is the fourth recipient of this award, following these distinguished classmates:

John "Jody" Kretzman was a freshman roommate and Princeton friend of Lew's.  Jody, in the course of his career as scholar, policy maker, and activist changed the way we think about and act toward neighborhood and communities.  Not only in America, but worldwide, especially urban and rural communities struggling economically and politically.

Bruce Furie and his wife Barbara worked for over forty years on the science of blood clotting resulting in treatments which have saved millions of stroke victims from irreparable brain damage if they receive "anti-clotting" medicines in time.

Jim Timbie has been the chief architect of internationally acclaimed nuclear arms reduction.  Jim served seven U.S. Presidents as their confidant and as their frequent negotiator.  His work changed the perception of safety and impending doom for millions and millions of ordinary citizens around the world.  We no longer are taught to hide under desks, find air raid shelters, and "duck, dive, and roll" because of Jim.

Lewis at Princeton

Lewis came to us from St. Mark's School of Texas where he was an outstanding scholar and athlete.  Lewis was captain of the basketball team, president of his Senior Class, and editor of the school newspaper.

At Princeton, Lewis majored in English, was news director of the campus radio station, associate editor of the Nassau LitMagazine, served on the editorial board of the campus newspaper, and made many, many friends.

Lew even then was know for his audacity, ambition and outspokenness.  He organized a well-regarded and well-attended community wide "Poetry Weekend" introducing many of us to "beat poetry" and to the concept of "Cool". 

Lew was also very politically active and said about himself in our senior class book, The Nassau Herald, that he "planned a career in Civil Rights or teaching" and that he proclaimed that he was on the "radical left".  We should have known.

Today, Lew's close Princeton friends Jon Wiener and Paul Boorstin will read a tribute from another close Princeton friend, Jim Seymour.

Remarks by Jon Wiener

The only award greater than the Class of '66 Locomotive Award is the World Heavyweight Poetry Championship, and Lewis is the two-time winner of that.  He's also been a championship fundraiser for the LA River - first the Army Corps of Engineers approved a $19 million restoration plan for the river, and then last year the California state legislature approved $100 million for river restoration - which makes Lewis the most successful fundraiser in the class.  20 years ago he called restoration of the LA river "a 40-year art project."  I asked him recently how it was going, and he answered, "right on schedule."

Testimonial by Jon Seymour Read by Paul Boorstin '65

Lew, I wish I could be there this weekend for you, but prior engagements impinge - and travel even under the best circumstances has become more difficult at our age. The invitation itself, however, has cast my mind- what's left of it- back and back and back into the antediluvian when we first met. I can't remember that exact occasion, but I still remember well the first time I read one of your poems. One of its lines has stuck with me all these years: "Prayer wheels sparkle like many different colors cards-" The poem, if memory serves, was set at the Texas state fair, and it was a jolt. Muscular, direct, vivid- I knew at once that I - one of the few at Princeton in that era with aspirations to the literary life - could not match its power. A small seed of jealousy was planted-but it was a weak weed that emerged. We were still friends, and that was what mattered. Party time! We had a blast.

Further Remarks by Glenn: Recognizing Lewis's Accomplishments.

I will not remind you of what each of you so fully know about Lewis' accomplishments in the present.

I will not remind you of his books, poems and recordings.

I will not remind you about Lewis "with whiskey and wire cutters in hand cutting a hole in the surrounding fence" or about the Daub Monument and the recently dedicated Lewis MacAadams River Park.

No

I will not remind you that Lewis is the co-founder of the Friends of the Los Angeles River and of the hundred of thousands of volunteer man hours and of the hundreds of millions of dollars that are now changing not only the Los Angeles River, but also changing the Los Angeles Basin.

But, what I will say is to echo the words of those who watch all the rivers of America,

These leaders say what we at Princeton knew from day one. 

We knew then what they say now.  They say:

"Lew MacAdams is the real thing", and we need more Lew MacAdams. The world needs more Lew MacAdams.

Please stand with me and join  Classmates Viggo Bossrup and Rich Reinis in a loud " Princeton locomotive cheer for Lewis".

Leader: A Princeton Locomotive for Lewis MacAdams

HIP, HIP,

Crowd:
 (start slowly with Rah, then pick up speed)

'RAH! 'RAH! 'RAH!

TIGER! TIGER! TIGER!

SIS! SIS! SIS!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

BAHHHHHHHH.

MACADAMS,  MACADAMS, MACADAMS.