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I'm sorry to have to tell you that Lou died of cancer this
afternoon, January 26, 2012, at 4:55 PM CST in Morrilton, Arkansas
at the River Chase Rehabilitation and Care Center where he had been
under hospice care since early September. He died peacefully, was
not in pain, and was surrounded by a small group of friends. A
memorial service is tentatively planned for 2:00 PM on Saturday,
February 4, at the Harris Funeral Home in Morrilton, AR.
Confirmation of the date and time will be in an obituary to be
posted in a day or two on the
Harris Funeral Home Web site If
I can provide additional information, please let me know.
Lou Farish
(pictured left) with his good friend Jerry Blackburn
If you cannot attend Lou's memorial service, but would like to send
me a short statement to be read at the service about how you knew
and/or will remember Lou, I will be glad to do that for you. We may
also include these statements in a program to remember Lou this
April at the Ozark UFO Conference in Eureka Springs. Also, if you
have any favorite photos of Lou that we can use in the service, I
would appreciate it if you would scan or photograph them and send
them to me, and especially any early photos from the 70s and 80s.
The photograph above is one of the last photos of Lou, taken with
myself outside the nursing home in mid-November.
Since Lou did not have a wife, children or siblings, he left his
estate, including 80 acres of land, to a trust to be used to
encourage UFO research and education through awards, fellowships and
mini-grants over the next several years.
Lou was one of the most interesting people I ever met, and like many
of you, I thought of him as one of my best friends. He was one of a
kind, and will be greatly missed, both as a person and for his many
contributions to ufology. His circle of friends goes far beyond the
e-mail list I'm sending this message to. If you have email
addresses for others who knew and cared about Lou, please forward
this message on to them.
–
Jerry Blackburn
An Aristocrat of
Values
By Vince White
I knew Lou for nearly 35 years. A mountain of
correspondence preceded our meeting face to face; this ethically
driven scholar of the strange planet we inhabit. His plain unadorned
visage, an Arkansas twang with curve that could saw stones, all
disarming and lulling the unwary from recognizing the high powered
analytical mind he possessed and used.
When exploring an obscure corner of the
phenomenon, he would amaze the unwary that he had diligently,
long in the past, made connections others would not see for
decades. His grasp included a mental "spider web" of people, cases
and connections covering the Earth.
It was an essential step to call or talk directly with Lou, and to
get a flavor of his deep intuition and insights that often cut
through swirling fogs of fantasy and popular stampedes to
reveal true order out of disorder. He seemed to be immune from herd
think. It cannot be overemphasized at how Lou was touching "live
wires" several times during our phone conversations. Voices would
sometimes intrude, the sounds of electronic beeps, switches and
muffled voices were often heard. And, once a voice actually
corrected a statement that Lou made, saying: "That is not true
– some are different." Suffice it to say: Lou had many sources.
This Arkansas living database seemed to know the most arcane
incidents and continued to be a rewarding delight; until his illness
cast a shadow on his personality, though his kindness never faded.
Lou was always a man for whom decency, generosity and unpretentious
essence were exceptional.
He contributed so much to a conference that was so deftly run with
his low-key approach, it beguiled many into thinking it was easy.
His work resulted in the annual
Ozark UFO conference that was
one of the finest gatherings anywhere.
Lou had an intuitive grasp early on of the vast scope required to
deal with and convey the multi-inter-discipline and eclectic nature
of the polymath theme topic. He saw almost all of the connected
subjects constituting the power that disclosure will be: a floodtide
of expanded reality, history and technology, including our past and
our future. His contacts were global and his knowledge encyclopedic,
until the last.
His inner fire was truth’s defense, and bouncing new puzzles off of
him was as regular as a clock. Lou also never hesitated to call a
cuckoo bird when one was sounding the alarm of nonsense. He seemed
as timeless as Arkansas rock, and if he had been born of wealth’s
old money, he could not have accomplished more. Lou was an
aristocrat of values that transcend our time. He straddled realities
with a noble view and with one foot in the far future.
I always asked about his many cats, each living
examples of Independence. They were "un-herdable" yet loyal beyond
words. Lou never forgot his loyalty to truth, and his reverence for
its finders and speakers. I miss him. I miss the man
– Lou Farish.
– Vince White, January 27, 2012
Vince White has been studying, researching, conferencing and
writing about UFOs for
decades. His academic background is in mathematics and physics.
Professionally and before retiring due to a disability, he was a
computer programmer for a defense contractor for the United States
Marine Corps.
To Read Loren Coleman's
Heartwarming Tribute to Lou Farish
please visit
Cryptomundo
To Read Gene Steinberg's Tribute
to Lou Farish please visit
The Paracast Forum
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