Category Archives: Tributes

Tributes to friends and love ones we’ve lost.

Farewell to a Wonderful Friend – Bette Morris of Grand Isle, Vermont

We were saddened last week to learn of the passing of our dear friend Bette Morris of Grand Isle, Vt. Bette and her husband, John, are well known on the Northeast atlatl circuit. John is an avid competitor and atlatl demonstrator/instructor. Bette didn’t compete but she spent hundreds of hours supporting John at atlatl events and teaching probably hundreds of people how to use the atlatl. As short a time as this past September and October, Bette could be seen at atlatl events in Vermont, Connecticut and New York spending hours out on the atlatl range.
Bette was an amazing women with just as many amazing talents. When we first met her, we found out she raised silk worm caterpillars for their silk and then used the silk for a variety of projects. Then as we got to know her better, we found out she was a prolific artist, quilt maker, herbalist, dancer and on and on. She was a person with an unquenchable curiosity and huge creative skills. She was always working on one project or another. At her funeral, her paintings were hung throughout the room. On top of that, Bette could enthrall us with her humorous stories. We will miss her and her kind concern for everyone. We feel very fortunate that Bette and John came into our lives the last few years and treasure their friendship.

Farewell to two atlatl friends

We were sorry to learn in the past few days of the deaths of Atlatl and Bow Maker Lou Becker of Michigan and Atlatl maker and artist Chuck Burtorajac of Pennsylvania. Both gentleman have been known in the atlatl community for many years.
We were privileged to first meet Lou in the early 90s at one of the first atlatl contests we hosted at the Waterman Center in Apalachin, NY. Bob Berg and Lou Becker went on one of the earliest known modern atlatl hunts of wild boar in Georgia in the early 90s. It was Lou Becker who inspired Bob Berg to believe that atlatls could be revived as a modern hunting weapon.
We first met Chuck (known to many as “half-beard” because of his signature look) at an atlatl contest at Borderlands farm in New Jersey also in the 1990s. He quickly became a fan of the atlatl and made it to many contests and shows before health problems curtailed traveling.
Both Chuck and Lou were early supporters of the atlatl and contributed greatly to the resurgence of the atlatl. They will both be missed. Our condolences to their families and friends.

Upcoming Events:
We will be at two places this weekend: Connecticut and Maine. Check out our previous post for details. We will post further updates on Wednesday.