This is part five of a five-part Q&A on Thomas Pruner, a hiker who died while hiking on Santa Cruz Island in California. Kurt Johnson, a friend of Pruner and part of the group on Santa Cruz Island, took some time to answer questions from Hiker Hell.
To read the original story, click here.
HikerHell: What else would you like everybody to know about the group, the day’s events or Thomas Pruner?
Kurt: At the core of this group are four of us that have been friends since our college days at Cal Poly Pomona … about 30 years ago now. We are brothers. Over the years, each of us has invited other friends to join us in some of our adventures. Some people come and go, but a few, like the five other guys on this trip, really become part of the group. Chief among the guys that have become part of our group is Tommy Pruner. He is also our brother.
Tommy joined us over ten years ago, and I really can’t name a trip or get-together he’s missed since then.
Though not born in Hawaii, Tommy Pruner was every bit Hawaiian. His family is from the Islands, and he lived there for a great deal of his life. He was very proud of his Hawaiian heritage, and he was a model Hawaiian – a guy that was laid back and who loved the Islands, the sea, nature, family, friends and life.
I don’t believe that I know a more generous person. There wasn’t a thing that Tommy wouldn’t do for his family…and that’s exactly what he considered his friends to be.
Aside from my opinion of Tommy (and that of over a hundred others that attended his “paddle-out” memorial in the Pacific ocean last Thursday with very short notice), your readers should know that he was an avid outdoorsman. He never took anything in nature for granted. He was not arrogant about his abilities, but rather was disciplined and prepared.
Tommy Pruner left us two weeks ago, from atop a grass covered bluff on an island, underneath the Milky Way, the Big Dipper and Cassiopeia…and surrounded by his brothers. Perfect he’d say.
Just too soon.
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