"I want you to know that I really don't feel I have done anything so special. It's just that we all have a special mission and that is to help each other. And I just hope I can always be there to do that." - Lt. Col. C. Denise Edwards, Los Angeles Times, March 24, 1993

WMS was saddened to learn of the passing of longtime WMS member C. Denise Edwards, FAWM. Lieutenant Col. Edwards was an incident commander for Search and Rescue (SAR) and a colonel in the USAF Auxiliary Civil Air Patrol. She was involved in numerous SAR operations and a SAR instructor. She worked with Homeland Security and was a pilot and aircrew member for Counter Drug and Border Patrol. A few of her past positions included Director of Emergency Services-California Wing, Los Angeles Community College instructor and Red Cross and FEMA instructor. Lt. Col. Edwards published books and manuals for the Civil Air Patrol and wrote and lectured on wilderness medicine topics. Her meritorious awards and commendations were numerous and included the 2007 California Disaster Relief Award, and the Meritorious Service Award and Commander Commendation. She was awarded the WMS Warren D. Bowman Award in 2010 for outstanding contributions in wilderness medicine education to students, members and the public. At the 30th Annual WMS Summer Conference, Edwards was presented with a special recognition for her many contributions to the field of wilderness medicine and to the Wilderness Medical Society.

Timothy Danforth Baker, MD, MPH, a professor of international health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHSPH), died Tuesday, December 17, 2013 at the age of 88. Baker was a graduate of Baltimore Polytechnic Institute and earned a BS in biology at Johns Hopkins University, an MD at the University of Maryland, and an MPH from JHSPH. He pursued advanced medical training at St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London and University Hospital in Baltimore. Baker began his public health career as a district health officer in New York State, and then went on to fight malaria in India and Ceylon. During the 1960s, Baker co-founded the world’s first academic department of international health and founded the general preventive medicine residency program. Baker was instrumental in building the Department of International Health. Baker’s significant impact on public health was recognized in 1993 with the lifetime achievement award from the American Public Health Association, for which he served on the Governing Council and chaired both the Epidemiology Section and the International Health Section. His favorite pastime was turning the minerals he found into jewelry for family and friends.