Dick Redfield

Long-time Trail Conference member Dick Redfield passed away on August 17, 2006, after a seven-year battle with leukemia. Dick was an avid hiker, and a hard-working contributor to the hiking community in both physical and administrative capacities. Dick’s love of the outdoors was fostered and encouraged by his father, Emanuel (Manny) Redfield, a Conference member who was also active in the hiking community until his death in 1983. Dick spent countless volunteer hours at the Conference’s office in Manhattan, maintained trails, field-checked maps, and developed and blazed the original route of the Wyanokie Crest Trail. He maintained that trail for many years even though it was a long distance from his home in Westchester County. In 1991 he was awarded the Trail Conference’s Certificate of Appreciation for his work.

Dick was previously part of the trail crew that developed several sections of the Appalachian Trail in the Dutchess and Putnam areas, and until his death he continued to work as a corridor monitor on the Graymoor section of the AT. He helped revitalize the Briarcliff-Peekskill Trailway for Westchester County; and he worked with the Westchester Trails Association in various capacities over the years since he joined in 1975, as an officer, board member, Conference delegate, membership chair, and trails chair. WTA members remember him as courteous, sensitive, kind, generous with his time, an outstanding classical pianist, and the baker of the best cheesecakes to ever grace the tables of their annual meetings and holiday parties.

Dick is survived by his wife, Eileen West, whom he married at Acadia National Park in Maine during a hiking vacation. Together they completed the Appalachian Trail (as the Sundown Duo) in 2001, and later Vermont’s Long Trail in 2003. They were early Long Path end-to-enders, completing that Trail in 1995.

Dick is also survived by a brother, William Redfield; and by cousins and extended family who mourn his loss. His parents, Emanuel and Mildred Redfield, predeceased him. Dick’s ashes are interred at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, but the memory of his kind heart and gentle soul will live on forever.

Eileen West and Dick taken after 8 years
of section hiking the AT.

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