Athena Scalise Cronk (now Waitt) was the first person to become the first full time staff member at Reef Relief beyond Craig and DeeVon.  Board member Eric McCarthy, a local Key West lawyer, said he had just the person and he was so right!  She entered the scene just as we began the effort in early 1990 to establish an environmental center on the boardwalk at the foot of William Street in Key West.  Athena was the one who organized our surroundings to become a functioning learning center; creating educational displays, establishing land-based programs, supporting Craig’s efforts on the reef for the mooring buoy program and coral surveys, as well as the myriad  membership and administrative activities involved in running a small nonprofit organization.  She was a god send.  Such a brilliant, open-minded, eager sea fan.  We were so fortunate!   I’ll never forget the time we were filming a television special when she interrupted the shoot to say, “The White House is on the phone.”  ‘Turns out we received a Point of Light Award.  The camera’s kept rolling as I took the call.   Athena remains a dear friend to both Craig and I today.  She is married to Colin Waitt, has two beautiful children, and lives in Virginia not far from D.C.

Athena and I  got together in Washington DC the last time I was there in the summer of  2009.