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Robert R. Stitt was born in 1941, the same year the NSS was born, and he spent a major portion of his adult life as a caver and NSS volunteer. Starting his caving in Montana, over the years Rob lived and caved in Washington, New Mexico, Sweden, Minnesota, and upstate New York. He's attended numerous Conventions, dragging his sister, wives, children, and grandchildren along to many of them while serving variously as NSS Conservation Chair, Board Member, Executive VP, and NSS President for many years. After all that, Rob served many more years as the Conservation and Management Section Chair, leading a team of early NSS speleologists who all used typewriters to pound out the correspondence that built the foundation of the American grass root cave and karst conservation efforts we participate in today. In 1970 Rob started writing cave ballads, and in 1972, he helped start the annual NSS Cave Ballad Contest that we continue to hold annually at our NSS Conventions. Rob and his grandson, Aslan Rife, will tell tales, sing some of Rob's cave ballads, and show some photos. Speleo Heritage Cheers to Rob and Aslan!
Aslan Rife