Letters

I would like to extend a most heartfelt thanks to Matko Tomicic for over two decades of fun at LongHouse Reserve. Jack Larsen, God bless him, chose Matko 26 years ago to run LongHouse Reserve and help Jack build it into a cultural organization supported and enjoyed by a worldwide network of friends and donors that Jack and Matko cultivated and brought together at LongHouse events and through trips, educational venues and symposiums that took place all around the planet.

I am so grateful to have been a part of this organization while Jack and Matko, two dynamic men, were developing LongHouse Reserve from concept into reality. Jack was a fine borrower of ideas and enjoyed the creativity of others, allowing the limelight to shine on others, like the participants in the Planters Exhibit or visiting artists.

Into his 90s Jack was productively engaged in making LongHouse a center of arts, education and horticultural, with presentations on the highest level. Matko was very much the conductor in orchestrating a symphony of talented, creative and interesting people whom visited from across the United States and around the world, all linked by the fine threads of friendship that Jack and Matko nurtured over the years, along with the garden. Matko and his staff made Jack’s ideas come to fruition and blossom, all the while encouraging so many other individuals to contribute to LongHouse and come together to enjoy the gardens and each other’s company.

Traveling with LongHouse built some long-term bonds among all of us. Over the course of a trip to Japan and another to Chicago, I came to nickname Matko “Fearless Leader.” An extraordinary itinerary was laid out and executed as smoothly as a hot knife passes through cold butter.

Matko has always shown that type of generosity of spirit and desire to connect people in ways that bring about a mutual delight in or a new understanding of the world and culture around us. I find him to have unrivaled social skills, an agile and brilliant mind, and a willing nature to fully engage with people of all kinds. Glitches and requests are opportunities to readjust, change direction, include everyone and reaffirm friendships. That ability is rare and valuable as a lesson in and of itself.

I have learned so much from my experiences traveling with him and the friends of Long House, however going to Croatia where Matko was born was beyond my expectations. The welcome from his family at their home clearly showed the origins of his dedication to gracious, generous hospitality.

Thank you, Matko — it has been grand. You have enhanced my life. I would love to follow you around the world again sometime soon.

April Gonzales

Southampton