When George “Skip” Pakenham was young, it was a stretch to believe that one day he’d be a spokesperson for anything or achieve national stature. He suffered from severe stuttering, which shrouded at the time his extraordinary creative talents.

Pakenham started stuttering at age 10 and had an intense fear of speaking in class. He panicked to the point of asking his teacher, Miss Cooley, “Please don’t call on me!”

She obliged.

Pakenham was raised in Westfield, New Jersey, and has been a New York City resident for 45 years. It wasn’t until after college at the University of Arizona that Pakenham spoke with any confidence. He slowly found his voice, and today is a role model for perseverance and a clean environment.

But that’s just part of the story.

“The University of Arizona in Tucson opened my eyes to stunning nature—pristine mountains, beautiful cactus, and the purest air I’ve ever seen,” he says.

And he’s right. Skip and I—two Metro New Yorkers—met at the University of Arizona and traveled together back and forth through college as wide-eyed 20-year-olds, taking in along the way some of the finest national parks in America—Yellowstone, Montana’s Glacier National Park, Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park, Zion National Park, the Grand Canyon, and others. We slept in bedrolls under clear skies where one could see the Milky Way, looking as........

© Psychology Today