Today was a mixture of wildlife and the Volunteer Appreciation Seafood Dinner. Many volunteers received appreciation awards for thousands upon thousands of time serving in various capacities within the Refuge area. Of interest was a special program paying tribute to Tom Atkinson who was the first Refuge Manager and architect of many of the developments within the Refuge. This is very not worthy that after World War II, Mr. Atkinson continued to actively serve the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at Wheeler and consulting at other sites even though he had been blinded and lost a hand as a result of explosion he was trying to prevent during that war. A lot is owed to him for his fore-thought involving a refuge for all forms of wild life.