Corvallis is a jewel box of a city, nestled in a green valley garlanded by the Willamette River, and Charles Robert Ross had a lot to do with that. This energy dynamo no longer resides among us; we lost Charlie Ross early Sunday morning after 97 years, to congestive heart failure.

Ross' life is a testimony to making the most of your time, all of the time. A forester by profession - first for the U.S. Forest Service, Oregon State University's School of Forestry and then for decades as an Extension Service agent - he was a visionary who led by example. He had the privilege in 1986 of thinning timberland that he'd thickly planted with Douglas fir decades before, tangibly demonstrating that forests could remain, even if some trees were removed.

At 80 years of age (80 years of age!) - when many people are in their second decade of retirement - Ross became a founding member of the Greenbelt Land Trust and took up the crusade to set aside the "handsomely wooded hillsides," wetlands and "high, serene vistas, visible for many miles" around Corvallis and Benton County. He was looking out for future generations.

He wrote in an August 1989 "As I see it" column explaining the Greenbelt Land Trust's goals: "I believe, as did the earlier inhabitants here, that our guardian spirits reside here."

His vision wasn't realized overnight, as a 1995 Gazette-Times article chronicled: "In 1978, Ross and his wife, Elsie, donated $125,000 toward the purchase of Chip Ross Park, which is named after their deceased son (who died at 16 of cystic fibrosis).

"Then Ross began badgering the City Council to start a formal program of purchases, using city tax money. In 1989, Ross helped found the Greenbelt Land Trust, a local group that is dedicated to saving open space around Corvallis.

"In 1993, Ross donated $75,000 to the city for future open space purchases. Ross' example, and the formation of the Greenbelt Land Trust, galvanized local open space advocates. More than 500 people are now dues-paying members of the group.

"Since 1989, The Greenbelt Land Trust has used private donations to buy and give two parcels to local government: 40 acres on the west side of Bald Hill Park and a 160-acre addition to Benton County's Open Space Park."

The Rosses also helped to purchase the Fitton Green Natural area, named for his wife's family.

Ross had more than a legacy. He had a lifelong love. He and Elsie, 92, would have celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary in August.

Ross did not intend that no building ever would occur in Corvallis, but he saw that human beings thrive best in a green environment. Ross sought to preserve farmland close to town so that city inhabitants could remain connected to the land that sustains us, and so that children could enjoy the "harvest experience."

In many ways, he succeeded. We salute him for his long life, lived well.