My friend Carlos Espinosa died a couple of weeks ago, and we had his memorial service today. His daughter-in-law sang an unattributed song called "Far-Off Shore," and I kept wondering where I'd heard it. Kate Wolf came to mind, but it sounded too much like gospel to be Kate Wolf. Lo and behold, it WAS written by Kate. However, it sounds so much like a gospel song that I'm wondering if it's taken from a gospel song. Anyboy know anything more about the origins of this lovely song?
-Joe Offer-

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Far-Off Shore
(Kate Wolf)

Watching the sea 'till his days' work is done,
the boatman rows to the setting sun.
Catching his oars in the silver sea,
he leans on the wind as you lean on me.

Where the edge of the sea
turns from blue to green
There's a far-off shore
that we've never seen.

When the moon comes up in your sea-green eyes
and we sail away in the deep dark night
I can't tell where you leave off and I begin
Love is just a way of breathing out and in.
Chorus:

So cast away and both shall row
there's no telling how long or where we will go
Rock on the water, race with the sun
Follow your stars as they shine one by one.
Chorus:

© 1981 Another Sundown Publishing Co. (BMI)

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Click to play

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Carlos was a remarkable person, and I'd like you all to know a bit about him. Here's his obituary.

Carlos A. Espinosa
Born: Sept. 8, 1930
Died: April 6, 2004
By Edgar Sanchez -- Sacramento Bee Staff Writer - (Published April 21, 2004)

Carlos A. Espinosa, who contracted polio 50 years ago, drew on his experience to design parks and campgrounds that allowed the disabled to enjoy the state's great outdoors. Mr. Espinosa, who was a junior landscape architect and retired from the state Department of Parks and Recreation in 1987 after 24 years, died in a Sacramento hospital on April 6. He was 73. The cause was respiratory failure, his family said.
Married five times, Mr. Espinosa wed his current wife, Gail Ryall, March 13 in the hospital where he spent his last few weeks. "Carlos had an extraordinary ability to relate to people," Ryall said Tuesday. "He was able to interact with anybody. If people asked his help in anything, he was immediately ready to try and help."
A peace activist, Mr. Espinosa made friends everywhere, including in Cuba and other nations he visited, his son, Paul Espinosa, said. "He was a man with charisma," Espinosa said. "Everybody liked him."
Carlos Anselmo Espinosa was born in Los Angeles in 1930 to a father from Colorado and a mother from Arizona. When he was a teenager, his family moved to Huron, Fresno County (California).
After returning from a stint in the Navy, Mr. Espinosa contracted polio in January 1954. A doctor in Huron told him he had the flu. But within hours, Mr. Espinosa couldn't walk. That same day, Mr. Espinosa heard a radio report about a polio epidemic in San Francisco. Believing he had the same disease, he requested help from his first wife, Kathy Pugh. She drove him to a Fresno hospital, where he was diagnosed with polio. Within an hour, he was in an iron lung, a device that helped him breathe. Soon afterward, Mr. Espinosa lapsed into a weeklong coma. When he awakened, he could move only a couple of fingers, his neck and mouth. Released from the iron lung after five months, he was transferred to a San Francisco rehab center, where he stayed a year.
Afterward, Mr. Espinosa went door-to-door in his wheelchair, selling magazines. Within a few years, he was strong enough to walk with the use of crutches. During that time he received an associate's degree in drafting from San Francisco City College.
Mr. Espinosa began his career with the Department of Parks and Recreation in 1963, in Eureka. In 1964 he became a junior landscape architect. He moved to Sacramento in 1968 and soon after worked on pioneering projects that made the state parks more accessible to the disabled. Among these were specially designed restrooms, public phones and smooth trails. "Carlos worked tirelessly ... in the early days of accessibility requirements, before the (1990) Americans with Disabilities Act was passed," said HolLynn D'Lil, a local advocate for the rights of people with disabilities. "At the time, I worked in the state Department of Rehabilitation as an accessibility consultant," she said. "I provided information to Carlos on federal and state accessibility codes."
In the 1980s, Mr. Espinosa began using a power wheelchair after his body weakened further. "To him, polio was like an inconvenience," his son said. "It would be wrong to say that he 'battled' the disease."
Mr. Espinosa remained on good terms with all his ex-wives.
He was a member of the Sacramento Song Circle, a group of people who meet to sing folk songs.
Since 1992, he had visited Cuba 20 times, usually staying with friends he had made there. In 1993, Mr. Espinosa began publishing "Cubaletter," a newsletter that became a hit among fellow peace activists. "His newsletter told the real-life stories of people he knew in Cuba," said Daniel Bacher, a loyal reader. "Carlos spoke honestly about the good things - as well as the problems - of Cuban life."

Before he died, Carlos told our friend Alan, "I've done it all." Indeed, he did. His favorite song was the recording of "Today" by the New Christy Minstrels, but I won't hold it against him. My voice cracked when I sang it for him this morning, and I had a hard time getting through the chorus the last time.
I wish all of you could have known Carlos.
-Joe Offer-