Naked Ed: Keeper of Lilly Springs
John Edward “Naked Ed” Watts was born with osteogenesis imperfecta, also known as brittle bone disease. This disease made it too dangerous for him to work and he was put on government disability. Unable to work, Naked Ed wondered what he would do with his life. The answer came when he canoed down the Santa Fe River and came across Lilly Spring. Despite all of the trash, Naked Ed fell in love with the area. He has since dedicated the last 23 years of his life to preserving Lilly Spring. As the caretaker, he has cleaned up the area and restored it to its nature state.
What a wonderful story — some people really understand what life is about — keeping us healthy and safe rather than greed and shopping. Georgia Rolfe
I met Ed several years ago, far to long ago to mention here. While he came across as someone that was about ready to get a shot gun out and run us off, we talked with him a while (my buddy and I) and asked if it was ok to hang out and rest and cool off a bit. “As long as you aren’t going to tear things up and throw your trash around, it would be ok.”, he said watching us with a hawk eye to see if we meant what we said when we assured him that we picked up more trash than we ever left behind. We rested the kayaks and had a nice little swim and a snack..picked up every inch of our leave behinds and talked with Ed for a while about his life at Lilly Spring. Lovely place that is, and I hope to go through *that* experience a few more times!
I love it!
I have much to say about this naked Ed! I have known him for many years and know for a fact he is a thief, a squatter and likes children too much! My husband and I lived on this site for many months, are good friends with the true owner of the property and find it a disgrace that naked Ed is protected by so many people. Look into his true background and you will find that I am right. He should be thrown off the land and thrown into jail, not praised as if he was someone important