Asheville Zen Tubing proprietor Heath White dies; Remembered as ‘steward’ of French Broad River
ASHEVILLE – Heath White, founder and proprietor of Zen Tubing, one of many greatest names in outside recreation in Western North Carolina, died Dec. 11 from coronary heart transplant issues two weeks after surgical procedure. He was 54.
White and his spouse and enterprise accomplice, Jennifer “Jen” Ditzler, have been the forces behind Asheville’s first tubing clothes shop.
Ditzler, co-owner of Zen, died two years earlier, in February 2021, of cancer after “two brave battles with the illness,” starting in 2017, in keeping with earlier Citizen Occasions reporting. She was 48.
White, an Asheville native, grew up on the water. What would comply with was a lifetime spent encouraging others to do the identical — a steward of the French Broad River in a time earlier than flotillas of vibrant tubes have been a standard sight drifting across the lazy bends that traverse town’s River Arts District.
Zen Tubing began as a lacking area of interest, the Citizen Occasions beforehand reported, as White and Ditzler watched the river rebound from its industrial air pollution days, fish and wildlife returning, artist studios opening alongside its financial institution, a need to get out on the water renewed.
Aubrey Anderson, White’s sister, instructed the Citizen Occasions that his love for the river started within the early ’70s, days spent kayaking and canoeing down the French Broad with their father. It grew right into a ardour for whitewater and outside journey. He labored as a raft information throughout the nation for a number of years and in 2000, White began Huck Finn Rafting in Scorching Springs, a business rafting enterprise, which closed earlier than Zen’s opening.
“He is run each river on this space, and greater rivers out west,” Anderson stated. Regardless that she did not share the identical thrill for whitewater, “I trusted Heath.”
“He took me down many rivers. We went down the Nantahala collectively, we went down the Ocoee, we went down the Nolichucky. He was nice. He was simply such a pure on the water. You simply felt completely comfortable, completely snug with him,” Anderson stated.
In March, White got down to do The Nice Loop, a year-long, almost 6,000 mile journey by the Jap United States and Canada’s interconnected water passages. He bought a 43-foot trawler, dubbed “Innertube,” and began within the Florida Keys, touring north up the Intracoastal Waterway and alongside the East Coast, and west to the Nice Lakes.
Anderson stated he made it somewhat over midway earlier than well being considerations drew him dwelling in October. He spent the summer season on Lake Michigan, and “completely loved every step of the best way.”
“That was considered one of his desires,” stated Karin Von Dohlen, basic supervisor of Zen Tubing. It was a “nice journey for him,” she stated. “A means for him to share his ardour and love for the outside and water,” from Asheville, the French Broad and past.
White had a congenital coronary heart defect his complete life, Anderson stated. When he launched into The Nice Loop, he had a left ventricular help system, or “LVAD,” a synthetic pump implanted within the chest. It was at all times meant to be a bridge to a transplant, she stated.
When White got here dwelling to Asheville in October, he was hospitalized at Mission earlier than being transferred to the Medical College of South Carolina, the place he had the transplant in late November. Anderson stated he by no means regained consciousness after surgical procedure.
“The minute he acquired his coronary heart, he wished to get again on The Nice Loop,” she stated. “He lived life to the fullest.”
‘Bigger than life’
White and Ditzler launched Zen Tubing in 2012. They first met 20 years in the past when he was a raft information, on a whitewater journey down the French Broad River in Scorching Springs. Ditzler was on a solo day journey whereas on a enterprise journey in Charlotte. She lived in Houston on the time.
The 2 fell in love on the river, took up a long-distance relationship, acquired married in 2008, took many multiday journeys down the massive rivers of the West just like the Inexperienced in Utah and the Grand Canyon’s Colorado, then opened what was to develop into the wildly well-liked Zen Tubing rental and river shuttle enterprise.
It started in Bent Creek, close to the place White grew up, and later expanded to 2 areas, with one in “midtown” on Riverside Drive, the place the long-lasting mascot, a meditating inexperienced frog atop an innertube, is seen from the roadway.
Von Dohlen remembers the primary time they met a decade earlier than. She and her husband Ray, who’s now the operations supervisor at Zen Tubing, have been bringing White their resumes. He pulled as much as the midtown location in a “nice outdated truck” crammed to the brim with ramps from a visit out to Avery County.
Speaking to him, he was “tremendous right down to earth.” After the dialog, he provided them ramps, “and I used to be like, ‘I’ll love this man.'”
“His aim was to make the French Broad River accessible to anybody,” no matter age or barrier. At Zen, they’ve folks tubing with them of their 90s, she stated. It is “such an ideal lazy river expertise.”
He was “bigger than life,” she stated, a remark echoed by Anderson. “For those who’ve lived in Asheville for any size of time, you in all probability know who he’s.”
For White and Ditzler, Zen was about greater than getting folks on the river to go tubing, Von Dohlen stated — “It is about educating folks about why this river is such an ideal useful resource.”
White was concerned with RiverLink, the Western North Carolina Alliance and Asheville GreenWorks, according to his obituary. Zen Tubing is a longtime sponsor of GreenWorks’ Trash Trout, a tool arrange on Hominy Creek to catch particles earlier than it may well enter the French Broad River.
Extra: Asheville GreenWorks’ Haw Creek Trash Trout replaced after thieves destroyed one
He additionally cherished vehicles, Anderson stated, particularly VWs. He based Volkswagen Revival, a cruise occasion for charity, which donates all proceeds to Black Mountain Residence for Youngsters.
“He was larger than life, he actually was,“ Anderson stated. “He was an enormous character and so many individuals actually cherished him. He’s undoubtedly going to be missed.”
When she thinks about him, Von Dohlen stated she remembers considered one of White’s favourite sayings: “You need to end one earlier than you begin one other.”
“Whether or not that’s a job, a season, a trip, a drink. Earlier than you can begin one other one, you’ve acquired to complete what you’ve acquired,” she stated. It could be one thing he would say on the finish of tubing’s all-too-brief seasons: do not mourn the ending of this one. One other will start subsequent yr.
A Celebration of Life Service is scheduled for two p.m., Dec. 27 at Glory Tabernacle Church on Sweeten Creek Highway. The household asks that in lieu of flowers, donations could also be made to Black Mountain Youngsters’s Residence at www.blackmountainhome.org.
Extra: Zen Tubing owner Jen Ditzler dies, leaves legacy of environmental stewardship
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Sarah Honosky is town authorities reporter for the Asheville Citizen Occasions, a part of the USA TODAY Community. Information Suggestions? Electronic mail shonosky@citizentimes.com or message on Twitter at @slhonosky. Please assist native, day by day journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Occasions.
This text initially appeared on Asheville Citizen Occasions: Asheville Zen Tubing owner Heath White dies steward of French Broad
