John W. DuVall 1928—2002
John W. DuVall They say that heaven is 10 zillion light years away And just the pure at heart will walk her righteous streets someday... –Stevie Wonder It is with great sadness that I report the passing of one of the herb world's finest, John Warren DuVall. A pioneer, a bit of a rebel, and a dear friend, John will be sorely missed by all who knew him. Dissatisfied with his job in the pharmaceutical industry, he always felt natural products held great promise, so he purchased a then-small herb shop, Herb Products, in North Hollywood, California, in 1972. He married his wife, Betty, in 1977 and together they built the business. The shop still stands today, now one of the largest in Southern California, selling herbs, teas, essential oils, extracts, hopes, and dreams. John had a gift for formulating. It was as if he had an inner voice pushing him toward new and uncharted territory. The ultimate tinkerer, he'd work in the back of the shop. He'd research, create, and then test. He'd improvise, refine, and perfect until he was satisfied that his formula was just right. He was rarely satisfied though, as he often revisited formulas, altering and improving them. All this was done as a personal goal or to help others with their formulating. "You could count on John to come up with a new twist on an old formula, or to introduce a new concept altogether,"said former herb and supplement manufacturer Dick Marconi. "I knew him for over 30 years, and he was a great herbalist, but he was a friend first. Always a friend first." John's needs were simple. As herbalist and author Jeanne Rose points out, "He just loved helping people."Good friends since 1973, Jeanne remembers him as a real gentleman, who also loved a good dirty joke! He was also very encouraging and supportive of her work. "In 1986", she said, "I had become very ill, and he helped me by buying cases and cases of my books. That's how he was. He wouldn't just offer money to me, but he found a way to make sure I was okay." He did that a lot. Just making sure everyone around him was okay. A father of three children, John's first two kids were adults before his youngest, Elizabeth, was born. Though he shared a special bond with all of his kids, he once said that Elizabeth's arrival had changed his life and given him a renewed sense of purpose. When she went through the usual teenage angst, he stayed close to her side, just making sure she was okay. World-renowned ethnobotanist Jim Duke had this to offer: "My good friend John DuVall never joined me in the Amazon, but he sent some very interesting envoys, including his wife Betty. Yep, John never joined me in the Amazon, except in spirit. And what an aroma-thematic spirit! John once gave me his new formula to repel those Amazonian bugs, but the bugs there didn't bother me, except at one prodigious place where my Shaman, Antonio Montero Pisco had his spiritual offerings. Antonio had picked that place because there were live animals there, assembled by the forest spirits. There were the cayman, the boa, and at night the big cats hunting the little deer. And the deer fly even annoyed me there. At that special place, the screaming pija chants loudly but secretively, even when Antonio and his ayahuasca smoke, and other forest spirits were not there. "On this one trip, Antonio had a bright red baseball hat that was solid with deer flies and sweat bees. I put a drop of John's new repellent on the red hat. Moments later there was a red bull's-eye where John's formula had immediately repelled the critters, more dramatically than the dreaded synthetic DEET, forming a perfect red circle of repellency with just one tiny drop. "That night, Antonio dreamed of John's formula and confided to me the next morning, 'Your friend, Betty's husband [Betty DuVall was along on this trip], has corralled the good spirits of the world in this formula.' He was right in a way. There was almond from the Mediterranean, citronella from the Orient, possibly catnip from Europe and pennyroyal from America. So after his dream Antonio approached, stealthy as a cat in his bare feet. He said in Spanish, 'But Jim, this is no repellent, it is a pusanga , a love potion, that attracts loving people to the wearer.' "My shaman, like John, was so often right. Those very aromatic spirits that repel the insects are most attractive to us humans and sometimes other 'higher' animals, like the cat. So John's benevolent herbal spirits co-mingled with his own, there in the rainforest of Loreto. Physically, John never joined us there. Spiritually, he will join us on our next trip, and will join Antonio in singing the song of the mucurita ( Petiveria alliacea ). He'll enjoy a spiritual trip more than he would have a physical trip. Bad bugs don't bite good spirits, but good spirits come to celebrate good spirits. Welcome, John, from the great green spirits of the rain forest." When they knew the end was near, Jeannie Rose made him promise that he would continue to do his work from here all the way to heaven. She told him, through her tears the last time they spoke, that we need him now more than ever. If Stevie Wonder (another DuVall fan and devotee) is right, and heaven is 10 zillion light years away, then we can all feel a little safer knowing that John is up there tinkering away. — Cynthia Simons |