Missing poet Craig Arnold remembered at memorial in Laramie, Wyo.

Memorial for missing poet held in Wyo.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Friends, relatives and colleagues in Wyoming paid their respects to an award-winning poet who went missing in April while hiking in Japan.

Forty-one-year-old University of Wyoming professor Craig Arnold vanished while hiking a volcano on a remote Japanese island. Searchers looked for Arnold for weeks before relatives finally gave up hope of finding him alive.

Peter Parolin, chairman of the UW English Department, remembered Arnold on Wednesday as a “complicated man” who “lived abundantly and well.”

Arnold published two award-winning collections, “Shells” in 1999, and “Made Flesh,” last year. Survivors include his 15-year-old son, Robin, parents John and Judy Arnold, and brother Chris Arnold.