Lois W. Kelley – March 11, 1924 – December 25, 2018
It was with sadness that we recently learned that Lois Kelley, former and first Director of the James L. Goodwin Conservation Center, died on December 25, 2018 in the 94th year of a very full life. Serving from 1970 to 1986, she was affectionately referred to as “Mother Nature”, and was one of Goodwin Forest’s dearests “Friends”. After retiring from the position, she brought her considerable knowledge to Old Sturbridge Village as a featured performer and interpreter for over 20 years, eventually moving to Indian Lake, New York to be closer to family. Yet it doesn’t seem as if she ever really left us, with such an indelible mark remaining on our environment, in the hearts of all who knew her, and on the pages of The Hampton Gazette.
A member of the Editorial Board from 1995 to 2000, she contributed over 70 articles from 1978 to 1999, including one in the very first issue of the Gazette called “The Bear Truth” where she reported on rumored sightings. In our anniversary year, we’ve repeatedly celebrated her presence here in Hampton. Lois contributed articles of historical interest such as “Rivers, Bridges, Turnpikes and Trails — Travelling in Connecticut in Earlier Times”, and answered questions like “Where are all the Mocking Birds?” and “Winter Ice – What’s Safe?” She researched “Thanksgivings Past” and “Christmas through the Ages”, provided gardening advice and advocated for conservation. She wrote several articles on our natural treasures – the Little River, Trail Wood, and Goodwin, describing “the primordial feeling” of canoeing on the lake within fall’s flame of “russet, dusty rose, yellow ochre, burnt umber, sienna”. She was a gifted writer who gifted us with her words, enticing and welcoming us to the natural world.
“Lois and her husband Robert lived at Goodwin and greatly influenced me as a child and as an adult,” Jo Freeman says. “Lois was a wonderful teacher of the natural world and really wanted people to learn and experience all that was part of it.”
“On weekends I brought my children to Goodwin,” says Pete Vertefeuille. “Oftentimes Lois would come out to join us. She would tell us stories and help us identify all sorts of plants. Every trip out to Goodwin became an adventure. I believe it was a way of life for her.”
This sense of adventure carried through her entire life, Marcia Kilpatrick says, noting her “bravery” in moving and building a new house in her very advanced years. And a new garden.
Lois inspired nature enthusiasts and artists alike. She convinced Pete to give a presentation on photographing flora and fauna at the Conservation Center, which included a display of his photographs and a hands-on demonstration in Goodwin Forest that motivated others. It was Lois Kelley who encouraged me to continue to write a garden column with kind words for which I am forever indebted. It’s no small accomplishment to preserve someone’s natural artist, or some place’s natural art. A published poet, “Elegy to a Wild Cherry” is one of her award winning verses on nature. Originating from her life at Goodwin, Lois said that it was the most difficult, and the last poem, she would ever write.
Our condolences to her family, her grandchildren and great grandchildren, her son, Robert, and her daughter, Daisy, who, we’re told, considered Lois’s passing on Christmas as a gift: paper whites were blooming on the kitchen table, there were two baskets of bulbs under the Christmas tree, carols were heard from the street and the residents’ lights illuminated the cold star lit night.
“I agree with Daisy,” Jo says. “Perfect timing for this diminutive dynamo of a woman.”
Lois suggested donations to a local soup kitchen in her memory, or make a good soup to share.