<b>A Tribute To Seward Highley</b>
Seward Highley was a long-time and highly respected member of Millbrook's faculty from 1968-1987. We sadly announce his recent passing, and Jono Meigs '65, Director of the Trevor Zoo, offers the following tribute in his memory:
I’m not sure I ever saw Seward without a small pair of binoculars in his breast pocket. And I rarely had a conversation with him outdoors that wasn’t interrupted by a quick confirmation of a bird that had alerted him with a call. I think of myself as a birder, but I rarely heard or saw the bird in question. Seward loved birding, and he was a truly gifted birder.
I first met Seward on a visit back to Millbrook School in 1968, the year he took over the science department, biology, and the Trevor Zoo from Frank Trevor. I was in college, and all I knew about Seward was that, at age 36, he was a seasoned teacher with a scruffy beard. Little did I know that four years later I would return to Millbrook to work for this very special man. Never mind that he was not the one to hire me and had no idea what I was supposed to do. But ever affable and accommodating, he seemed happy enough to add me to the animal collection at the Trevor Zoo.
That was the beginning of a great partnership. We worked side-by-side on zoo projects until Seward’s retirement in 1987. Although I technically became director in 1977, our working relationship never shifted. We simply identified projects together and chipped away at them. We renovated old cages and constructed new ones. We even moved cages from other facilities. I remember once putting three large steel structures in the back of the school dump truck and heading out over the rolling hills of Dutchess County. Seward had said, “Shouldn’t we tie those down?” I gave the cavalier reply, “If we lose one, we lose them all.” We lost them all. I should have listened. It was always Seward’s approach to teach by suggestion. I would get better at listening.
When we weren’t building cages, we were building hundreds of feet of fence lines or repairing them, each of us cursing the sharp wires as we went. As the projects became more sophisticated, Seward’s knowledge of construction projects, based on his many summers of building houses, was invaluable. By the time he retired, we had built together the foundation that made possible the dramatic flowering of the Trevor Zoo in the 1990’s.
Perhaps my fondest memories of Seward emanate from our shared experience of taking Millbrook School students sailing in the Caribbean. We did four of those trips together, three in the British Virgin Islands and one in the Grenadines. From beginning to end, the experience was one of sheer joy for Seward, and that joy was contagious. He couldn’t get enough of the birds, the snorkeling, the sailing, the warm salt air. Sometimes I think he did get enough of a boatful of teenagers, and he would slip away to a beach bar to enjoy a smoke, a rum punch, and the local gossip. He had the gift of being able to strike up a conversation with anyone, and, when I looked at him so happily seated on a stool at the end of a bar, I often thought he might become a Caribbean beach bum when he retired from Millbrook.
Of course, I wasn’t far off. He retired to the beaches of his beloved Cape Cod and threw in a number of trips to the Dominican Republic in order to pursue his new found interest in whales. When he wasn’t collecting data for the Center for Coastal Studies or the International Wildlife Coalition, he was, of course, birding. He spent one of those years with two friends trying to set the record for the most birds observed in one year in the state of Massachusetts. The three of them were out birding every day for the entire year. They took only day trips but managed to crisscross the state many times as they chased down unusual sightings. My memory is that they didn’t get the record, and I know Seward was at least second to another member of his group because of some bird that refused to show itself on his side of the bush---on two separate occasions! Birding is only as legitimate as the people who play the game. It doesn’t matter if you know it’s there. If you don’t get an identifying view, you can’t count it.Seward always played by the rules. He was a man of integrity, but as importantly, he was generous of spirit. I loved being in his company. He made me feel good about the world, and, now that he is gone, that world has been diminished. I will certainly miss him.
Please click here for information on memorial services to be held on Saturday, September 19th on Cape Cod, MA.
The pictures below are of Seward Highly in his first year (left) and final year (right) at Millbrook.
Back
I’m not sure I ever saw Seward without a small pair of binoculars in his breast pocket. And I rarely had a conversation with him outdoors that wasn’t interrupted by a quick confirmation of a bird that had alerted him with a call. I think of myself as a birder, but I rarely heard or saw the bird in question. Seward loved birding, and he was a truly gifted birder.
I first met Seward on a visit back to Millbrook School in 1968, the year he took over the science department, biology, and the Trevor Zoo from Frank Trevor. I was in college, and all I knew about Seward was that, at age 36, he was a seasoned teacher with a scruffy beard. Little did I know that four years later I would return to Millbrook to work for this very special man. Never mind that he was not the one to hire me and had no idea what I was supposed to do. But ever affable and accommodating, he seemed happy enough to add me to the animal collection at the Trevor Zoo.
That was the beginning of a great partnership. We worked side-by-side on zoo projects until Seward’s retirement in 1987. Although I technically became director in 1977, our working relationship never shifted. We simply identified projects together and chipped away at them. We renovated old cages and constructed new ones. We even moved cages from other facilities. I remember once putting three large steel structures in the back of the school dump truck and heading out over the rolling hills of Dutchess County. Seward had said, “Shouldn’t we tie those down?” I gave the cavalier reply, “If we lose one, we lose them all.” We lost them all. I should have listened. It was always Seward’s approach to teach by suggestion. I would get better at listening.
When we weren’t building cages, we were building hundreds of feet of fence lines or repairing them, each of us cursing the sharp wires as we went. As the projects became more sophisticated, Seward’s knowledge of construction projects, based on his many summers of building houses, was invaluable. By the time he retired, we had built together the foundation that made possible the dramatic flowering of the Trevor Zoo in the 1990’s.
Perhaps my fondest memories of Seward emanate from our shared experience of taking Millbrook School students sailing in the Caribbean. We did four of those trips together, three in the British Virgin Islands and one in the Grenadines. From beginning to end, the experience was one of sheer joy for Seward, and that joy was contagious. He couldn’t get enough of the birds, the snorkeling, the sailing, the warm salt air. Sometimes I think he did get enough of a boatful of teenagers, and he would slip away to a beach bar to enjoy a smoke, a rum punch, and the local gossip. He had the gift of being able to strike up a conversation with anyone, and, when I looked at him so happily seated on a stool at the end of a bar, I often thought he might become a Caribbean beach bum when he retired from Millbrook.
Of course, I wasn’t far off. He retired to the beaches of his beloved Cape Cod and threw in a number of trips to the Dominican Republic in order to pursue his new found interest in whales. When he wasn’t collecting data for the Center for Coastal Studies or the International Wildlife Coalition, he was, of course, birding. He spent one of those years with two friends trying to set the record for the most birds observed in one year in the state of Massachusetts. The three of them were out birding every day for the entire year. They took only day trips but managed to crisscross the state many times as they chased down unusual sightings. My memory is that they didn’t get the record, and I know Seward was at least second to another member of his group because of some bird that refused to show itself on his side of the bush---on two separate occasions! Birding is only as legitimate as the people who play the game. It doesn’t matter if you know it’s there. If you don’t get an identifying view, you can’t count it.Seward always played by the rules. He was a man of integrity, but as importantly, he was generous of spirit. I loved being in his company. He made me feel good about the world, and, now that he is gone, that world has been diminished. I will certainly miss him.
Please click here for information on memorial services to be held on Saturday, September 19th on Cape Cod, MA.
The pictures below are of Seward Highly in his first year (left) and final year (right) at Millbrook.
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