Above: Longtime SOLF President Whitney Beals died earlier this month. Last week, SOLF shared the news and honored his memory. (images from Facebook)
Last week, community members learned that resident Whitney Beals, President of the Southborough Open Land Foundation, died on September 14th.
His official obituary has yet to be posted, but the conservationist was honored in the Massachusetts Land Trust Coalition’s newsletter. (I’ll share their obituary below.) And on Saturday, the Pollination Preservation Garden at Beals Preserve was named in his memory.
On Friday morning, SOLF posted to Facebook MLTC’s recognition of Beals’ passing:
We are very sad to share that former President of SOLF and accomplished conservationist Whit Beals passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by his family, on September 14. His long career included work with the Connecticut DEP, the Roaring Brook Nature Center, the Nature Conservancy in Maryland and Boston, the Town of Wayland, Sudbury Valley Trustees, and the New England Forestry Foundation, from which he retired in 2019. He served as an Mass Land Trust Coalition (MLTC) Board member from 2011-2021, and was a current member of MLTC’s Conservation Advisory Council. He also served as President of the Southborough Open Land Foundation and was a member of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority’s Water Supply Citizens Advisory Committee for over 30 years. He was also the architect behind preservation of his family’s land – Chestnut Hill Farm in Southborough. In addition, Whit recently finalized a donation of 550 acres of beautifully managed forestland in Ashburnham to New England Forestry Foundation’s Pooled Timber Income Fund. The donation ensures the property will continue to be managed for forest products as it has been since 1920 and Whit’s two sons, as the designated beneficiaries, will receive a lifetime income stream from the Fund. Whit’s wisdom, positivity and support will be sorely missed. Arrangements are pending.
Within hours, they followed with an announcement that the Native Garden Tour & Plant Sale scheduled for the next morning would include a dedication of the Garden in his memory:
Please join us at 11:00 am as we honor Whitney Beals’ dedication and life passion for open space. Freddie Gillespie, Chair of the Southborough Open Space Preservation Commission and Sally Watters, SOLF Trustee, will present “The Whit Beals Garden – Biodiversity Through Pollination” to honor Whit who devoted much effort in recent years to help make this garden become a reality.
Yesterday, they posted photos by Joanne Hooker and Debbie Costine from the event, including the following:
Very sad to hear Whitney Beals has left us. He was a wonderful man and very dedicated to making Southborough a better town and helping to preserve the natural and rural setting that many of us love about our town. He knew that some people didn’t care about preservation and saw land only as something to exploit as best as possible with very little concern for the people who follow us. We will all miss Mr. Beals and the wonderful work he, his gracious wife and his family have done and hopefully will continue to do for Southborough and the positive use of our lands all over the United States.
Noone has done more to preserve out Town’s open spaces than Whitney. Despite 35 years spent working with him, all of which were a pleasure., he was so private that I and most acquaintances were not aware of his sickness. This town will benefit forever from the good graces of the Beals familly.
I grew up with Whitney here in Southborough. I have fond memories of being one of the “town girls” selected to be a dancing class partner for the boys at Fay School when Fay was only boys. We had the dancing class for a couple of years with the teacher, “Mr. Chanpagne”. Whitney and I touched base again while he and I were both in college in Boston. I lost touch with him until these last dozen years when we moved back to Southborough. His legacy of land preservation and his commitment to so many organizations will never be forgotten.
I’m very sad to hear of Mr. Beals’ passing. I didn’t know him very well personally, but I did get to interact with him during our committee work for the Town as were transitioning ownership of the Golf Course and securing its Conservation Restriction. I recall how helpful he was to us in this regard in navigating a positive way forward.
We all owe the Beals family a great deal of gratitude for their contribution to the betterment of Southborough.