Date: 10/13/25 2:41 am From: Leslie Kramer <kramer.lf...> Subject: [MASSBIRD] Fwd: [NHBirds] The passing of Don Stokes
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: 'Steve Mirick' via NHBirds <nhbirds...>
Date: Sun, Oct 12, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Subject: [NHBirds] The passing of Don Stokes
To: NHBirds <nhbirds...>
It is with great sadness that I post the passing of Don Stokes. Don and
Lillian lived in SW New Hampshire in latter years and for a while and I
believe were somewhat regular on Pack Monadnock. I can not add to the
fantastic tribute given to him by his wife Lillian.
Steve Mirick
Bradford, MA
10/7/25 - On a beautiful October day, after a
harvest-full-moon-Great-Horned-Owls-calling night, my beloved husband, Don,
age 78, died, then a Raven flew over my head. After a long 9-year decline,
Don died of Lewy Body Dementia in a dementia facility he had been in for
three plus years. I was with him in the afternoon, and even though he was
unconscious, I think he heard me when I asked for two things: that he wait
to die until my daughter got there (she did, and my son had visited in the
morning) and that he send me a Raven, his favorite bird, after he died.
After I had visited him, I had to run an errand, and my daughter, who was
with him, then called to say he was gone. I drove back, and when I pulled
into the parking lot and got out of the car, a Raven swooped down, flew low
right over my head, and landed briefly on a nearby building, and then was
gone. Rest in peace, Don, may you fly with the Ravens.
You all know him as a loving, kind, humorous, gifted teacher and deeply
spiritually connected to nature. In place of a formal obit, let me tell you
some things about Don you may or may not know.
Don was born in Philadelphia into a Quaker family and went to Germantown
Friends School, then Swarthmore College, majoring in Comparative Religions.
He was a talented musician who could sing, play the piano, and was an
excellent tabla hand drum player. He even spent time in Calcutta, India,
studying with a tabla guru there.
After college, Don moved to Berkeley, California, and in the hills kept
careful and beautiful journals of the nature he encountered. He soon
realized he was seeing things that little was known about. That planted the
seed that later led him to begin writing about nature. After returning to
Massachusetts, he taught at the Warehouse Cooperative School, where he met
Bill Phillips, an editor at Little, Brown and Company/Hachette, whose
daughter attended the school. Bill accepted Don's first book, Nature in
Winter, and went on to become Don's editor for many years.
Don then began teaching at the Massachusetts Audubon Society and was in the
process of writing a bird behavior guide when he met Lillian (already an
avid hawk-watcher who came from a background in animal behavior and
psychiatric social work), who took his course on Bird Behavior. As they
say, the rest is history. Don and Lillian got married and over more than 30
years produced 35 Stokes Guides, including 3 volumes on bird behavior
(instrumental in introducing a holistic approach to birds), backyard books
such as the Bird Feeder, Hummingbird, and Bluebird books, beginner's
guides, and the national The Stokes Field Guide to Birds of North America.
Stokes' books have sold over 6 million copies. Don and Lillian produced and
hosted the first PBS national television series on birds, Birdwatch with
Don and Lillian Stokes, as well as Stokes Birds at Home, which 40 million
viewers saw. They gave keynote talks and taught at birding festivals and
Audubon societies across the country for many years. They were Duck Stamp
Judges and received a Partners in Flight National Conservation Award. Don
belonged to many nature and conservation organizations, including the
Nuttall Ornithological Club.
Befitting his beautiful, spiritual side, Don was a student of Haiku poetry,
writing it for many years. Here is a fitting example.
Entering the wilds
Equipped to look at nature –
Wait! I am nature.
Don will be buried at Mt. Auburn Cemetery in MA (a famous birding hotspot)
on Goldfinch Path (how fitting!!). There will be a private family
Celebration of Life as per his wishes. If you would like to do something in
remembrance of Don, send a contribution to the nature, birding, or
conservation organization of your choice. Thank you.
