Dustin S. Pease ’60 died on October 21, 2021, in Rockland, Maine
(The following was provided by the Penobscot Bay Pilot on November 6, 2021)
Dustin S. Pease ’60
Dustin Stuart Pease was born in Providence, Rhode Island, to Christopher Dyer Pease Jr. and Barbara Dustin Ballou. He graduated with honors from Barrington, Rhode Island, high school, attended Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, graduated in 1962 from the University of Rhode Island and, in 1965, received a master of arts in Economics from the Claremont Graduate School in California.
He always spoke of Maine as his spiritual home and lived for a total of more than twenty years in the state. While in Maine he worked at the Public Affairs Research center at Bowdoin College, was the Community Action Program Director for Washington County in the late 1960s, was elected selectman/assessor in Gouldsboro in 1974, earned the Certified Maine Assessor designation, and was appointed Single Professional Assessor for Eddington where he revalued the town single-handedly from 1977 to 1979.
Mr. Pease joined the USDA Forest Service in 1978. He was assigned first to the Northeast Experiment Station at the University of Maine in Orono, and later became a realty specialist for the Hiawatha National Forest in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. While in the Escanaba, Michigan, area, Mr. Pease and his wife at the time, Susan, helped found the well-known traditional music venue, Delta Friends of Folk, which continues to bring entertainers to that region. In 1987, he transferred to the US Fish and Wildlife Service working as a senior realty specialist out of its southeast regional office in Atlanta, Georgia. Over the course of his twenty-two year career Mr. Pease acquired over 60,000 acres which became part of either the national forest or national wildlife refuge systems.
In retirement, Mr. Pease revived acquaintance with a hometown friend of forty years earlier, Joanna Mather Pinkham and, with her, returned to Maine where the two settled in Waldoboro and built upon their mutual love of folk music. They were known locally as “Dusty and Joanna” and appeared at many venues in the mid-coastal area. Mr. Pease was accomplished on autoharp, guitar, mandolin and kazoo.
He had a beautiful singing voice as well.
Mr. Pease was an avid sailor and could often be found single-handing his sailboat, Duet, somewhere along the Maine coast. He will be remembered by many for his keen sense of humor. He could make everyone laugh with just a facial expression or a joke. He loved to make pies and eat them too! He found great satisfaction in working with firewood and sitting by the warm wood stove on cold nights. He loved watching the many birds that came to his feeder and he creatively protected their food from squirrels.
He was a great photographer with an excellent eye for an interesting picture.
Besides his beloved life’s companion, Ms. Pinkham, Mr. Pease leaves a son, Matthew Seamus Pease; a brother, Jonathan Christopher Pease; as well as his nieces and nephews and his many friends.