Tom Abbot, dedicated to bay preservation
AS A KID growing up in Wynnewood, Tom Abbott got to spend his summers in the idyllic environs of Waquoit, Mass., where boating, fishing and other water activities were available.
AS A KID growing up in Wynnewood, Tom Abbott got to spend his summers in the idyllic environs of Waquoit, Mass., where boating, fishing and other water activities were available.
As a result, Tom became a conservationist, dedicated to the preservation of the Waquoit Bay, upon which, as he grew older, he became as much at home, or maybe more at home, than on land.
Thomas William Osler Abbott, scion of a prominent Philadelphia medical family who had a number of jobs in the Falmouth, Mass., region and was an Army veteran of the Korean War, died Feb. 15. He was 81 and lived in Waquoit.
He was born in Philadelphia to Dr. William Osler Abbott, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylania Medical School, and the former Lucy Waldo.
His father died of leukemia in 1943 at age 40. His grandfather, Dr. Alexander Crever Abbott, was a professor of hygiene and botany at Penn and a member of the Philadelphia Board of Health. He died in 1935.
Tom grew up in Wynnewood and graduated from Episcopal Academy. He spent summers in Waquoit, where his father had a summer home.
He received a bachelor's degree in history from the University of North Carolina in 1951.
He was just 14 when he began working summers on the Marine Biological Laboratory collecting crew on Waquoit Bay.
Tom entered the Army in 1952, and married his wife, the former Jayne Berguido, of Haverford, before he went overseas. He served in Army security, stationed for two years in Hokkaido, Japan.
After his discharge, he and his wife moved to Cambridge, Mass., where he went to work for what became known as Conrad and Chandler's department store in Boston. He worked 17 years as a buyer and manager.
When the store closed in 1971, the Abbotts moved to Waquoit Village in Falmouth, "fulfilling Tom's lifelong dream of living in the place where he had spent so many happy summers," his family said.
After moving to Falmouth, Tom worked in several boatyards before moving to the Cotuit Oyster Co., where he spent 10 years. He then worked for seven years at the Wood Lumber Co. until his retirement.
Tom was a skilled coastal pilot "with an abidingly confident air when afloat, whether sailing, rowing or under power," his family said.
He was very involved in a variety of volunteer activities in Falmouth. He was a member of the town meeting, and was former chairman of the Falmouth Conservation Commission. He served on the town's original sewer advisory committee.
He was Falmouth's representative on the South Cape Beach Advisory Committee, and was a director of the Association for the Preservaton of Cape Cod.
Tom helped plan for the Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, and served for years as a member of its advisory committee.
He was a member of the steering committee of Citizens for the Protection of Waquoit Bay for 25 years.
"He will be sorely missed as a humble but amazing problem-solver, building and fixing things in creative ways," his family said.
Besides his wife, he is survived by a daughter, Kathy; two sons, Peter and Alex; two sisters, Sandy McLean and Fen Green, and two grandchildren.
Services: A celebration of his life was held yesterday at his home in Waquoit.
Donations may be made to Hospice and Palliative Care of Cape Cod, www.hospicecapecod.org, or to Citizens for the Protection of Waquoit Bay, waquoitbayreserve.org, or the 300 Committee Land Trust, www.300committee.org.