Walter Brain was a close personal friend and mentor to many
people who study the life of Henry D. Thoreau, including myself.
He has touched and enriched all our lives and will be missed greatly.
Born in Lima, Peru in 1936, he attended universities in Lima
as well as the U.S., earning a Master’s Degree in Landscape
Architecture from Harvard University. The Thoreau Society was
fortunate to have Walter’s and poems appear in in its quarterly
Bulletin as well as in the Concord Saunterer. Walter also participated in
special events at Annual Gatherings and served as a member of its
Board of Directors.
Walter was a staunch advocate of the Walden Woods
Project and frequently expressed concern for the gradual loss of land
to the expansion of the new high school that he felt was infringing
on their edges.
As a practicing Landscape Architect he designed and
supervised construction of an elevated walkway across Concord’s
Mill Brook connecting Keyes Road parking lot and the rear of the
Christian Science Church in Concord Center.
A stickler for detail, Walter knew the correct names of plants
and animals, and knew many bird calls that he would emulate in the
field. Frequently, when I was walking with Walter in the Town
Forest he would call out to the birds. On one occasion I was quite
startled to see a great horned owl swoop from its nest and soar close
over our heads! Walter only chuckled.
Walter was an advocate for Concord’s annual bird census
and an active participant in these events. He often walked with Field
books containing plant names, photos and written descriptions so
that he could identify an unfamiliar plant on the spot. During his
walks in the town forest he also carried a walking stick that he used
with great relish to whack what he saw as invasive plants. He also
carried field glasses and a camera to identify and record both
botanical and archeological discoveries.
He would point out “Jack in the Pulpit” flowers which he
frequently observed while walking n the Town Forest near the
home-site of Brister Freeman, a former Concord slave immortalized
in Elise Lemire’s outstanding book Black Walden. Elise mentioned to me that Walter
first called to her attention the Brister Freeman
home-site initially recorded by Henry Thoreau on his survey maps.
Walter was understandably quite proud of and protective of his
discovery of the original dirt fence bounding the site.
Walter had knowledge of and concern for endangered
Concord plants such as the Calla Lilies that he pointed out growing
near my home adjacent to Cambridge Turnpike. He was concerned
that they could be lost due to scheduled road widening.
Annual walks in the Town Forest were scheduled to
correspond to the annual Riverfest. Walter’s availability for
participation would always depend upon the timing of his annual
visit with one or more of his three sons and grandchildren who live in
Boston, Munich and London. He had his priorities straight.
Following our walks in the Town Forest Walter and I
typically returned to my home for lunch and a cold beer. Walter also
enjoyed discussing with my wife his knowledge of a famous Spanish
poet (Jorge Guillen) whom she had as an instructor while a Spanish
major at Wellesley College.
In his poem “Home Trek,” Walter asks,
Am I going anywhere?
For I feel I’ve arrived, though never did I leave
And have been here all along, seduced by these fields.
For those of us who knew him, Walter will continue to be here, a
presence in the woods and fields he loved and worked to protect.
This article originally appeared in
The Concord Saunterer: A Journal of Thoreau Studies, N.S. Vol. 23, 2015
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