Monthly Archives: March 2015

Searching for Mark Higgins

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Most everyone who lives in Worcester County knows the name Higgins; in fact you can search this blog and you’ll find a post describing a visit to the Higgins Armory Museum in Worcester, which was founded by John Woodman Higgins, the prominent industrialist who created the Worcester Pressed Steel Company in 1905.  John’s son Carter became president of the steel company in 1949 and served in that role until his death in 1964.

I did not realize there was a connection between the Higgins family and North Brookfield until I attended a lecture at the Haston Library this evening, titled Against the Current: How Albert Schweitzer Inspired a Young Man’s Journey.  Clarinda “Rindy” Higgins, together with William “Bill” Armstrong, recently published a short book about Mark Higgins, Rindy’s cousin and the son of Carter Higgins.  It’s the story of their efforts to discover more about the life and death of Mark, who perished in October 1960 while on an African journey.  The Higgins family lived and worked in Worcester, but Carter Higgins built a cottage on Brooks Pond in North Brookfield, and the family often spent quite a bit of time there.

Mark, who was nine years older than Rindy, graduated in 1958 from Milton Academy, a private school in the Boston suburbs.  He understood that he was expected to work at the family business and eventually take over as the company president, but at age 19,  he was not ready for that yet; he wanted to have different experiences, particularly in another culture.  So in 1959, he traveled to Gabon, which was then part of French Equatorial Africa, to work at the clinic in Lambaréné founded by the remarkable German medical missionary Albert Schweitzer.  Most people know Schweitzer as the Nobel Peace Prize winner and proponent of the “Reverence for Life” philosophy; due to my background, I am more familiar with his contributions to music and theology.

Mark’s letters home described his daily activities at the clinic: clearing brush, gardening, building a house for tuberculosis patients, caring for patients at the leper colony.  After he gained more experience at the clinic, he was promoted to medical assistant, responsible for giving injections.  He also befriended people, observed the village rituals, and helped with a cardiology study.  In one letter he spoke of having discovered the “blessing of service,” a phrase that still resonates.

After a year in Gabon, Mark decided to embark on a 2000 mile solo trek across Africa toward Israel, where he planned to work on a kibbutz (Mark’s stepmother was a Holocaust survivor).  It was a bad time to be in the Congo.  Belgium finally granted its former colony independence in 1960, but the transition was not easy; the names Patrice Lumumba and Mobuto Sese Seko are familiar to most US citizens who remember the proxy wars with the Soviet Union.  In October 1960, the Worcester Telegram and Gazette headlined a news story “Executive’s Son Missing in Africa.”  The news got worse: the family soon learned that Mark had been killed.  The story became front-page news across the United States.

Rindy and Bill knew the outlines of Mark’s story, but they still had questions which they decided they wanted to answer.  They embarked on a journey of discovery: they wanted to find out more about what Mark’s life in Africa was like, how he traveled, who reported him killed, who killed him and why.  They became like the history detectives, with serendipity and chance playing a part in their success.  They discovered family papers they had not known about, and in 2014, they traveled to Africa to visit Gabon’s Albert Schweitzer Hospital.  They visited the site of the leper colony, as well as remote villages, searching for older residents who may have known Mark back in 1959-1960.  Eventually, they did learn how Mark died: he was in the wrong place at the wrong time and was shot accidentally (not hacked to death with a machete).

Mark’s life was cut short, but Rindy assured us that his legacy lives on, in the tribal lives extended through simple heart surgery (one result of the cardiology study), the school founded in his memory, the scholarships for young people to study in Gabon, and even the Peace Corps connection (President Kennedy signed Executive Order 10924 in March 1961, less than a year after Mark was killed).  She and Bill were inspired by Mark’s story, and I think all of us in the room felt that way too.  May we all continue to incorporate the attitude of reverence and the impulse to service into our daily lives.

Turtles of Massachusetts

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When I registered for this program a couple days ago, I was told that it was very popular, and sure enough, there were close to 75 of us who congregated in the small downstairs meeting room at the Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary in Wales at 1:30 this afternoon, to hear Peter Mirick, who worked for the Mass Division of Fisheries and Wildlife for 37 years and is currently the editor of the periodical Mass Wildlife, tell us all about the turtles of Massachusetts.

Our state, a small state in terms of land area, ranked 45th out of 50, hosts five species of sea turtles, which are migratory only (sea turtles are generally found in the tropics).  There are ten species of turtle native to Mass: 4 highly aquatic, 4 semi-aquatic, 1 salt marsh, and 1 terrestrial.  Of course you should order the publication A Field Guide to Reptiles for $3 from the DFW, but in the meantime, here are some interesting facts about each species.

(1) Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta)
– not endangered and indeed the most common, e.g. go to Wells State Park
– basking turtle, found near shallow bodies of water
– diet is varied
– field mark ID: yellow belly

(2) Northern Red-Bellied Cooter (Pseudemys rubirentris)
– fairly large, maybe 10 lbs
– found only in Plymouth County (Carver, Plymouth)
– mostly vegetarian, basking turtle
– field mark ID: solid black with red belly
– ours is considered a “disjunct” population (you have to travel to the pine barrens of New Jersey to find them again)

(3) Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina)
– quite common, but not a basking turtle
– very large, weighing from 25-76 lbs
– not aggressive in water and a very aquatic species
– field mark ID: big spiky tail, small plastron
– males are highly territorial
– females lay eggs May-June, on land, in the soil

(4) Eastern Musk Turtle (Sternotherus odoratus)
– most aquatic, still common
– excellent climbers, nocturnal
– hatchlings are very small
– legal to own in MA
– have glands that produce a noxious odor
– 90% carnivorous

(5) Diamond-Backed Terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin)
– was a delicacy back in the 1890s
– coastal, salt marsh species (found in Rowley’s Great Salt Marsh)
– medium-sized, females are considerably larger than males

(6) Blanding’s Turtle (Emydoidea blandingii)
– also a “disjunct” population
– fieldmark ID: dome-like shell, yellow throat, spots
– estivate, meaning that they are inactive during hot summer months
– found in running water, omnivorous

(7) Spotted Turtle (Clemmys guttata)
– small, mostly carnivorous
– aquatic, lives in bogs, marshes, small ponds, slow-moving streams
– also estivate
– fieldmark ID: yellow spots on smooth black shell

(8) Wood Turtle (Clemmys insculpta)
– classic turtle of Worcester County
– scutes have growth rings, shaped like a pyramid
– habitat is riparian and terrestrial, excellent climbers
– field  mark ID: orange wash color
– can live 60-70 years
– mate in late spring (June)
– tend to be carnivorous

(9) Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina)
– like a tortoise because the most terrestrial
– can close up like a box
– primarily found on Cape Cod and Conn River Valley (sandy scrub pine)
– in Worcester County, we find only individuals not populations
– field mark ID: high shell which is an adaptation to land

(10) Bog Turtle (Glyptemys muhlenbergii)
– rarest, endangered
– Massachusetts is extreme northern end of its range
– live in shallow, flowing, calcareous wetlands, such as found in the Berkshires Taconic landscape
– semi-terrestrial, with three populations in Sheffield
– field mark ID: yellow mark on side of head
– may estivate during the summer months
– eat slugs, worms
– long lived, quite intelligent

There are two introduced species found in Massachusetts, which are
(1) Red-Eared Slider – the classic pet store turtle – is considered invasive
(2) Soft-shelled turtle discovered in the Connecticut River (Spiny Softshell is a midwestern Great Lakes species); this one may establish a population here

Here are some facts about turtle life history:
– females lay eggs once a year, <1% survive
– they experience delayed maturity, breed between 5-18 years old
– adults do live a long time
– preyed upon by herons, foxes, skunks, opossums, raccoons

Conservation issues include:
– habitat alteration (turtles are not stationary creatures)
– females must nest (they love freshly-turned earth in backyards)
– more roads and more traffic equal more mortality

What should you do when you see a turtle crossing a road?
– only intervene if it’s safe for you
– do not take it home
– handle it carefully (wash hands after touching)
– move it in the direction it’s going, not where you think it should be

Other mortality factors include:
– illegal collection
– predators, like raccoons (increasing in suburban areas)
– hay mowing
– fire suppression
– competition with introduced species
– diseases introduced by exotics

Research is ongoing into:
– range and population density
– habitat needs
– mortality factors
The DFW does monitor turtles (dogs can find them), by tagging them (note the notches on the shell) and also by placing radio transmitters on the shells.  You can help by reporting sightings; in fact, public input is important.  One result of this research is a map of suitable habitat produced by the NHESP.

Conservation measures include:
– implementing regulations
– citing the Mass ESA, which unlike some others, actually has teeth
– promoting local community engagement
– nest protection/headstarting
– habitat management (burns, clearing)

Finally, Mr. Mirick addressed pet issues by stating that
– if you must have a turtle in your house, please be a responsible owner!

We love our turtles and want to continue seeing them in the wild.