C. Twiggs Myers

C. Twiggs Myers obituary

C. Twiggs Myers

C. Myers Obituary

Published by Legacy Remembers on Jun. 16, 2014.
C. Twiggs Myers

1930-2014Beloved Berkshire School teacher SHEFFIELD --- Charles Twiggs Myers, 83, a legendary history teacher and coach at Berkshire School for over four decades, died at Berkshire Medical Center on June 14 as a result of injuries suffered in a fall at home. A true Renaissance man, Mr. Myers had interests beyond the classroom and playing fields that ranged from land preservation to railroad trains, from trees and flowers to all kinds of clocks, from baseball and football (i.e., Phillies and Eagles) to the back roads of the Berkshires and the Adirondacks, where he spent his summers. Twiggs Myers was born on August 2, 1930, in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, the youngest of three children of Charles Myers, a Philadelphia attorney, and the former Gertrude James Hearne. He was the namesake of his great-great grandfather, David Emmanuel Twiggs, a hero of the Mexican War and later commander of the Department of Texas for the United States Army. When the War Between the States broke out, Major Twiggs, a Georgian, promptly turned the department over to the Confederacy, which commissioned him a Major General. Born in 1790, he was the oldest Confederate general in the Civil War. As a child in Wayne, Pennsylvania, Twiggs Myers went to elementary school in nearby Radnor and from fourth through twelfth grades attended the private Haverford School. During his childhood, he raised homing pigeons kept in a loft attached to the family garage. Every summer, a baggage master on the Pennsylvania Railroad would take pigeons belonging to the young Twiggs and other local members of the International Federation of American Homing Pigeon Fanciers to as far away as Columbus, Ohio, or even Indianapolis, one thousand miles distant, and then release them. (Years later, Mr. Myers would raise chickens at his home on Berkshire School Road in Sheffield, which he delighted in calling Laywell Farm.) In 1948, he entered Princeton University, where his father had graduated in 1909, when Woodrow Wilson was its president. In his oral history of Berkshire School, Mr. Myers readily admitted that his academic progress was, in his words, "frequently hindered by the many social distractions of college life." He said he got by because of his passion for history, particularly the Civil War. Among other members of Princeton's Class of 1952 were Dick Kazmaier, a star tailback on Princeton's football team and the last Ivy Leaguer to win the Heisman Trophy, and James A. Baker, Secretary of the Treasury under Ronald Reagan and Secretary of State under George H.W. Bush. Twiggs Myers graduated from Princeton in 1952 with a degree in history and, he said, no idea of what he wanted to do. He drifted into Harvard Law School and soon discovered he did not want to be a lawyer. "I found the whole business of the law distasteful," he said, "and I had a very miserable year in Cambridge." But he knew that he loved history. He wryly noted that he also had "an unrealistic view of the romance of teaching at a boarding school." So, following his year at Harvard, Twiggs Myers headed west to the Berkshires, where he found his direction, his calling and his home. At Berkshire School, Mr. Myers was among the last of a breed: the bachelor schoolmaster whose institution is his love and whose students are his children. He taught history therehis focus was American history in general and the Civil War in particularfrom 1953 to 1995, when he was named the school's Senior Master Emeritus. In 1974, he built his home on Berkshire School Road, where his immediate neighbor to the east was his Berkshire School mentor and friend, Arthur Chase. Mr. Myers taught track and field his entire career and, in 1966, founded the school's cross country running program, whose teams racked up 200 victories while he was coach. After retiring, Mr. Myers served as the school's archivist and continued to take meals with the students and faculty. A popular figure at alumni celebrations, he remained especially close with members of his first graduating class, which, at its 25th reunion, named him an honorary member of the Class of 1957. In 1995 Mr. Myers was named Honorary Distinguished Alumnus, and in 2001 he joined Berkshire's board of trustees. At the end of every academic year, awards in his name are given for teaching, excellence in history, and achievement in cross country running. In the spring of 2012, a sports car whisked Mr. Myers through a phalanx of cheering students, faculty, and friends en route to the dedication of the Myers Lobby in Berkshire Hall, the school's main academic building. An inveterate storyteller with a quick, often irreverent, witamong the staples in his repertoire was Adlai Stevenson's quip, "I find Norman Vincent Peale appalling and St. Paul appealing"Mr. Myers was ever the optimist. In a 1995 commencement address, he urged Berkshire graduates to share that optimism. "Is there anything to be won either for yourselves or for the rest of humanity by lamenting the malignancy of the times?" he asked them. "A spirit that rejoices in life may be quicker to heal its neighbor's misery. This is not the first century in which the world has lived with calamity; over students in the Middle Ages, the skies hung dark indeed. Theirs was an uncertain fate, but still they made songs and sang them, songs whose gaiety has survived all their unhappiness, and one such song has survived to this day: Guadeamus! Let us be joyful!" In addition to his countless former students, Mr. Myers's survivors include his sister, Eliza Miller; nieces Diane Hulburt, Katje McIntyre, Wendy Miller, and Susan Curtin; nephews Hunter Ten Broeck and Mark Miller; 12 grand-nephews and nieces; and 5 great-grandnephews and nieces. A memorial service for Twiggs Myers will be held in July at a time and place to be announced. Gifts in his memory may be made to Berkshire School or to the Sheffield Land Trust in care of Birches Roy Funeral Home, 33 South Street, Great Barrington MA 01230.

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October 11, 2019

Tony Settel posted to the memorial.

July 14, 2014

Jeffrey McIntyre posted to the memorial.

June 18, 2014

Paul Tompkins posted to the memorial.

Tony Settel

October 11, 2019

A picture of Twiggs hangs on my office wall. I am a guidance counselor. He saved me as a high schooler. The lessons he taught me are the ones I try to live by and pass on to my own students. Integrity and welcoming all students are the leads. Always in my heart, Twiggs. You lived a fine life indeed.
With love, Tony

Jeffrey McIntyre

July 14, 2014

Twiggs was my "adopted" uncle. We spent time every summer in the Andirondacks going to county fairs, antique tractor shows, eating dinner together, and driving around in the evening in the mountains followed by an ice cream cone in Essex. I will miss him dearly, my summers at Lake Champlain will never be the same...he left his mark on me. They don't make them like this anymore! Peace Twiggs....

Paul Tompkins

June 18, 2014

A true gentleman, scholar and mentor. While Twiggs may no longer be with us in person, the fond memories he created will live on forever.

Jack Benvent

June 17, 2014

We were lucky to be at Berkshire School, lucky to spend each morning in Buck Valley, lucky to be taught by great teachers like Twiggs Myers. As is the Berkshire motto, Mr. Myers taught us lessons not just for the classroom, but for life.
It is impossible to think of Mr. Myers and not think of the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln and it is a quote from Lincoln that best describes my sentiments: “I'm a success today because I had a friend who believed in me and I didn't have the heart to let him down.”
When Mr. Myers spoke, we believed him. Mr. Myers believed in us and we desperately did not want to let him down. There we were, skinny boys, many away from home for the first time, many of us not certain we were worthy of his belief in us. Yet he called us “Men”. If Mr. Myers thought we were men, then by goodness, we must be. “Okay Men, today we will run the Giberson Loop.” I didn't think I could run 5 miles, but if Mr. Myers says I will, I will. Our trust in him, and his belief in us, was a truly virtuous cycle.
Three things Mr. Myers taught me:
1) The best way to eat a tomato is to pick it off the vine and eat it like an apple
2) That Jomini's principles, the book on warfare at West Point, did not work in the Civil War as it was the first “Modern War” (in others words, read the book but think for yourself)
3) Don't let what you can't do interfere with what you can do. (As possibly the worst runner on a terrific championship Cross Country team, I was continually reminded of that one. My times were so awful that I felt I was unimportant. He made me aware that my presence as a part of the team -- on the bus, in warm ups, goofing around, and just trying -- was important to the team so I shouldn't skip practice.)
I carry his lessons to this day, as do many others who were lucky to know him. Good bye Twiggs. You were one of a kind. There have been none finer. Thank you for believing in us.

Matt Tice

June 17, 2014

What a great, kind, loyal, universally loved coach, timeless teacher and friend. I remember the Berkshire green station wagon he drove to track and cross country meets, the smell of his pipe during practice, and that Stetson hat. He also did a great impression of Mickey from the Rocky movies telling me as a young track athlete "women weaken da legs" in that dry Philadelphia delivery that was all his own.

Joe Fusco

June 17, 2014

Most of us could have been fooled into thinking that Mr. Myers was immortal; indeed he is, for generations of students who remember and revere him.

Ludlow North

June 16, 2014

From that spring day in '75 when Twiggs first asked me to join x-country and up through two months ago when I visited him at his home he was my mentor and friend. Never judgmental of us "delinquents" as Micheal Pollis so aptly put it, Twiggs was loved and respected because he loved and respected us. Just this April he was still teaching and mentoring me on some of life's principals. His smile, laugh, and wit will be greatly missed but his memory and life lessons will last forever.

Dee Dee Acquisto

June 16, 2014

A gentle spirit with ever the twinkle in his eye. A true power of example for so many of us. Such a joyful and giving presence. You will be sorely missed and never forgotten.

G. Geoffrey Bray Class of 1964

June 16, 2014

While Twigg's body might have left Berkshire, his spirit never will........may God look upon you with kindness in his heart the way you did for so many of us.

Nancy LoGalbo

June 16, 2014

Twiggs was truly a great man and an inspiration to me. I am privileged to have called him my teacher.

Betsy Oliver Eads

June 16, 2014

I will always remember Twiggs fondly even if he told my Mom (Mary Burnham Oliver) that the more times we took the PSAT and Sat test the better we would do and of course he was right. He will be missed.

david weeks

June 16, 2014

you taught a self proclaimed spaz how to be an athlete

Mary Eastland

June 16, 2014

Miss you already. May you rest in peace.

Glenn R Partridge

June 16, 2014

Twiggs was a Berkshire institution and he is sorely missed. He and my Dad shared a love of the Philadelphia Phillies with each other. A great, wise and very humble man! I am grateful to have known him!

Maryanna Stockholm

June 16, 2014

Twiggs was truly a unique individual. So many bright and positive things can be said about that great man. We as a family were extremely sad to hear the news.
Maryanna Shaw Stockholm

Buddy Ontra

June 16, 2014

An awesome person and role model to all!

Ingrid vanZon Borwick

June 16, 2014

Berkshire School was fortunate to have Twiggs Myers as part of its community for so many years. He will be missed.

Pete Marechal

June 16, 2014

A truly great man and teacher who will be very missed by many.Thank you Mr. Myers for all that you did for so many of us.

Thedra Nichols

June 16, 2014

The passing of a legend. Our family (Mary Burnham Oliver) was friends in the Adirondacks and there were always fabulous stories to be told. The gift of this teacher given to his students cannot be valued.

June 16, 2014

What a wonderful man he was. He and my mother, Mary Burnham Oliver, were great friends. He will be missed.

June 16, 2014

My thoughts and prayers to the Myers family. Michael Cosby

Peter Jennings

June 16, 2014

There are no words to define the life and times of C. Twiggs Meyers. For multiple decades he was every young, defiant, teenager's guiding light. A confidant, mentor, coach, and "Father-like" figure that will never be replaced or duplicated. He will forever grace Under the Mountain with his grace, candor, and love. RIP Twiggs. You will always be in our thoughts. Sincerely, Peter Jennings '78

Irene Kr

June 16, 2014

So sorry to hear. We have enjoyed visiting with Twiggs at the Essex Art Shows.

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Birches-Roy Funeral Home

33 South St, Great Barrington, MA 01230

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October 11, 2019

Tony Settel posted to the memorial.

July 14, 2014

Jeffrey McIntyre posted to the memorial.

June 18, 2014

Paul Tompkins posted to the memorial.