Michael P. Bird

BRATTLEBORO - Michael Peter Bird, M.S., M.A., C.Phil., 52, died Saturday, April 3, 2010, at his home in Brattleboro, Vermont. He was born on May 10, 1957, the son of Robert and Barbara (Baker) Bird in New York City.

As a child, Michael lived with his family for two years in Bangalore, India, where his parents directed a program for the American Friends Service Committee and Michael attended the Bishop Cotton School. After the Birds resettled in Philadelphia, Michael attended and was graduated from Germantown Friends School, where he was a scholar athlete. He was graduated with honors from Hampshire College, and received his first master's degree, in psychopharmacology, from Boston University. After settling permanently in Vermont, Michael earned a master's degree in clinical psychology from Antioch in Keene, New Hampshire.

A licensed clinician in New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts, Michael had served as clinical director at Beech Hill Hospital, and later directed a program for young people with dual diagnoses at the Brattleboro Retreat. At the time of his death, Michael was a clinician at Servicenet Outpatient Behavioral Health Services, where he was engaged to bring cutting-edge CBT therapy to their clients. Throughout his working career, he was a champion for those mistreated and otherwise suffering from various emotional problems and addictions, a clinician helping others make the most of their lives.

A passionate outdoorsman, Vermonter, lover of nature and of life, and a lifelong learner, Michael was an accomplished photographer, a dedicated environmentalist, a hiker, canoeist and music aficionado with a particular interest in jazz. He was a talented gardener, and enjoyed both tending his own property and arranging flowers he had grown. He had expertise in automobiles, particularly with Audis, and was an amateur astronomer.

A dedicated family man, Michael P. Bird was married to Lydia S. Greene of Greenfield, Massachusetts, in 2004 in a joint Episcopalian-Quaker ceremony at Putney Friends Meeting. Michael is survived by his wife, Lydia, and their daughter, Grace E.S. Bird; his mother, Barbara B. Bird of Philadelphia, Florida and Vermont, and her life partner, Donna Anderton; his brother, Timothy Lyman Bird, his partner, Rebecca MacDonald, and their daughter, Siena Rose MacDonald Bird, of New York; his sister, Elizabeth Rebecca Bird, her spouse, Betti-Sue Hertz, and their son, Mateus Zacharia Hertz Bird, of San Francisco; his uncle, Dudley Eggleston of Marietta, Georgia, and four additional nephews. Michael had been predeceased by his father, H. Robert Bird.

A Memorial Meeting to celebrate the life of Michael Peter Bird will be held on Saturday, April 10, 2010, at 2 p.m. at the Putney Friends Meeting, 17 Bellows Falls Road, Putney, Vermont, just off Route 5 North and just north of Putney Center, (802) 258-2599, www.PutneyFriends.WordPress.com for map. Burial of his cremated remains will be private at a later time, at the family home in Wallingford, Vermont.

Widely respected and loved, Michael will be missed terribly by his family, friends, colleagues and many others whose lives he touched.

In lieu of flowers, those who wish may make memorial contributions in Michael Bird's memory to Spring Lake Ranch, a small residential facility in the Green Mountains providing a therapeutic community for adults with mental illness and/or substance abuse, where Mr. Bird served as a member of the board of directors: Spring Lake Ranch, 1169 Spring Lake Road, Cuttingsville, VT 05738, (802) 492-3322.

Arrangements are under the care of the Ker Westerlund Funeral Home and Cremation Service, 57 High St., Brattleboro, VT 05301.

View the guest book at www.rutlandherald.com/ obits. ?