Phil Preston

1938 - 2023

Phil Preston

Ashland, NH - Phil Preston died peacefully in the company of loved ones on November 16, 2023 after suffering a stroke at his residence, the Homestead Farm in Ashland, New Hampshire the previous week. Phil was born December 4, 1938 the youngest son of Roger and Anita Preston of Waban, Massachusetts. Phil is survived by his brother David Preston and David's wife Barbara, brother Fred Preston's wife Granthia, Peg's sister's husband Susan, 8 nieces and nephews, and nine grandnieces and grandnephews, some of whom have enjoyed Christmas morning stockings by his fireplace or Thanksgiving turkey at his table. He was predeceased by his loving wife Margaret "Peg" Dobbie, his brother Fred Preston, and several intrepid golden retrievers – Gable, Remus, Gibbon, Banyan, and Jack.

Phil attended the Rivers School, Deerfield Academy, and Williams College, graduating in 1960. He spent summers growing up on Squam Lake and in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. During college, Phil served as a 'hut-boy' for the Appalachian Mountain Club, packing food 4 miles up to Madison Hut and cooking for overnight guests. Avocation became vocation as Phil took up roles after college leading Outward Bound courses on the coast of Maine and Outdoor Education for the Walpole, Massachusetts school system.

In 1978, Phil met Peg Dobbie, then a teacher in the Walpole school system, who became his wife and companion for 25 years. With Peg's company, Phil's adventures moved far beyond New Hampshire. Together they hiked the Brooks Range in Alaska, the Chilean Andes, the Alps, Norway, New Zealand, the Grand Canyon, Canada, California, and Colorado. They paddled the Allagash River in Maine, the Green River of Utah, the Rio Grande through Texas, Temagami Lake area of Ontario and Baffin Island of Nunavut. An avid and competent outdoorsman, Phil was well-suited to take his bride to remote, beautiful and uncompromising places.

More than the casual enthusiast, and a descendant of one of the world's greatest navigators Nathaniel Bowditch, Phil published the Appalachian Mountain Club's River Guide Volumes 1 and 2 to help kayakers and canoeists navigate the narrow tannic waters of New England's challenging streams and rivers. Extending his ethic of concise outdoor manuals, Phil authored White Mountains West in 1979, updated in 1982, a trail guide for the White Mountains west of Crawford Notch. Smaller prints of the first "Fat Wheeling" guide for mountain biking the Squam Range and other short guides and maps followed.

In addition to publishing guidebooks, Phil applied his talents directly to protecting and managing landscapes for public benefit. Phil served as the Executive Director of the Squam Lakes Association (SLA), a conservation organization dedicated to protecting the Lake, maintaining popular hiking trails, and running youth outdoor education programs during the summer. Together with his brother Fred and other SLA members, Phil championed two of the most important conservation projects on Squam Lake, the protection and management of Moon Island and Bowman Island in the middle of the lake for public use. After SLA, Phil volunteered his time as a Trustee on the Board of the Lakes Region Conservation Trust (LRCT) where he continued to mentor conservationists and AmeriCorp volunteers of the next generation.

Having served his country once in the Army and again as a public-school teacher, Phil's next tour of public service was as the elected Moderator for the Ashland School Board, and then Moderator for the Town of Ashland, NH. From there Phil went on to win two terms from 2006-2010 as a Representative for Grafton County District 8 in the New Hampshire House of Representatives. A man of integrity and common sense, he won split tickets by campaigning door to door, frugally investing the ~$1500 in campaign funds that he raised each cycle to connect with the real needs of his constituents.

Phil lived close to the land. He boiled his own maple syrup, pressed his own cider, brewed his own beer, harvested his own blueberries and rhubarb, air-dried all his laundry, and heated his home with wood, right up until his last days. If he was back to basics in these regards, he was ahead of his time in others -- pioneering the first deployments of residential wind and residential solar in Ashland and facilitating conservation easements on private lands around Squam.

An unannounced visit with a six-pack of cold homebrewed beer in mismatched bottles was a common and welcome interruption from Phil. He was happy to talk politics, hiking routes, river trips, environmental issues and women's rights. He enjoyed a sharp wit and unhurried discussions, sometimes finishing the encounter with an unannounced departure.

While Phil had a cold weather refuge at Heritage Heights Retirement Community in Concord in his later years, his love was the Homestead Farm where he spent most of his life, including this past autumn until his stroke. The Homestead Farm was a labor of love for more than 50 years, a hilltop spread of 765 acres that he and Peg assembled over his lifetime as a personal conservation project for wildlife, personal refuge and natural beauty. He cross-country skied, snowshoed, and hiked all of it, extensively, leaving a network of trails. Best of all, he donated the land to the LRCT so that anyone can visit the Farm and enjoy it as he did. It is permanently protected public land.

A memorial service will be scheduled at a later date. Gifts in memory of Phil can be made to the Lakes Region Conservation Trust, the permanent steward of the Farm, the Squam Lakes Association, and Pemi-Baker Hospice and Home Health. We are especially grateful for Phil's 84 years with us, his service to his community and his country, and the legacy he left for future generations in New Hampshire.