Dr. Harley Willis Heath

Dr. Harley Willis Heath, Chief of Pediatrics at Huggins Hospital in Wolfeboro NH, died on 20 August 2025 at the age of sixty-seven. The cause was heart failure related to complications in treatment for prostate cancer.

Harley Heath was born in Exeter, NH on 6 December 1957 to John B. and Patricia K. Heath, and grew up there and in Barcelona, Spain. He graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1975, where he excelled in academic subjects, outdoor adventure, and varsity soccer, and he earned a B.A. cum laude from Wesleyan University, Middletown CT, in 1979. Dr. Heath was a scientist before he was a doctor. Fascinated at a young age by the wonders of nature, he was from childhood an avid birdwatcher and forest wanderer; in his bedroom he nurtured insects, gerbils, and rats; and along shores and river banks he collected rocks, shells, and blue sea glass. As an undergraduate, he majored in Earth and Environmental Sciences and initiated an extensive collection of extraterrestrial minerals. He also undertook important research in endocrinology, which elicited an invitation to continue his work as a graduate student in Biology. He received his M.A. from Wesleyan in 1981 and published more than a dozen research articles.

But his broad interests in animate and inanimate nature never eclipsed his fascination and empathy for human life and spirit, and he enrolled at the Yale University School of Medicine, where he received an M.D. in 1987 with specialization in Pediatrics. During these years he was also a research assistant at Mass. General Hospital, an emergency flight physician, and a pediatrician in the Indian Health Service in Alaska. Upon completing a residency at Seattle Children's Hospital in 1989, he was hired there as attending physician in the ER and Neonatal ICU. Later he joined the Seattle Group Health Cooperative and the faculty of the University of Washington Medical School. In Seattle his scientific interests expanded into the fields of horticulture and zymurgy, he witnessed the emergence of grunge rock and craft beer, and there he was blessed with the birth of his two children. In 1998 he returned to New England to live in Wolfeboro NH, where his family had maintained a camp on Lake Wentworth since 1959, and accepted a position as chief of Pediatrics at Huggins Hospital which he held until his death. He has served generations of children and families with skill, grace, and profound understanding.

His unique abilities and collaborative nature have been in great demand outside the hospital as well. Harley has served as Physician for the Child Advocacy Center of Carroll County since its inception, Physician at Brewster Academy, Medical Advisor to the Governor Wentworth Regional School District, and Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Dartmouth Medical School. He has also been an active member of the Carroll County Child and Adolescent Mental Health Task Force, the Community Substance Abuse Prevention Task Force, and the Lakes Region Soccer Association, as well as board member for the Wolfeboro Children's Center, the Great Waters Music Festival, and the Wolfeboro Summer Theater.

Harley is a hero to his family, his friends, his colleagues, and his community, beloved for his extraordinary intelligence, selfless generosity, endless patience, and unceasing empathy. He cured illness and saved souls; he always listened and never judged; he celebrated differences and bridged divides. He has been an activist for social, environmental, and reproductive justice, a champion for mental health awareness, and a tireless advocate for children and their families, especially those in physical, emotional, or spiritual distress. How many parents have called him after midnight about a strange rash or a bumped head? How many of his post-adolescent patients have dreaded, and delayed, the day they had to find a new doctor "for adults"? For decades Harley has maintained free tele-health services for a vast multigenerational community of family, friends, and ex-patients and their families. He was self-deprecating to a fault, and he had a gift for raising other's self-esteem, be they a questioning teen behind the closed door of his office, a fumbling actor on the stage, or an opposing player while Harley tended goal at Abenaki rink. The range of his musical tastes is legendary – Coltrane and Sun Ra, Chopin and Rachmaninov, Nirvana and Morphine, Immortal Technique and Natalie McMaster – as is his alter ego, the mythical singer-guitarist Hank Willis.

Harley was predeceased by his parents and his brother John C. Heath. He is survived by his loving children Rory Simmons Heath of Somersworth and Addie Heath Simmons of Dover; his beloved wife Stacey M. Heath of Wolfeboro; his brothers Jeffrey G. Heath of Ann Arbor and Bobo Dioulasso and Samuel K. Heath of Exeter with his wife Sandra del Alcazar; his niece Aymara Angelucci of Toronto and nephew Santiago Heath of Dover; his stepchildren Samantha Lessard of Conway and Kenneth "Cody" Lessard of Wolfeboro; his stepgrandson Sorin Leander Rivera, and a vast family of admirers. And in the week before his death, Harley greeted his precious newborn granddaughter Lila Suzai Szerejko. Harley's motto is, "I love you unconditionally." He still provides us with a model to which we might all aspire. Viva la familia!

There will be calling hours to honor Harley's life and legacy at Lord Funeral Home, 23 Club Lane, Wolfeboro on Saturday September 6, 2025 from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Donations in his honor are encouraged to the Child Advocacy Center of Carroll County (carrollcountycac.org) and the Wolfeboro Children's Center (thechildrenscenternh.org).

Please consider leaving a memory or a message of condolence by visiting: www.lordfuneralhome.com