Lydia Macauley

HIGHLANDS - Lydia Sargent Macauley, 93, died after a long, well lived life. Born to Ralph and Louise Sargent in Red Wing, Minnesota, her early childhood was marked by a multitude of moves, a product of her father's occupation as a professor of Shakespearean studies. Every summer, though, was spent in Highlands.
Lydia graduated from Baldwin School in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, and earned her Bachelor of Science degree in biology at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. It was there that she met Hal G. Meyer, whom she married shortly thereafter in Highlands in the 1950s.
The couple adopted two children, Steven S. Meyer and Stacey Meyer Clark while residing in Connecticut. Shortly after, the family moved to Rockford, Illinois, which they called home for 18 plus years.
During this era, Lydia found her life's calling. Nurtured in youth by summer visits to Highlands, land conservation became one of Lydia's greatest passions.
Lydia remarried in 1988 to Ward Macauley of La Jolla, California. The two spent nearly 20 happy years together in California. Upon Macauley's death, she returned to her beloved Highlands where she immersed herself in the community.
Lydia would take on many conservation roles over her lifetime, primarily in Illinois and Western North Carolina. Some of these undertakings included working for the Natural Land Institute in Rockford, Illinois, and the Illinois Nature Preserves Commission, where she conducted landowner outreach in the northern region of Illinois.
Lydia helped to secure the core parcel of what is today the Nachusa Prairie Preserve, home to a herd of bison and one of the highest-quality tallgrass prairie restorations in North America. Lydia held proud memories of carrying a drip torch to ignite prairie restoration fires.
Lydia also served many years, notably some as a treasurer on the Natural Areas Association national board. She was a key part of this organization which serves practitioners and scientists in the management of ecologically significant landscapes, for purposes of protecting biodiversity in perpetuity.
After moving back to Highlands, Lydia served on the board of trustees of the Highlands Biological Foundation and was very active in the Botanical Garden Committee. Lydia undoubtedly followed in the footsteps of her father and mother, Ralph and Louise Sargent, who were leaders in establishing the Highlands Botanical Garden.
She blazed her own trail, though, both locally and nationally, in a way that served her communities and fostered a tremendous sense of pride for herself and her loved ones.
To buffer the Botanical Gardens from inappropriate development, Lydia led the effort with her brother, Hugh, to convey a conservation easement on their family property adjacent to the Highlands Biological Station. The capstone of her professional career came in the form of her service as the driving force and copy editor for the book "Highlands Botanical Garden: A Naturalists Guide," published in 2012, employing slides taken by her father, an expert botanist and photographer.
Crucially, Lydia served on the board of the Land Trust for the Little Tennessee, now Mainspring Conservation Trust, for a dozen years and continued as an emeritus board member until her death. During her tenure, she served as board secretary for three years, as well as on the Lands Committee. Lydia's philanthropy was instrumental for many conservation organizations and initiatives, but her extraordinary generosity was particularly transformative for Mainspring Conservation Trust. Therein, her efforts helped to transform the organization into the premier conservation nonprofit in southwestern North Carolina. As a result of her generosity and foresight, Lydia's legacy of ecological conservation will continue indefinitely.
Personally, Lydia was a friend to many students at the biological station, offering guidance and housing if necessary. She was an avid reader, a naturalist, widely interested in a vast number of subjects and her many adopted cats. Throughout her life she was a loving daughter, and a wonderful, creative and supportive mother and grandmother.
A special heartfelt thank you to our three caregivers, Jan Haughey, Ruffin Williams and Rhonda Saunders for four years of loving care.
She was preceded in death by Ward Macauley of La Jolla, California, and Hal G. Meyer of Pensacola, Florida.
Survivors include brother, Hugh A.A. (Cheryl) Sargent of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Highlands; children, Steven S. Meyer of Pensacola, Florida, and Stacey Meyer Clark of Highlands; grandchildren, Chelsie Guesswein of Rockford, Illinois, and Lydia S. Clark, W. Alex Clark and India J. Clark of Highlands; step-children Ward (Tami) Macauley of Rancho Mirage, California, Wesley (Karen) Macauley of Carlsbad, California, and Kim Macauley of Encinitas, California; step-grandchildren, Jenny (Joe) of Carlsbad, California, Chris (Melina) Macauley of San Diego, California, Ian (Carly) Macauley of San Luis Obisbo, California, and Alec Macauley of Encinitas, California; and step-great-grandchildren Nicholas Posillico of Carlsbad, California and Johnny Posillico of Carlsbad, California.
Services will be held at 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 20, at the Highlands Biological Station Weyman Building, 265 N 6th St.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to Mainspring Conservation Trust, P.O. Box 1148, Franklin, NC, mainspringconserves.org.