Paul J. Kress

Paul Kress, 93, of Carlisle, died at Emerson Hospital in Concord. Paul was born and raised on a small farm in Williamsburg, Ohio. World War II disrupted his schooling as it did for many young men of his era. In 1941, Paul left Ohio to enlist in the US Navy where he served on the USS New Mexico in the Pacific theater. Paul always recalled being in Tokyo harbor, “150 yards from shore,” on the day the war was officially declared over. He was honorably discharged in Boston in 1946, and following the advice of a shipboard officer who had taken a liking to “this simple farm boy,” he attended Newman Preparatory School to complete his schooling. After having successfully passed a battery of examinations, Paul enrolled in Boston University where he received a B.A. in elementary education.
In 1951, Paul married Dorothea (Corumbeau) and moved to Concord where they both taught in the Concord elementary schools. In 1955 he received a master’s degree in curriculum development from Tufts University. From 1959–1979 Paul served in the Natick school system as a reading and curriculum specialist.
An avid outdoorsman, Paul willingly shared his considerable knowledge of the outdoors with children and adults, environmentalists and sportsmen. Seeking to “build bridges,” he wrote for environmentally aware sportsmen and for conservationists who understood the pivotal role sportsmen had played in conservation of that nation’s wildlife.
His first article on the environment appeared in Massachusetts Out-of-Doors in 1975. Encouraged by its reception, he began to write weekly and monthly columns for such periodicals as the Outdoor Message, and Northeast Woods and Waters. His columns regularly won awards for “Excellence in Craft” especially in the category of humor. In 2011, the Massachusetts Wildlife Federation published a collection of Paul’s writings entitled Notes From the Little Cabin which was an immediate bestseller [still available from Lulu Press]. Paul was an active member of the New England Outdoor Writers Association, both Massachusetts and National Audubon Societies, Ducks Unlimited, The Nature Conservancy, and Trout Unlimited. He served on the Governing Boards of Sudbury Rod and Gun Club, the Massachusetts Junior Conservation Camp, and the Middlesex County League of Sportsmen.
Always working in the cause of wildlife conservation, Paul served as lobbyist for the Massachusetts Wildlife Federation, the Massachusetts Sportsmen’s Council, Safari Club (New England chapter), and Gun Owners Action League. He worked tirelessly on passage of the Massachusetts bottle bill – which returns a nickel for soft drink or beer cans (the bottle bill was passed 20+ years before the “guns and roses coalition” and to this day the bottle bill does not cover bottled water or juice containers). Paul also worked on passage of the Atlantic Salmon Compact, the Clean Waters Act, the Rivers Protection Act, and the Massachusetts Endangered Species Act.
Paul also served on advisory committees for the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries & Wildlife, the Nature Preserves Council, and Carlisle’s Conservation Commission. Over the years, many organizations awarded him their highest honors. In 2000 Governor Paul Cellucci awarded Paul the first-ever Francis W. Sargent Conservation Award, named for a former governor and former director of the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, and the New England Outdoor Writers Association honored him with the Dick Cronin Award, that organization’s highest recognition.
In Carlisle Paul was known for his bountiful vegetable garden and for his skills as a gourmet chef. When he could no longer sustain the rigors of planting, Paul still walked the Foss Farm land in every season.
Paul is survived by his daughter, Leslie Kress of Cambridge. Dorothea Kress, his wife of 64 years died within a week of his passing on May 16.
Donations in their memory may be made to the New England Outdoor Writers Association, Inc., 487 Central St., East Bridgewater MA 02333.