 It’s a dark, rainy night in late March, and Tom “Finch” Hamilton is out and about. He is looking for salamanders migrating to secret vernal pools where Tom will later share the miracle of delicate fairy shrimp and miniature frogs with his ninth-graders, many of whom have never experienced the joy of finding frog eggs in a mucky pond. A visit to Tom’s class reveals a man who is passionate about the natural world and about sharing it with his students. He cares deeply that they understand and value the kingdom he so skillfully unveils for them. Immensely patient with those who struggle, Tom finds multiple ways of explaining complex—and sometimes even relatively simple—ideas. Among his students, Tom is known for his “good corny jokes,” his kindness and approachability and his passion for biology.
Tom’s sense of wonder and his love and knowledge of the natural world are built on years of patient observation. At Andover, Tom studied the behaviors of guppies, swordtails and platy fish in a giant fish tank that later sat in the Evans lobby to provide a wetland home for tiny frogs and a collection of toy dinosaurs to tease the attention of students and colleagues. On sabbatical in Scotland, Tom watched, photographed and painted birds while studying the biology of live-bearing fish. For several summers, he did field research on yellow-eyed juncos in Arizona. On leave to pursue a doctoral degree at Ball State University, Tom studied house finches, a project that led not only to a number of peer-reviewed articles, but also to mining and analyzing the data in Christmas bird counts to understand population trends of several species that frequent bird feeders in the Northeast. Tom is ever curious about the underlying ecological significance of events the rest of us take for granted. |
Tom’s sense of wonder and his love
and knowledge of the natural world
are built on years of patient observation.
...
His belief in the value of hands-on
experimentation and his willingness to
tinker in the lab to make workable
experiments directly influenced the
design of the Gelb Science Center.
|
Tom grew up in New Jersey and met his wife, Judy, when they were both students at Tusculum College in Tennessee. They came to Andover in 1969 after Tom Cone, of PA’s biology department, asked him to consider PA when they were both in graduate school at Brown University. The Hamiltons im-mersed themselves in the Andover community and raised two daughters, Deborah ’85 and Amy ’85. Tom served the school in many capacities, including those of house counselor for 20 years, teacher, coach of kayaking and squash, and biology department chair for two terms. Tom led many curriculum development projects, such as the first department-written laboratory manual, a direct precursor of the course supplements all biology students use today. His belief in the value of hands-on experimentation and his willingness to tinker in the lab to make workable experiments directly influenced the design of the Gelb Science Center with its spacious laboratory/classrooms. Judy made her mark as a cluster dean, founder of the popular Handsprings craft show, director of standardized testing and director and passionate proponent of the school’s Loan Library.
My favorite mental snapshot of Tom has him in the frigid water of a river in southern New Hampshire, standing by as, one by one, students ran a small riffle and learned to roll their kayaks in a real river. An occasional gentle twist from Tom meant each one felt the triumph of success and believed he or she could do it again alone. Coaching this sport required a high level of personal expertise. Tom honed his skills with colleague Ed Germain, who recalls times when Tom’s attentiveness and instant competence saved the lives of strangers on spring-swollen New England rivers.
The master of quietly doing the unexpected, Tom announced one day he’d take a leave to fulfill a lifelong ambition to hike the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine. A year of preparation was filled with stints on the StairMaster, testing equipment to keep his backpack to the bare minimum, hikes around town with a loaded pack, and experiments with drying fruit, vegetables and meat. “Those turkey hot dogs were awful,” he says. On March 25, 2003, Finch left Springer Mountain, Ga., and headed north. As we followed his online journal, we alternately envied him and were glad not to be contending with black flies, endless rain and mud, sore feet and the toil of walking.
Judy, “Ma Finch,” was an indispensable, loyal backup. Many miles—2,174 to be exact—and many adventures later, with friends old and new, Finch stood triumphantly on Mt. Katahdin’s summit on a perfect September day. How we wished we’d played hooky to join him!
After such an adventure, it’s hard to picture Tom and Judy settling in the house they’ve built in Hartford, Maine, but community service and grandchildren nearby are strong incentives to stay busy and involved. Tom allows, though, that he “might have to try another long hike. It gets into your blood.” |
| Lydia Goetze teaches biology at Phillips Academy. |
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