Celebration of the Life of Thomas P. Fairchild
The magnitude of this man is measured in the mark he has made on the many
lives he has touched as a teacher, mentor, role model, and friend. As Tom
Fairchild began his career at UNH as assistant extension dairyman in September
of 1969, his first 4-H assignment was shepherding New Hampshire’s flock
of 4-H dairy exhibitors at Eastern States Exposition.
Having just turned 18, I had moved as a new freshman into my dormitory at
UNH the day before Tom picked me up at 6:00 am--the first 4-Her of the carload
he gathered to drive down to West Springfield. Being in my somewhat rebellious
phase, I like to say I had the privilege of breaking in the new extension
dairyman. We began almost instantly what must have been five solid days of
debate—of every political and social issue of the times, as well as
the comparative merits of the major dairy breeds. I thought he was way too
conservative, yet it was a rousing back and forth of ideas and the beginning
of what would develop over time into a great and collaborative friendship.
Like countless farm families in this and neighboring states, four generations
of our family have had the privilege of working with Tom. I was gratified
that—like the matching bookend to his life’s work with 4-H youth--our
two young granddaughters participated this spring in what would be Tom Fairchild’s
last 4-H dairy judging clinic. He took along an assistant that day in case
he didn’t feel well enough to last the whole program on his feet—but
he stayed and led the whole event. Hannah and Sammy, now 10 and 8 years old,
expressed great sadness on learning of Tom’s death. He had already
made a deep impression on them as he did on so many children--perhaps because
of his way of speaking with even the youngest child with his full attention
and interest.
Tom was Dean of the College of Life Sciences and Agriculture for 10 years
from the mid-eighties to the mid-nineties—until he was tapped as interim
president of the university, at a time when UNH was in sore need of stability
and a unifying strength. Tom—I have heard from various sources—was
the only candidate in whom faculty from all the colleges had trust and confidence.
That respect and confidence grew out of the way he had operated as department
chair and then dean. He took over as dean at a time when reorganization was
in the wind, complete with controversies--over issues like whether microbiology
and biochemistry should be moved from Liberal Arts to COLSA. Tom chose Dr.
Dick Strout to chair a committee to study the issues, and the decision was
subsequently made to bring the two departments under COLSA’s wing.
An inside source tells me that on this and countless other occasions, faculty
on all sides of contentious issues would comment that they always felt that
Tom Fairchild listened and gave fair consideration to their concerns, even
if the final decision did not go their way.
Another whole decade and several deans later, I served this past fall and
winter on the search committee for the new Dean of COLSA. A few of you will
be aware of what might be termed the COLSA troubles of recent years. Our
search committee felt a certain weight of responsibility as we undertook
the task of finding and recruiting the next leader for the college. I remember
well at one point in the discussion—committee members had been listing
off all the stellar qualifications and sterling qualities we sought in a
candidate, when a professor—not from animal and nutritional sciences—brought
the group up short.
“Hold on a minute here,” he suggested. “Everyone in the
college I’ve been able to talk to says Tom Fairchild was the best dean
this college ever had. And he didn’t have a great research record—he
came up through extension! He was always known more as a teacher than for
research.”
This reminded me of a story Billy Putnam told me. Billy is a dairy farmer
from Piermont, who was an active 4-Her in his early teens when Tom was first
hired as extension dairyman. Billy remembers his late father Jasper Putnam,
a pillar of the New Hampshire dairy industry, serving with Tom on the Youth
Education Committee of the NH Holstein Association. Jasper wasn’t all
that impressed with the young dairy science professor’s knowledge of
dairy farming. Nor did he think Tom’s judging skills were up to the
snuff of a Hilton Boynton. But Jasper was mightily impressed with the way
the young Tom Fairchild worked with 4-Hers. Billy recalls his father saying
he guessed it didn’t matter so much that Tom had a lot to learn about
farming and judging. Seeing the way he had of working with kids, Jasper had
allowed, “He’s so much more valuable teaching the kids about
life and things.”
Tom knew he had a lot to learn, too. That’s just one of many things
he modeled so well for his students and all the rest of us. He’d be
the first to tell you how much he learned from students, farmers, colleagues,
and most proudly--from his daughters. He was constantly learning and probing.
Oh, he was opinionated—but he always kept an open mind.
With his big heart and his big laugh, and his inquiring mind, this man left
an indelible impression wherever he went. I’ve heard from friends in
Maryland this week of how heartbroken his many friends there were to learn
of Tom’s passing. Tom was on the faculty at the University of Maryland
for just three years in the 1960s, before jumping at the chance to return
to his beloved UNH to work with, and eventually succeed his mentor Hilton
Boynton. Yet people—including AGR brothers there—continued to
love and respect Tom all these years.
Tom was delighted—and very supportive--when I, one of his 4-Hers,
was appointed to the board of trustees of the University System of New Hampshire.
Becoming a trustee has a steep learning curve. I was fortunate to have someone
to go to with Tom’s commitment to and understanding of agriculture—and
his depth and breadth of experience at the university. Trying to get to the
bottom of some difficult issue, I would call on Tom for background information
and advice.
He was a great help to me, but these sessions were really quite humorous.
I would present my problem or puzzle, and he would ask some probing questions
to determine just what I knew and thought about the issue. Often, I felt
like the young ‘Grasshopper’ acolyte in the 1970s TV series Kung
Fu. I would ask a question and he might launch into a story. Sometimes the
connection to my question was obvious—relating some history involving
a decision or exchange with one or more administrators or trustees. Since
Tom rarely had a negative word to say about anybody, he would leave most
negative stuff unstated. If I inferred and restated a negative implication
to make sure I understood what he meant, he would just put his hands down
on his desk and beam at me with a smile that telegraphed his pupil was finally
getting a difficult concept.
Not once did he tell me what he thought I should do. Sometimes his answers,
often told as a story that might sound like reminiscing, did not relate so
obviously to my question or conundrum. These answers could sound like the
cryptic responses of the master to young Grasshopper in the Kung Fu show.
Later I would figure out what he was trying to tell me. This minister’s
son’s stories were often parables.
One thing I could count on whenever I arrived at his office door in Kendall
for one of these appointments: I would invariably wait in the hall for Tom
to finish talking with a student. One way to impress me as a trustee was
to let me wait while devoting some easy-going, personal advising time with
a student. Tom always had his priorities in order!
Eavesdropping on those chats with students, I glimpsed some of Tom’s
magic as a teacher. Making clear his faith in each individual’s abilities,
he constantly prodded each one to dig deeper, to speak up and articulate
and defend his or her ideas. All this was delivered with characteristic bursts
of humor and laughter.
When he was finally ready to wrap up the conversation with the student,
he would gleefully invite me in, and introduce me as a trustee and Hoard’s
Dairyman writer—with some gossipy tidbits about when he knew me as
a 4-Her and college student. What he was really saying to those students:
even Lorraine could grow up to become a trustee, and you could, too!
Tom leaves a legacy at UNH in faculty members who have worked with him,
and share his genuine love for working with students. Similarly generous
with their time and advice, they share Tom’s concern for their students’ lives
and success as full human beings. He has inspired many students to go on
to PhD programs, or into elementary or secondary education, aspiring to become
the kind of teacher they had in Tom.
Tom’s decision to take on the founding of the CREAM program when he
returned to teaching from his sojourn in T-Hall as interim president, was
a stroke of genius. CREAM—Cooperative Real Education in Agricultural
Management—got his juices flowing at that later stage of his career.
Tom was just the energizing and creative leader this important new program
needed. In turn, CREAM became an energizing and creative shot in the arm
for agriculture and UNH.
Tom welcomed the chance to teach outside of traditional lecture halls or
laboratories. He threw himself into developing the full-year course, which
gives students a guided opportunity to take hands-on responsibility for managing
the cattle and finances of the teaching herd at the Fairchild Dairy Teaching
and Research Center on campus.
Tom reveled in bringing together zoology and business administration majors--who
had never been up-close and personal with a cow in their lives--with pre-vet
majors, and dairy management majors who had grown up on farms. Often the
farm kids think since they already know a lot about working with cows, they
don’t have much to learn from CREAM.
But before long, each new class of 20 or so students figures out the real
challenge of CREAM. It’s how to get a group of people to function effectively
together to get the necessary work done, and achieve their goals. After some
tension and rough patches, each year’s motley crop of CREAMers develops
hard-earned respect for each other and the diverse skills and traits they
bring to their shared endeavor.
With Tom along to facilitate their ride of discovery, they were also assured
memorable and rollicking good times. The annual CREAM banquet this past May
celebrated the program’s tenth anniversary. Alums recounted those memorable
times, and told of the impact of their CREAM experiences on their continuing
educations, their careers, and their lives. Tom of course bragged about the
number of marriages that had grown out of CREAM classes over the years.
CREAM was a perfect foil for Tom’s teaching style. Socratic in the
way he would badger students to get them to articulate their ideas or observations,
he would persist in drawing out even the most indolent student. My husband
John enjoyed visiting Tom’s classes, as well as helping with classes
Tom brought to our farm. John notes that whether teaching in a classroom
or a barn, Tom used at UNH a student-focused, discussion-based technique
similar to the Dartmouth method or Phillips Exeter’s acclaimed Harkness
table. “He would lob incendiary statements, do whatever it took to
draw students out—to show them that they knew or discovered more than
they thought they did. He was constantly getting them to engage in discussion,
building their confidence in themselves.”
As an employer of numerous UNH students and recent graduates over the years,
as well as having interviewed many more for various articles, and known and
worked with still more—I wish I had a dollar for every one who has
confided to me that Tom Fairchild was the best teacher they ever had. I’ve
seen big, burly AGR guys shed tears telling me how Tom Fairchild helped them
stay in school and graduate—maybe even go on to a graduate degree.
Some say Tom literally saved their lives. He was big on patience, big on
giving second chances. More often than not, the wayward young person strove
to fulfill that trust and high expectation. Over four decades of teaching
and working with 4-H and other youth, Tom Fairchild was never jaded. He never
burned out. Tom took deep satisfaction from the large and small successes
of his students and graduates.
Still teaching to his last breath, Tom has shown us how to live life to
the truest and fullest. Faced with terminal illness, aware that his time
would be shortened, he chose to keep teaching. He put every ounce of energy
into fighting to keep agriculture central to the mission of COLSA.
Tom spoke openly and from the heart when he learned after the second stroke
how gravely his cancer had advanced. “I’m not angry,” he
told me on the phone from his hospital bed. “Oh, I could be—but
it wouldn’t do any good, you see. It wouldn’t bring me any greater
happiness in the time I have left.”
Tom’s heart was big as a barn. It seemed he had limitless affection
and love for Joanne and their family. And for all of us gathered here to
celebrate his life, and the many more who could not be here today. We’ve
all had many conversations over the last weeks about how big an impact Tom
Fairchild has had on our university, our state, on agriculture, on each of
us and our families.
Many recount tales of college or 4-H road trips with Tom—for purposes
such as judging cattle or touring farms. If you never went on one of these
trips, ask around after the service. Suffice it to say that a lot of learning--and
even more fun--took place. Tom liked to venture on the edge of the wild side.
But talk to the people who went on those trips—ranging in age now from
about 20 to about 60--and you will find that value was added to lives.
Many also speak warmly of the great team that Tom and Joanne have made all
these years. We, and our children, remember Joanne’s kindness, warmth,
and strength at countless fairs, cattle shows, and other 4-H events. Many
UNH students got to know Joanne, too, as the Fairchilds invited whole classes
to their home.
Many speak of Tom’s equal-opportunity embrace of respect and friendship.
It did not matter where a person came from, how much money or what kind
of background they had, how much formal education they had or did not have,
whether or not they or their children went to UNH or to some other college,
whether or not they majored in animal science, or belonged to AGR. “He
made everyone feel valued, and part of what was going on with dairy in
the state,” one farmer who had not gone to college told me. Tom had
made sure to include him and other young farmers in the Junior Purebred
Dairy Cattle Association Tom organized to develop young leaders back when
he was extension dairyman.
Tom’s love of the university and the state of New Hampshire was immense.
He believed fervently in the importance of agriculture to the university,
to the state of New Hampshire—to all humankind. This passion for farming
and agriculture went way beyond the fact that people can’t live without
food. Or his own keen appreciation of good food.
Tom’s life and work were deeply affected by the summers he spent as
a boy on his grandparents’ farm in Pennsylvania. He has always understood
the value of getting children and young people outdoors, exposed to nature,
connected with animals, doing real and meaningful work.
More than once I heard Tom say people always thought he chose animal science
as a career because he loved cows so much. Well, he did love cows—especially
really good-looking cows. But Tom explained he chose animal science because
he loved the people who work with cows, because he thought so much of the
people involved in agriculture.
Perhaps the best way we can honor Tom, and show our thanks for all he has
given us, is to follow his example. We may not have Tom’s personality,
or that distinctive sense of humor. We may not be equal to his intellect
or wisdom. But we can pass on to others—especially young people—that
enthusiasm and encouragement--even that second chance--to believe in themselves,
to pursue their dreams and develop their talents. We can remember and keep
alive Tom’s indomitable passion and joy for life. We can pass on those
abiding passions for animals, nature, agriculture, people, learning, family.
Lorraine Stuart Merrill
Celebration of the Life of Thomas P. Fairchild
Durham Community Church
Durham NH
July 7, 2007
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