Gil was a son of Joseph T. Fernandes (Gil changed the last name spelling years later) and was born on his family's dairy farm, Gulf Hill Farms in Dartmouth, MA. (to see the History of that farm, go to: http://dartmouthrotary.com/SitePage/purchase-ornaments-here/history-of-gulf-hill-dairy). He had a brother, Raymond.
Gil attended Tabor Academy in Marion, MA for his post-graduate work before attending Dartmouth College, graduating in 1932. After that, he went to Mexico, where he stayed long enough to learn Spanish. He then taught English at Texas Country Day School in Dallas, returning to Massachusetts where, on September 12, 1937, he married his high school sweetheart, Josephine "Jo" Lamb. They returned to Texas, but eventually came back to MA where they settled down to raise their family of 3 boys: Joel, Terry and Geoffrey. Gil worked as a columnist for the New Bedford Standard Times before taking over the family business, Gulf Hill Farms, which had a couple of restaurants. After selling the dairy in 1961, he taught English and theatre at Dartmouth High School. During that time Gil and Jo helped refurbish and run a puppet theater in Russell's Mills Village in what eventually became the Children's Museum.
Each having a stong interest in the natural world, Gil and Jo became increasingly concerned about the environment. Lifelong birders, they dedicated themselves to restoring the osprey population in and around the Westport River area after DDT had decimated the population. Together, they erected nesting platforms in Westort and replaced the thin-shelled eggs with rescued eggs from nests along the Eastern seaboard that were being destroyed as navigational hazards. Their efforts helped create one of the most successful osprey restoration efforts and served to inspire countless other similar programs to restore the osprey in its historic nesting territory.
Jo & Gil traveled widely throughout North & Central America as well as Africa, birding and taking photographs. They compiled & presented slide shows for many groups and organizations on the flora and fauna they documented in their travels. Gil had a great fondness for Mexico, having traveled there as a young man.
They were active members of the Paskamansett Bird Club, Cam Nats camera club, the Spouters, Friends of Dartmouth Libraries, Westport River Watershed Alliance, MA Audubon Society & the Humane Society of the South Coast. They supported the Dartmouth Children's Museum, the New Bedford Whaling Museum and Ducks Unlimited. Gil was a long time Town meeting member and a committed and passionate member of the Dartmouth Conservation Commission. He served as Director Emeritus of the Lloyd Center and a director of Dartmouth Natural Resources Trust.
Gil authored a children's book titled: "Fish Hawk: The story of an Osprey". Betsey MacDonald, a friend of the Fernandez's and of the Osprey, illustrated the book.
He and Jo were honored with the MA Audubon Society's "Audobon A" in 1970, in 1994 the 1st ever Audubon Allen Morgan prize, the Westort River Watershed Alliances Environment Achievement Award and the Buzzards Bay Guardian Award. In 2005 he sold 104 acresof his abutting farm to Allens Pond Wildlife Sanctuary for a quarter of its assessed value. He lived on that wildlife sanctuary until several months before he died, still birding and enjoying a fish tank he had recently set up.
Gil died from heart and renal failure.
A memorial service was held in "Celebration of the Lives and Works of Gil and Jo Fernandez" on March 31, 2007.
They are survived by their 3 sons, 5 grandchildren and 5 g-grandchildren. He was predeceased by his wife and his grandson Quint Lamb Fernandez.
.
Gil attended Tabor Academy in Marion, MA for his post-graduate work before attending Dartmouth College, graduating in 1932. After that, he went to Mexico, where he stayed long enough to learn Spanish. He then taught English at Texas Country Day School in Dallas, returning to Massachusetts where, on September 12, 1937, he married his high school sweetheart, Josephine "Jo" Lamb. They returned to Texas, but eventually came back to MA where they settled down to raise their family of 3 boys: Joel, Terry and Geoffrey. Gil worked as a columnist for the New Bedford Standard Times before taking over the family business, Gulf Hill Farms, which had a couple of restaurants. After selling the dairy in 1961, he taught English and theatre at Dartmouth High School. During that time Gil and Jo helped refurbish and run a puppet theater in Russell's Mills Village in what eventually became the Children's Museum.
Each having a stong interest in the natural world, Gil and Jo became increasingly concerned about the environment. Lifelong birders, they dedicated themselves to restoring the osprey population in and around the Westport River area after DDT had decimated the population. Together, they erected nesting platforms in Westort and replaced the thin-shelled eggs with rescued eggs from nests along the Eastern seaboard that were being destroyed as navigational hazards. Their efforts helped create one of the most successful osprey restoration efforts and served to inspire countless other similar programs to restore the osprey in its historic nesting territory.
Jo & Gil traveled widely throughout North & Central America as well as Africa, birding and taking photographs. They compiled & presented slide shows for many groups and organizations on the flora and fauna they documented in their travels. Gil had a great fondness for Mexico, having traveled there as a young man.
They were active members of the Paskamansett Bird Club, Cam Nats camera club, the Spouters, Friends of Dartmouth Libraries, Westport River Watershed Alliance, MA Audubon Society & the Humane Society of the South Coast. They supported the Dartmouth Children's Museum, the New Bedford Whaling Museum and Ducks Unlimited. Gil was a long time Town meeting member and a committed and passionate member of the Dartmouth Conservation Commission. He served as Director Emeritus of the Lloyd Center and a director of Dartmouth Natural Resources Trust.
Gil authored a children's book titled: "Fish Hawk: The story of an Osprey". Betsey MacDonald, a friend of the Fernandez's and of the Osprey, illustrated the book.
He and Jo were honored with the MA Audubon Society's "Audobon A" in 1970, in 1994 the 1st ever Audubon Allen Morgan prize, the Westort River Watershed Alliances Environment Achievement Award and the Buzzards Bay Guardian Award. In 2005 he sold 104 acresof his abutting farm to Allens Pond Wildlife Sanctuary for a quarter of its assessed value. He lived on that wildlife sanctuary until several months before he died, still birding and enjoying a fish tank he had recently set up.
Gil died from heart and renal failure.
A memorial service was held in "Celebration of the Lives and Works of Gil and Jo Fernandez" on March 31, 2007.
They are survived by their 3 sons, 5 grandchildren and 5 g-grandchildren. He was predeceased by his wife and his grandson Quint Lamb Fernandez.
.
Gil was a son of Joseph T. Fernandes (Gil changed the last name spelling years later) and was born on his family's dairy farm, Gulf Hill Farms in Dartmouth, MA. (to see the History of that farm, go to: http://dartmouthrotary.com/SitePage/purchase-ornaments-here/history-of-gulf-hill-dairy). He had a brother, Raymond.
Gil attended Tabor Academy in Marion, MA for his post-graduate work before attending Dartmouth College, graduating in 1932. After that, he went to Mexico, where he stayed long enough to learn Spanish. He then taught English at Texas Country Day School in Dallas, returning to Massachusetts where, on September 12, 1937, he married his high school sweetheart, Josephine "Jo" Lamb. They returned to Texas, but eventually came back to MA where they settled down to raise their family of 3 boys: Joel, Terry and Geoffrey. Gil worked as a columnist for the New Bedford Standard Times before taking over the family business, Gulf Hill Farms, which had a couple of restaurants. After selling the dairy in 1961, he taught English and theatre at Dartmouth High School. During that time Gil and Jo helped refurbish and run a puppet theater in Russell's Mills Village in what eventually became the Children's Museum.
Each having a stong interest in the natural world, Gil and Jo became increasingly concerned about the environment. Lifelong birders, they dedicated themselves to restoring the osprey population in and around the Westport River area after DDT had decimated the population. Together, they erected nesting platforms in Westort and replaced the thin-shelled eggs with rescued eggs from nests along the Eastern seaboard that were being destroyed as navigational hazards. Their efforts helped create one of the most successful osprey restoration efforts and served to inspire countless other similar programs to restore the osprey in its historic nesting territory.
Jo & Gil traveled widely throughout North & Central America as well as Africa, birding and taking photographs. They compiled & presented slide shows for many groups and organizations on the flora and fauna they documented in their travels. Gil had a great fondness for Mexico, having traveled there as a young man.
They were active members of the Paskamansett Bird Club, Cam Nats camera club, the Spouters, Friends of Dartmouth Libraries, Westport River Watershed Alliance, MA Audubon Society & the Humane Society of the South Coast. They supported the Dartmouth Children's Museum, the New Bedford Whaling Museum and Ducks Unlimited. Gil was a long time Town meeting member and a committed and passionate member of the Dartmouth Conservation Commission. He served as Director Emeritus of the Lloyd Center and a director of Dartmouth Natural Resources Trust.
Gil authored a children's book titled: "Fish Hawk: The story of an Osprey". Betsey MacDonald, a friend of the Fernandez's and of the Osprey, illustrated the book.
He and Jo were honored with the MA Audubon Society's "Audobon A" in 1970, in 1994 the 1st ever Audubon Allen Morgan prize, the Westort River Watershed Alliances Environment Achievement Award and the Buzzards Bay Guardian Award. In 2005 he sold 104 acresof his abutting farm to Allens Pond Wildlife Sanctuary for a quarter of its assessed value. He lived on that wildlife sanctuary until several months before he died, still birding and enjoying a fish tank he had recently set up.
Gil died from heart and renal failure.
A memorial service was held in "Celebration of the Lives and Works of Gil and Jo Fernandez" on March 31, 2007.
They are survived by their 3 sons, 5 grandchildren and 5 g-grandchildren. He was predeceased by his wife and his grandson Quint Lamb Fernandez.
.
Gil attended Tabor Academy in Marion, MA for his post-graduate work before attending Dartmouth College, graduating in 1932. After that, he went to Mexico, where he stayed long enough to learn Spanish. He then taught English at Texas Country Day School in Dallas, returning to Massachusetts where, on September 12, 1937, he married his high school sweetheart, Josephine "Jo" Lamb. They returned to Texas, but eventually came back to MA where they settled down to raise their family of 3 boys: Joel, Terry and Geoffrey. Gil worked as a columnist for the New Bedford Standard Times before taking over the family business, Gulf Hill Farms, which had a couple of restaurants. After selling the dairy in 1961, he taught English and theatre at Dartmouth High School. During that time Gil and Jo helped refurbish and run a puppet theater in Russell's Mills Village in what eventually became the Children's Museum.
Each having a stong interest in the natural world, Gil and Jo became increasingly concerned about the environment. Lifelong birders, they dedicated themselves to restoring the osprey population in and around the Westport River area after DDT had decimated the population. Together, they erected nesting platforms in Westort and replaced the thin-shelled eggs with rescued eggs from nests along the Eastern seaboard that were being destroyed as navigational hazards. Their efforts helped create one of the most successful osprey restoration efforts and served to inspire countless other similar programs to restore the osprey in its historic nesting territory.
Jo & Gil traveled widely throughout North & Central America as well as Africa, birding and taking photographs. They compiled & presented slide shows for many groups and organizations on the flora and fauna they documented in their travels. Gil had a great fondness for Mexico, having traveled there as a young man.
They were active members of the Paskamansett Bird Club, Cam Nats camera club, the Spouters, Friends of Dartmouth Libraries, Westport River Watershed Alliance, MA Audubon Society & the Humane Society of the South Coast. They supported the Dartmouth Children's Museum, the New Bedford Whaling Museum and Ducks Unlimited. Gil was a long time Town meeting member and a committed and passionate member of the Dartmouth Conservation Commission. He served as Director Emeritus of the Lloyd Center and a director of Dartmouth Natural Resources Trust.
Gil authored a children's book titled: "Fish Hawk: The story of an Osprey". Betsey MacDonald, a friend of the Fernandez's and of the Osprey, illustrated the book.
He and Jo were honored with the MA Audubon Society's "Audobon A" in 1970, in 1994 the 1st ever Audubon Allen Morgan prize, the Westort River Watershed Alliances Environment Achievement Award and the Buzzards Bay Guardian Award. In 2005 he sold 104 acresof his abutting farm to Allens Pond Wildlife Sanctuary for a quarter of its assessed value. He lived on that wildlife sanctuary until several months before he died, still birding and enjoying a fish tank he had recently set up.
Gil died from heart and renal failure.
A memorial service was held in "Celebration of the Lives and Works of Gil and Jo Fernandez" on March 31, 2007.
They are survived by their 3 sons, 5 grandchildren and 5 g-grandchildren. He was predeceased by his wife and his grandson Quint Lamb Fernandez.
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