BROOKLINE -- An educator, farmer, passionate Republican and firefighter, M. Courtney Nau was known as a jack-of-all-trades.
At 76, the longtime Brookline resident died of cancer at Grace Cottage Hospital in Townshend, June 9. He is remembered fondly by the community of friends he left behind.
Nau, originally from Stamford, Conn., moved to Brookline when he married his wife, Cynthia White Nau, in 1953.
His friend Lester Allbee, of Brookline, recalled the day the young dairy farmer moved into town.
"I was plowing snow for the town of Brookline," Allbee said, "and he was stuck (in the snow) with a load of furniture with a wife and a one-year-old baby."
Allbee helped his new neighbor get up the driveway, and Nau and Allbee remained life-long friends, always willing to give one another a helping hand.
"The following summer, or the year after, (Nau’s) barn fell in," Allbee said. "My brother and I were in the construction business. We helped remove it, and I sawed lumber for the whole new barn."
Allbee said that same barn still stands on the Nau property today.
Nau always gave back in return, he added.
"He was very good and if anybody needed help he was there to help them," said Allbee.
Nau volunteered at NewBrook Fire and Rescue, where he rose to the position of fire chief.
For many years, he was in charge of a fund established to help a local family in crisis. It was started when the family’s need for a heart transplant for one of their sons was quickly surpassed by the death of another son, Allbee said.
Nau was very fond of children; he and Cynthia even started their own pre-school and kindergarten, Farmer in the Dell. Nau was the principal and his wife was the teacher, according to former student and current Newfane Elementary School teacher, Heidi Nystrom.
"He liked to have fun and pull pranks, but he really liked kids and liked to do lots of things for children," Nystrom said.
Nau owned and operated a school bus company called Alpine Meadows Transit Co., for 25 years. Nystrom recalled how Nau would take special care with his students while driving the bus.
"I remember there was a handicapped girl, and every day he used to pick her up and put her on the bus," she said.
He enjoyed dressing up as Santa Claus at the bank in Newfane, where he gave out candy at Christmastime, Nystrom said, and he measured fish every year at a local fishing derby.
"He was just a very sweet person and would help you out in any way that he could," said Nystrom.
At the same time, he liked a good, healthy argument, especially if it involved politics, said Allbee.
"He was, you might say, a strong Republican," Allbee said. "He liked to argue politics quite a bit." Nau ran several times for state representative from his district.
Nau liked camping, and would often travel to Maine to visit his daughter, said Allbee. He traveled to the West Coast twice and took one trip to Alaska.
Nau also enjoyed running saw mills, work that he continued into his final days.
"He loved to run it," Allbee said. "Three months ago, he couldn’t hardly stand up, but he still went to the saw mill."
Nau’s ashes will be spread at his cabin that he loved, built from the trees that he planted.
A life celebration for Nau will be held on July 11 at the NewBrook Fire Department, Route 30, Newfane, from 2 to 5 p.m.
Joel Freedman
Friends recall Courtney Nau
Monday June 14, 2010
BROOKLINE -- An educator, farmer, passionate Republican and firefighter, M. Courtney Nau was known as a jack-of-all-trades.
At 76, the longtime Brookline resident died of cancer at Grace Cottage Hospital in Townshend, June 9. He is remembered fondly by the community of friends he left behind.
Nau, originally from Stamford, Conn., moved to Brookline when he married his wife, Cynthia White Nau, in 1953.
His friend Lester Allbee, of Brookline, recalled the day the young dairy farmer moved into town.
"I was plowing snow for the town of Brookline," Allbee said, "and he was stuck (in the snow) with a load of furniture with a wife and a one-year-old baby."
Allbee helped his new neighbor get up the driveway, and Nau and Allbee remained life-long friends, always willing to give one another a helping hand.
"The following summer, or the year after, (Nau’s) barn fell in," Allbee said. "My brother and I were in the construction business. We helped remove it, and I sawed lumber for the whole new barn."
Allbee said that same barn still stands on the Nau property today.
Nau always gave back in return, he added.
"He was very good and if anybody needed help he was there to help them," said Allbee.
Nau volunteered at NewBrook Fire and Rescue, where he rose to the position of fire chief.
For many years, he was in charge of a fund established to help a local family in crisis. It was started when the family’s need for a heart transplant for one of their sons was quickly surpassed by the death of another son, Allbee said.
Nau was very fond of children; he and Cynthia even started their own pre-school and kindergarten, Farmer in the Dell. Nau was the principal and his wife was the teacher, according to former student and current Newfane Elementary School teacher, Heidi Nystrom.
"He liked to have fun and pull pranks, but he really liked kids and liked to do lots of things for children," Nystrom said.
Nau owned and operated a school bus company called Alpine Meadows Transit Co., for 25 years. Nystrom recalled how Nau would take special care with his students while driving the bus.
"I remember there was a handicapped girl, and every day he used to pick her up and put her on the bus," she said.
He enjoyed dressing up as Santa Claus at the bank in Newfane, where he gave out candy at Christmastime, Nystrom said, and he measured fish every year at a local fishing derby.
"He was just a very sweet person and would help you out in any way that he could," said Nystrom.
At the same time, he liked a good, healthy argument, especially if it involved politics, said Allbee.
"He was, you might say, a strong Republican," Allbee said. "He liked to argue politics quite a bit." Nau ran several times for state representative from his district.
Nau liked camping, and would often travel to Maine to visit his daughter, said Allbee. He traveled to the West Coast twice and took one trip to Alaska.
Nau also enjoyed running saw mills, work that he continued into his final days.
"He loved to run it," Allbee said. "Three months ago, he couldn’t hardly stand up, but he still went to the saw mill."
Nau’s ashes will be spread at his cabin that he loved, built from the trees that he planted.
A life celebration for Nau will be held on July 11 at the NewBrook Fire Department, Route 30, Newfane, from 2 to 5 p.m.