Audio series revives Maine woods classic> Bangor broadcaster reads ‘Nature I loved’

When William “Bill” Geagan died in 1974 at the age of 71, his many admirers searched for the right words to assess his contribution to Maine outdoor literature and the burgeoning field of conservation.

A Bangor Daily News profile said the local native was “naturally creative,” often including his own artwork with his numerous newspaper columns and in his three books.

“Although considered a sensitive and shy man,” the article stated, “he never feared anything, and asked only to be with nature’s things.”

Perhaps no one really knew what make the slightly built, laconic, pipe-smoking sports editor tick, not even his wife, Alice, whom he met one sunny day while paddling his canoe on Hermon Pond, where he escaped for more than a year to find himself and commune with nature.

Geagan’s Maine woods story, or more appropiately, stories — his first book is a string of touching vignettes — are collected in the perennial favorite, “Nature I Loved …,” published in 1952 by Coward-McCann. Long out of print, the book is back in the form of an eight-hour audio book series whose production cost was underwritten by the Bangor Daily News.

“I’ve been behind a microphone for more than 40 years in one way or another, but I’ve never had an experience like this,” said Hal Wheeler, a Bangor broadcaster, who spent a total of 40 hours at Bronson Communications in Brewer reading the 241-page classic onto tape.

“I almost felt like a channel for Bill,” said Wheeler, who first met Geagan in 1955 while a young part-time cameraman at WTWO-TV (later WLBZ). Geagan’s outdoors program lasted only nine months, but Wheeler’s friendship with him lasted a lifetime.

Wheeler said he didn’t attempt to imitate Geagan while reading his book, rather he aimed to capture his love of the outdoors, and of woods conservation.

The book sounds even better than it reads, Wheeler said. To vary the pace, he uses occasional Yankee dialects and sound effects, such as the clap of thunder in a fierce electrical storm, and leads into chapters with improvisational flute music performed by Liz Downing of the Bangor Symphony Orchestra.

The Depression-era chronicle is set around 1933, when Geagan was about 25. To his parents’ chagrin, one day he and his two hounds board a train for Hermon; he buys a $50 wilderness cabin and sets out to put some demons to rest. Ultimately he faces up to life and discovers a literary ability few knew existed.

The true genius of “Nature I Loved…” is Geagan’s eye for detail. BDN outdoor writer Tom Hennessey, who was influenced by Geagan, said he observed things other men would have missed in the woods. And Geagan checks his machismo at the door; remarkably, he bares his soul as few men would have at that time.

On the topic of an open fire, Geagan writes, “The ballet of the flames in red and blue and orange jackets, the continual blinking of red-eyed embers, and the pinpoint sparks that billow from little explosions cause the eyes to stare restfully, and the mind to labor, but, usually, in a velvet harness.”

Geagan cheated death one frigid winter day when he tumbled through the ice.

“My arms flew upward and the ax went into the air. … By instinct I kicked my heavy feet and pushed my mittened hands downward,” he writes. “I bulleted to the surface and my drenched and bewildered head popped out.”

Geagan’s cast of characters include Sunny the Crow and Pop, a crusty old character who lives across the pond.

The book winds down with Geagan’s rapprochement with his parents, who looked askance at his wilderness existence, and a love affair with a girl named Alice, his future wife. The young Campfire Girl and her troop were camping along the pond.

Geagan’s description of meeting her is quite an eyeful.

“Slowly and slyly my eyes climbed to her legs, stumbled a bit on dimpled knees and stopped at a pair of khaki trunks. … They were the most beautiful legs I had seen anywhere — at the beaches or in shows that feature that part of the female anatomy.”

Variety and a natural sense of pacing drive “Nature I Loved…”

Geagan would be proud that a new generation of readers and listeners are again experiencing his many gifts. And proud that his old friend, Hal Wheeler, is the catalyst for his book’s re-release.

“Nature, I Loved…” is avaiable by mail order for $29.95 plus $4 for sales tax and shipping from the Bangor Daily News Book Division, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402-1329.