Pete Seeger, folk music legend with strong Tiverton ties, dies at 94

TIVERTON — Pete Seeger, a good friend to the town, died Monday in New York Presbyterian Hospital. He was 94.

"He had a heart operation in December, but he was doing all right," said his daughter, Mika Seeger. She and her husband, farmer Joseph Bossom, live off Cornell Road. "I saw him just before Christmas. He was still carrying firewood into his home.

"He missed my mother very much. She died in July.

"His life was long and good and he had a fairly easy death, if death can ever be easy.

"At the end, everything just fell apart. Everything went at once."

Seeger was one of the most influential performers of American popular music in the 20th century.

He helped popularize what became known as folk music and his band, The Weavers, were a major national act. Among the songs he wrote or popularized were "If I had a Hammer," "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" and "We Shall Overcome."

He sang with Woody Guthrie and later with Arlo Guthrie, Woody Guthrie's son. Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Don McLean are among the many musicians who cited Seeger as an influence on their work. He helped found the Newport Folk Festival.

Seeger's influence was felt locally, as well.

A group of Tiverton residents were working to establish the Tiverton Land Trust in 1997 when Bossom, a member of the land trust, called his father-in-law to ask for help.

"He kicked off the Tiverton Land Trust with a benefit concert at the Meeting House," said Mary Wehle, chairwoman of the Tiverton Land Trust in July 1997.

"It was a lovely summer day. We had extremely good attendance. Pete was on the porch of the Meeting House playing, and everyone sat on the lawn. Children were dancing all around.

"At that time, we were trying to buy what is now the Pardon Gray Preserve. We were able to raise the money for that."

Music was only part of Seeger's legacy. He was an outspoken liberal, a member of the Communist Party while a student at Harvard, before he joined the Army for World War II. He was called before Congress to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee. He was found guilty of contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with the committee, a conviction that was thrown out before he served the one-year prison sentence he faced.

He also commissioned the 106-foot sloop Clearwater in 1969, a replica of a pre-civil war Hudson River packet boat. He made that boat available to teachers giving classes on environmental awareness.

Wayne Browning, now a Tiverton resident and a director of the Tiverton Land Trust, brought his high school biology class onto the boat for an expedition up the Hudson River when Browning was teaching in New City, N.Y., just down the Hudson River from Seeger's home in Beacon, N.Y.

"He spoke with the kids and they all sang songs," Browning said. "They took water samples and ran tests. It was a really good program. The kids really enjoyed it."

Seeger's songs will return to Rhode Island. A Pete Seeger Memorial Concert will be held Friday, Feb. 14, at the Sandywoods Center for the Arts, a center, and a neighborhood, that Seeger's daughter and son-in-law helped create.

Atwater-Donnelly, Art Tebbetts and John Fuzek will perform.

Other remembrances are being planned, Mika Seeger said.

"On one level, I'm a daughter, but on another, I'm an admirer, like so many others, so I am pleased to hear these tributes to him.

"But today, we are all very sad. We will miss him."