Billie Jo Thoburn Johnstone

Billie Jo Thoburn Johnstone died February 13 at her home in Lebanon, near Lake Mascoma, after a long struggle with breast cancer. She was 58. She was born and raised in Los Angeles CA. She attended Whittier College in Whittier CA and received her degree from Wayne State University in Detroit MI. After graduation she traveled abroad and lived in Paris for two years. Upon her return to the United States she settled in Washington DC. There she worked as a proofreader and editorial assistant for a scientific journal and later as an administrative assistant at a non-profit international aid organization. She married and in 1984 she moved to the Upper Valley with her husband, William Johnstone, who died in 1987. She was a regular attender at the Hanover Meeting of The Religious Society of Friends and participated in Quaker committees, activities and worship. In the Upper Valley she worked at Satellite Video in White River Junction VT, with Interact, the in-house television network at Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital when that institution was in Hanover NH, as manager of Our Court Tennis Club in White River Junction VT, and as the longtime bookkeeper for BHIF Relocation Group in Etna NH. In addition to her interests in tennis, dogs (especially Bearded Collies), sailing, opera and local dramatic productions, she developed a love for birding, the natural world around her and the conservation of that natural world. She was a past president of the Mascoma Chapter of the Audubon Society of New Hampshire and worked as a Plant Conservation Volunteer for the New England Wildflower Society. She was a member of the Lebanon Historical Society, the Mascoma Watershed Conservation Council, The Upper Valley Land Trust, and the Society for Protection of New Hampshire Forests. She was appointed a member of the Lebanon Conservation Commission and worked diligently and fairly on the difficult problems of how to deal with inevitable growth in ways that do not harm natural areas or the rural character of the region. At the time of her death, she was the chairperson of the Class VI Roads Subcommittee of the Conservation Commission, identifying the locations and legal status of old roads in town and making recommendations about their use as snowmobiling or hiking trails, access roads, etc. She also was the Lebanon Conservation Commission representative to the Joint Rivers Commission. One of her interests was in helping young people develop an interest in the natural world. She worked with elementary and high school science classes in Canaan and Lebanon, for example, locating and identifying salamander and wood frog tadpoles in a vernal pool or finding potholes created by glacial runoff in the Devil's Kitchen area below Lake Mascoma. She took great pleasure in making sure that when a nationally known birder and best-selling guide book author visited the Upper Valley recently, one of the six coveted spots on an early morning bird walk with the author was reserved for an enthusiastic child who was falling in love with birding. She is survived by har partner, Donald Lacey of Lebanon NH, her stepmother Catherine Thoburn of Plymouth MI, her stepfather Donald Fort of Oak Park IL, and her brothers Leland Thoburn of Tajunga CA and Steven Thoburn of Ann Arbor MI. A memorial gathering will take place in several weeks, and interment will be in the spring at Lake View Cemetery in Enfield NH, overlooking Lake Mascoma.