I am humming, “This Little Light of Mine” and “Turn, Turn, Turn” repeatedly. Like many folk music aficionados, I am floored by the recent death of folk icon Pete Seeger, 94. I knew Seeger and had a grand opportunity to do some brief work with him during a two-year stretch.
Knowing Seeger left an indelible impression on me. His music was among the first songs I heard as a toddler. Repeatedly, I would listen to “Michael Row the Boat Ashore” or “Abiyoyo.” My father, Mel Prussack, fed my hunger for music and shared some wonderful offerings from his own collection.
In 1970, when I was 4, I met Seeger at the first Earth Day celebration, thanks to my dad. I gave Pete a kiss on the cheek and said, “I love you.” I never expected to meet Seeger again, but I was extremely fortunate.
In 2008, I was handling publicity for entertainment promoter Sid Bernstein and I met Phil Sauers, the founder of Water Not Weapons in New York. Sauers introduced me to Seeger, whom he knew from working together on a water cause.
Pete Seeger I was overjoyed to be introduced to Pete at the Beacon Sloop Club in Beacon, N.Y. Historically, Seeger had founded this group to have town meetings. The sloop club was heated by burning wood in a hearth in the winter. Seeger was busy as the head chopper. I was impressed with his strength. When he needed to call his wife, Toshi, he asked for a phone. I gave him mine.
I enjoyed learning about Seeger just by being in his presence. He took a simple approach that is rare these days, even regarding making concert plans.
Seeger wrote notes to each performer on our list to welcome them to perform at a show. He signed each note with his signature banjo doodle. During that time, he autographed an incredible picture of himself that I have framed and prominently displayed in my home.
Pete usually attended the monthly Beacon Sloop Club meetings and he led small peace demonstrations in Wappingers Falls, N.Y. The trip for me was more than two hours, but I tried to go to those happenings whenever possible. It was like a spiritual journey.
In addition, I especially enjoyed finding time to see Pete perform whenever possible.
When Seeger performed in Woodstock, N.Y., he invited a bunch of us from the backstage area onstage to sing with him.
He picked a newer song at the time and nobody knew the words. We read from songbooks and did the best we could. Then Seeger broke into my all-time favorite song, “This Land Is Your Land,” and we sang with him. This song just grabs me from start to finish. It is an anthem of sorts.
Seeger has always moved me. His oncegentle voice had become aged in his later years, but it still resonated caring at the root. His messages regarding humanism and environmentalism speak to people of all ages. He certainly lit up my thinking about ways to do my part. While attending Pete’s peace rallies, I had some interesting experiences that are telling about him. To paint the picture, a group consisting of 15 to 20 local people would hold up homemade signs on a grassy area beside a highway.
For a while, we would display our peace messages to oncoming traffic. Then we would have a wonderful, energetic sing-along led by Seeger.
One snowy day, I arrived at the peace demonstration in Wappingers Falls. While walking to the demonstration, I crossed paths with Pete.
He said he was walking to purchase garbage bags because some children at the peace demonstration were bored. He said he was going to give them something to do, and that was to pick up pollution from the ground.
While we spoke, Pete picked up a piece of garbage. I started to reach down and pick up garbage, too. If I hadn’t seen Seeger do it, I doubt my hands would ever touch dirt. That is how easy environmentalism can be.
Later that day, Seeger informed me that children at schools throughout the United States no longer had “This Land Is Your Land” in their songbooks. I told him that when we were children in Mrs. Sunder’s class at the McDivitt School in Old Bridge we regularly sang that song. In fact, it was a highlight for me.
How I loved Pete Seeger. He lived his life by example and we can do that to our own comfort level. Right now, I am saturating my head with Pete’s music. I am thinking that if we all stretch to make our planet last and keep humanism alive, maybe the void left by Seeger will be one inch less painful.
“Inch by inch and row by row, I’m gonna let this (Pete Seeger) garden grow.” If I had to pick which flower represented Pete in that garden, it would be a sunflower: straight, tall, with his head held high no matter what. I hope he is smiling right next to his beloved late wife Toshi.
Maureen Daye is a correspondent with Greater Media Newspapers.