Herbert Hoover Stewart

Herbert Hoover Stewart of Nellysford, Virginia passed away at age 94 on Jan. 22, 2023 after a brief illness. He was a retired professor of science education and loving husband and father. Born July 18, 1928 in the small Eastern Kentucky town of Stanton, he was the youngest of six children of Alexander Thomas Stewart and Clemma Lacy Stewart. He was born a year before the 1929 stock market crash and his father, the town attorney, named him after the then-popular US president. Hoover, as he was known for many years, had what he regarded as an idyllic boyhood, hunting and fishing among the rugged cliffs and valleys of the Red River Gorge, and eating hand-cranked ice cream on the front porch. His parents encouraged education for all the children, and Hoover showed early promise. In 1940, at age 12, he started The Stanton Sun, a mimeographed newsletter that for three years chronicled the daily lives of the town's residents at the start of World War II (facebook.com/TheStantonSun). The county newspaper at the time called it a " bright, spicy publication....well-written and a credit to this energetic youngster." Life wasn't all idyllic, of course. The Depression was hard for everyone. At one point his sister Virginia was the only person from the area attending college, and electricity was late coming to town. In 1940 he grieved with his family when his older brother AT, Jr. was killed in an automobile accident. In 1941 he listened with his older brothers on the upstairs radio to news of the attack on Pearl Harbor. He mailed copies of the Sun to local soldiers stationed overseas, who appreciated the news from home. Always a hard worker, Hoover spent summers cutting Kentucky tobacco and Iowa wheat. He and Jim took an adventurous boat trip through "the Roughs of Red River," long before GPS and Gore-Tex. He graduated a year early from Powell County High School (a building erected by a New Deal works program), and taught for a time in a rural one-room schoolhouse. There, he encountered a young Black boy who wanted to attend school but would have had to go to the segregated school on the other side of the county - an impossible distance to travel. Hoover told him to "come on in," knowing that he was violating the constitution of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The young man thrived. All of these early experiences helped shape Hoover's lifelong views that family, education, hard work and equal opportunity are key, that science is a force for good, that we're all in this together, and that society should provide for the least of us. Pursuing his interest in current affairs and journalism, at age 20 Hoover partnered with a friend to produce for a few years an actual newspaper, the Powell County Herald. His gregarious personality likely helped; he had a talent for striking up conversations and was a prolific and charming storyteller. Hoover went on to attend Transylvania University where he reconnected with a childhood sweetheart, Dorothy S. Stovall of Hazel Green. The two would marry on August 16th, 1953 in a double-ring ceremony at Hazel Green Academy with Dorothy's brother Henry and his bride Carolyn. The couple moved north and Hoover obtained his BS and MS in Biology from the University of Connecticut. The late fifties were a time of space-race anxiety, and with government grants and the loving support of Dorothy, in 1958 Hoover was able to obtain his EdD in Science Education from Columbia University Teachers College with a dissertation on the state of Soviet biology after the disastrous effects of Lysenkoism. A son was born, and the family moved for teaching positions at Towson State, Rutgers, and NYU. In 1960 a daughter arrived, and the family moved to Tampa and the newly-established University of South Florida. Six years later, another son was born, and the family moved to Boca Raton, where Florida Atlantic University was being built on the remnants of a WWII airfield. There they settled in for the next 36 years, always making sure to make regular visits to see family back home in Kentucky. While Dorothy ("Dotty") worked as a librarian and homemaker, Hoover continued to work hard, often taking on overload courses, to provide every advantage to his family. Among many adventures, a highlight was teaching in south India in the summer of 1966, followed by a visit to his sister Virginia and family in Afghanistan. At FAU Herb, as he was now known, taught scores of high-school and college science teachers how to best teach science. He worked to introduce into Florida classrooms the BSCS Biology curriculum, which emphasized the indispensable role of evolution in understanding the natural world. Later in his career, he collaborated on productive studies of the biology of invasive cattails disrupting the Everglades ecosystem. He was a life member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In a flash, kids grew up, went to college, and moved away, and grandkids arrived. Herb retired at 75, and he and Dorothy moved north again, this time to central Virginia and a house that Dorothy had designed. He was proud of his Scottish heritage, and the couple enjoyed family trips to Scotland, Europe and the American West. Sadly, Dorothy developed Alzheimer's Disease, and he lovingly cared for her for several years until her death in 2018, a few months after their 65th wedding anniversary (dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/charlottesville-va/dorothy-stewart-8101843). He remained active until the end, following the news, talking with neighbors, and thoroughly enjoying trips to see family in Texas. Herb and Dorothy were members of the United Church of Christ in Boca Raton, FL, and of Rockfish Presbyterian Church in Nellysford, VA. In addition to Dorothy, Herb was preceded in death by his parents, his brothers AT Stewart Jr, James Stewart, and Ivan Stewart, his sisters Virginia Prewitt and Hazel Dale, and a half-brother William Holley Stewart. He is survived by his son Herbert L. Stewart and wife Liz Palmer of Charlottesville, VA; his daughter Allison D. Brightly and husband Paul Brightly of Austin, TX; his son Thomas A. Stewart and wife Sandy Stewart of Land O' Lakes, FL; five grandchildren: Ashley Brightly, Thomas Brightly, Austin Brightly, Emily Brightly, and Bailey Stewart, and numerous nieces and nephews. Teague Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. A celebration of life will be scheduled at a future date. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a donation to the National Center for Science Education (NCSE.ngo), Save the Children, The Arc of the Piedmont, or a charity of one's choice. ###