Obituary of Konrad Gesner

Konrad Gesner, 79, of Duxbury, died of Parkinson’s disease, December 7, 2011 at Wingate at Silver Lake in Kingston. Konrad was born May 5, 1932 in Waltham, to the Rev. Kenneth C. Gesner and Hester Howe Gesner. Konrad attended The Rivers School and Colby College before being drafted into the Korean War and graduating from Babson College on the GI Bill. After college, Konrad met and married Nancy Lang Gesner and began a career in real estate. He was an active member of the Duxbury Yacht Club, Boca Grande Club, Tihonet Club, and was a lifetime trustee of Ducks Unlimited. Konrad moved to Duxbury in 1962 drawn by the great tidal system of Duxbury Bay. Konrad prided himself on knowing every sand flat, deep-water channel and rip of the bay. He was an avid outdoorsman known for his lifelong intimacy with fishing and bird hunting. As his friends would say “ no fish was safe when KG was on the water”. Konrad began his fishing career as a boy in Orleans, spending nights out on Nauset Beach with his mother and father, a pioneer of Cape Cod surfcasting. Together with his father, with whom he was extremely close, he learned the ways of bass and blues. To honor and recognize Konrad’s prowess on the water, the Duxbury Yacht Club inaugurated in 2002 the Konrad Gesner Award for the largest striped bass caught during its Fall Derby. Konrad also enjoyed working with his dogs and taking them upland shooting as well as duck hunting out on the marshes of Duxbury. He could identify a wide variety of ducks and other birds from a distance merely by watching how they flew. His dry sense of humor can perhaps best be summed up with some advice he told his daughter. After watching her diligently work her fly rod for some time, Konrad looked at her and deadpanned, “You know, you’ll have a lot better chance of catching something if you’d actually put the fly in the water instead of waving it around like a flag.” Konrad came from a long line of writers, artists, ministers and outdoorsmen. The Gesners were men and women who were devoted to nature and found spirituality in the natural world. Konrad carried on this tradition through what he called, “looking off”, a practice that entailed driving to any point of land that looked out over the sea, sitting quietly and watching the ducks, birds and other wildlife that surrounded the water. Konrad is survived by his wife of 20 years, Elizabeth Hedberg Gesner and sister-in-law, Mary Ellen Doyle of Duxbury; his son, Konrad Gesner, Jr. and daughter-in-law, Suzanne Leibfried Gesner of West Newton; his daughter, Heidi Gesner McInerney and son-in-law, Thomas McInerney of Cape Elizabeth, Maine; three stepchildren, five step-stepchildren and eighteen grandchildren and step grandchildren. He is predeceased by his wife, Nancy Lang Gesner. The family wishes to thank all the wonderful friends, old and new, who have been so kind to Konrad. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Cranberry Hospice at 36 Cordage Park Circle, Suite 326, Plymouth, MA 02360 or the Duxbury Bay Maritime School, P.O. Box 263A, 457 Washington Street, Duxbury, MA 02331 At his request, a private family service will be held in December followed by a celebration of his life on his 80th birthday, May 5, 2012.