TEMPLE – Bob Parens of Auburn died, after a short illness, on Sunday, Dec. 6 at the age of 89. The former resident of Temple, who was born in New Jersey and grew up in California before returning to the east coast, came to Maine as a “back to the lander” in 1975.
He brought with him a passion for mushroom hunting, white and still-water canoeing, beer-making and an unfinished manuscript for his soon-to-be-published (1978 by the East Woods Press) guide book “Canoeing the Jersey Pine Barrens”.
In 1985 he used his chance association with the fledgling Woods End Laboratory, an agricultural soil-testing operation, to publish “Fertile Soil”- a guidebook on creating fertile soils which did not rely on chemical fertilizers. He used to joke that it was his PhD in physics that first brought him to the biodynamic-based Woods End Laboratory where he volunteered to record the results of planting carrots by the different phases of the moon.
By 1990, Bob had left Temple and moved south the Mechanic Falls, where he built a yurt-like structure to house him and his latest interest- producing pottery. For years, he was a regular at craft fairs around the state. In most recent years he could be found at the Auburn Public Library working on his laptop wrestling with the task of writing a play about the philosopher Spinoza.
He was predeceased by his parents Rose Horowitz Parnes and Jacob Eli Parnes. He leaves behind his brother Larry Parnes of Salem, Oregon, his nephew Gary Parnes of Ridgefield, Washington and his children Jennifer and Rachel Parnes, his nephew Glenn Parnes of Cayucos, California and his niece Gayle Aron of Agoura, California and her children Jerome and Ilene Aron.
His ashes will be scattered on his favorite hiking trails this spring.
