Thibodeau Carries On West Brewster Traditions: Writer, Environmentalist Releases Album Of New Songs

There’s something special about the bucolic Stony Brook area of West Brewster. Over time, it has attracted some of the nation’s finest naturalists, writers, artists, poets, musicians, town planners and environmentalists. The late celebrated naturalist and author Robert Finch called it a “Primal Place.”

Finch lived here for years, as did the late John Hay, co-founder of Brewster’s Cape Cod Museum of Natural History, a Harvard poet laureate and author of 18 books about nature written from his rustic “writing shack” on Dry Hill not far from the Brewster Herring Run and historic Stony Brook Grist Mill. Finch, Hay, Conrad Aiken — who won a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award and was a United States Poet Laureate — and other gifted writers and poets of Stony Brook have intermingled personal narratives with wide-ranging environmental themes in boundless artistic skill.

The next generation of creative sorts is still in the making to take their place in this legacy — among those spreading wings is Jeff Thibodeau. Finch and Hay were inspirations and close acquaintances of Thibodeau. A good friend of the Finch family since childhood, Thibodeau, as a youth, spent countless hours exploring Stony Brook Valley environs with the Finch children and a cluster of Brewster boys and girls, often migrating up to the adjacent Hay property on Dry Hill. Thibodeau’s time there was a foreshadowing of the later years he would spend as an adult working in the Hay house as an employee of the Brewster Conservation Trust, current owners of the property, and helping take care of the surrounding land.

Thibodeau, a Brewster native who left for a brief period and returned home like a herring, is a visionary and eclectic writer, artist, musician, environmental protection and design professional, and teacher. He also holds a black belt in Kung Fu and is a Natural Therapeutic Specialist (NTS), a licensed masseur and a certified cranial sacral therapist (an outgrowth of osteopathic medicine which works gently with the central nervous and musculoskeletal systems to effect healing and relaxation). He has a bachelor of science in general studies and a master’s degree in landscape architecture from Cornell University. Thibodeau is the founder and president of an environmental protection/design firm, Helios Land Design, which provides services in landscape design, protection, planning, permitting, management and conservation consulting. He has been involved in the protection and stewardship of hundreds of acres of conservation land on Cape Cod during previous employment with the Brewster Conservation Trust, the Orleans Conservation Trust, The Compact of Cape Cod Conservation Trusts, and the Orenda Wildlife Land Trust.

In addition, Thibodeau, 58, has produced hundreds of drawings, plans, reports and presentations; worked as a town planner and conservation agent in Eastham and a planner in Chatham; co-authored the 2007 version of Brewster’s Open Space and Recreation Plan; wrote and mapped Brewster’s Punkhorn Parklands Trail Guide for the Compact of Conservation Trusts; and designed and built the Wing Island Solar Calendar in Brewster — a small-scale version of Stonehenge, which allowed indigenous cultures to track the movement of the sun and the seasons.

Thibodeau also has authored a personal growth guidebook entitled ”Be Your Best! A Roadmap to Living a Healthy, Balanced and Fulfilling Life” (jeffthibodeau.com/2019/04/20/be-your-best-a-roadmap-to-living-a-healthy-balanced-and-fulfilling-life/).

Based on Jeff’s life experience and introspection, the book explores common human experiences such as joy, depression, love, fear, courage, relationships, spirituality, sexuality and more, providing helpful insights and gentle, practical guidance to help the reader navigate daily life challenges. Thibodeau’s writing is intended to guide and inspire readers through life challenges towards their highest potential. 

He also is an accomplished singer-songwriter and is a multi-instrumentalist — playing guitar, keyboards, bass, harmonica, and hand percussion — and performing regularly across the Cape at venues including Brewster’s Ocean Edge Resort’s Bayzo’s Pub and the Chatham Wayside Inn’s Wild Goose Tavern. In June, he released an album of original songs entitled “I Sing Life’s Praises,” available on all streaming platforms. CDs can be purchased from Jeff directly at jeff@jeffthibodeaumusic.com. 

Thibodeau’s music draws on his personal experiences with the universal themes of love, relationship, spirituality and connection to nature. Spanning multiple genres, including rock, folk, pop, funk, blues and reggae, his style can be most aptly described as melodic, heartfelt, meaningful, passionate, uplifting and inspirational. His music reflects his appreciation for both the spiritual and sensual and the belief that all life’s experiences contain a positive message, even when difficult. His songs are conceived by a powerful feeling and rooted in solid melodies, deep-felt lyrics and strong vocals that express the inherent beauty and preciousness of life.

In his “spare” time, Thibodeau also owns and operates Helios Natural Therapeutics, providing life coaching, therapeutic massage and natural remedies in the treatment of acute and chronic conditions, and classes on topics including spiritual potential, Tai Chi and meditation.

Talk about a Man for All Seasons…And all this from a guy who was raised Catholic and considered becoming a priest before widening his horizons.

From the start Thibodeau was an over-achiever. At Nauset Regional High School, he was an honor student, president of the school’s National Honor Society, a three sport all-star (soccer, hockey, baseball), captain of the soccer team and MVP of the Cape and Islands League soccer all-star game. He won a Nauset scholar athlete award given to a three-sport athlete with the highest grade point average, and also played piano for the Nauset chorus.

 “I’ve always been very spiritual,” he says. “I seek to bridge heaven and earth in all that I do, in all that I am.”

In college, he expanded his spiritual journey to include teachings from Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Judaism, Islam, Native American and other indigenous peoples. He draws from what is most essential within these wisdom traditions to inform his eclectic spiritual understanding and practice.

Today, Thibodeau is single, a divorced father with a teenage daughter Bella, the love of his life, his “one true treasure and main source of joy and pride.” Thibodeau’s father Ron “is my best friend, teacher, supporter and inspiration.” Thibodeau’s new album is dedicated to them. The last song, “You Are My Daughter,” is a prayer and a gift for his only child, along with a bit of fatherly advice to her.

As noted above, it hasn’t been all roses for Thibodeau. At 14, he suffered a life-threatening broken neck. He dove into the surf on Nauset Outer Beach, landing on his head in the shallows, cracking his neck. No cellphones in the day. His dad was there to drive him to Cape Cod Hospital, while his mother held his head steady.

 “This near-death experience fostered an even deeper appreciation for life and the realization that things are often beyond our control, and there is a thin veil between this world and the next,” he said. “This heightened my desire to live completely, to appreciate every moment, to hold nothing back, to make a decidedly positive impact by attempting to nurture people and the planet, to be the best version of myself, to explore the world and to express myself completely. All of my life challenges have ultimately resulted in profoundly transformative, growthful and positive experiences in spite of the pain, and sometimes because of it.”

Stony Brook Elders Bob Finch, John Hay, Conrad Aiken and others must be looking down from above proud and pleased with the drive, determination and intuitive talents of Jeff Thibodeau, among the next generation of West Brewster Elders.