NATURE EDUCATOR STEPHEN BASS DIES AT 74
Lake Worth environmentalist died July 4.
LAKE WORTH — Stephen Bass was a natural teacher.
When he first met Valerie, his wife of nearly 50 years, they were both students at the University of Dayton and she needed help with a science lab. Stephen picked up a piece of chalk and immediately began writing on the blackboard.
Bass, 74, of Lake Worth, died of cancer on July 4, one day before his 50th wedding anniversary.
Bass had dedicated his life to environmental preservation and education. Most recently, he worked at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton for 22 years.
Prior to that, he did outdoor programs with the school district, hosted a local TV show about Palm Beach County’s nature and chaired the Palm Beach County Natural Areas Management Advisory Committee, which helped secure more public natural spaces.
“He was interested in everything,” Valerie Bass said.
In Palm Beach County, he started his teaching career by taking Belle Glade kids on environmental trips. He preferred to be out in the sun instead of pent up in a classroom, assigning and grading homework, Valerie said. In his later life, Bass taught adults in the Florida Master Naturalist program.
When Bass got sick, he decided he wanted his legacy to help expand open spaces in Palm Beach County. His wife set up the Stephen Bass Memorial Account to raise money, with donations going to support the Department of Environmental Resources Management.
“We talked about it not too long ago,” she said. “He was so involved in the natural areas.”
His daughter, Shannon Miller, said her dad always took the family on nature walks or camping trips, pointing out things along the way.
“It wasn’t until I was older I realized not all parents knew the scientific names of all the birds,” said Miller, 49.
He loved to visit Ichetucknee Springs in North Florida and the Peace River, which runs from Polk County southwest to Charlotte County, she said. There, he’d search for fossils or explain natural history, such as how Native Americans used the plants nearby.
Miller said her father was a lifetime learner with an incredible memory. As a mother, she said she appreciates how much time he spent teaching the family about nature.
His love for nature, and deep connections with others, she said, is part of the reason the family is waiting until the fall to hold an outdoor celebration of life for Bass.
“You always assume he’ll be right there to tell you the names of things again,” she said.