Devising a generous bequest, at 102

When Adele Erisman and her husband first moved into their new house on Reutemann Road in North Stonington, in 1956, they appreciated the quiet.

"A car going by was a big event. We would jump up and run to the window," Erisman told me the other day, ensconced in an easy chair in the snug little living room she has enjoyed for more than 55 years.

Erisman and her husband moved to North Stonington from Noank, where, at the time, they lived next to a field, in the last house before the woods that stretched then without interruption all the way to Mystic.

"A lot has changed since then" said Erisman, now a spry 102.

The Erismans could have bought that field in Noank for $2,000 back then. Instead, they headed out to the woods of North Stonington, where Erisman said her husband eventually found some relief from his hay fever.

Today, Erisman still enjoys looking out at the unspoiled woods she can see from the living room of her trim little redwood-sided house.

She technically no longer owns it.

She recently gave most of her property, 62.1 acres, to Avalonia Land Conservancy. She gave her house and two acres surrounding it to the Nature Conservancy, retaining use of it for the rest of her life.

She expects the Nature Conservancy will eventually sell the house, to someone, she hopes, who will appreciate the setting.

For now, she says she continues to enjoy what she calls the privilege of living so close to nature.

Her modest and tidy house, which has very little landscaping, blends simply into the landscape, with few formal plantings.

"Visitors to her rear porch, which looks down on her woodlands and the wildlife that live there - squirrels, chipmunks, a barred owl and all sorts of songbirds in the spring - will readily appreciate this is a special place," Ann Nalwalk, an Avolonia director at large, recently wrote about Erisman's generous gift, in a conservancy newsletter.

Erisman said it saddens her that she can't enjoy walks on the land anymore because her feet bother her, but she still gets great pleasure from living where she does. Someone comes in to make her breakfast every day, but she makes her own lunch and dinner and generally looks after herself.

"I get up in the morning, and I look out at all these trees, and I think, how many people can do that?" she said. "I'm very lucky."

But the good fortune of owning a piece of beautiful property also comes with its responsibilities, Erisman notes, and she is quick to suggest that others, too, consider gifts to Avalonia.

Erisman was instrumental in the establishment of the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center in Mystic and the Avalonia Land Conservancy.

She also was friends with and attended many meetings with the early founders of the international Nature Conservancy, which was born here in eastern Connecticut.

Erisman is especially eloquent about the need for preserving a rural town like North Stonington.

"It is a beautiful town, and you should try to save it and not let it go into little houses and gas stations," she said. "We have enough of those."

Erisman said she remembers when the notion of preserving land seemed new and odd to a lot of people. But the concept has become more accepted and part of mainstream thinking over the years, she adds.

"I have to say the idea just seems to keep spreading," she said. "I don't know if the coming generation will take up the theme, but I hope they do."

She said she is glad to have resolved the issue of what will become of her beloved woodlands and not leave the issue to be resolved by her heirs. It is a plan she recommends for others who love the land and want to see it preserved.

Make the decisions yourself, she says, and act on them.

"Sometimes, when you are about to die, like I am, you love the idea you've left something worth leaving," she said. "It's good to know you haven't harmed the world, as so many are harming it dreadfully."

She might have added that it is good to know your gift will long be appreciated.

This is the opinion of David Collins.