Obituary: Kingman Brewster III, 1948-2024 

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• Kingman Brewster III

Kingman Brewster III, who shod horses, kept bees and understood animal intelligence, died at 76 peacefully in his Vermont home, August 20, 2024.

Kingman was the second of five children of Kingman Brewster Jr. and Mary Louise Phillips. He grew up in Cambridge, Mass., and Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., where he and his siblings learned to sail and ride horses. On the Vineyard he formed lifelong friendships and a powerful connection with horses that would stay with him his entire life.

Growing up, he explored the natural world on sailboat, motorcycle and horse. As a young man, along with many friends and musicians, he made his way to northern Vermont, where he met his wife, Marcia, in 1972 and her three young daughters, Michelle, Xena and Rachel. In 1975 they had a son, Kingman Brewster IV. They built a house and kept chickens and horses, flower and vegetable gardens, with acceptance of and respect for the longtime Vermonters who came before them. Kingman trained as a farrier and started a business tending to both riding and work horses and their owners for 43 years all over Vermont.

Kingman understood the emotional intelligence of animals, from dogs to elephants and horses to bees. Kingman kept draft horses that he used to work the land and gather firewood. He appreciated the dignity of large draft horses and had great respect for owners who treated them properly and little patience for those who did not. From the grace and consistency that he had learned from his own parents, he included humans among animals and believed that he needed to train his farrier customers and children as much as the horses he shod.

Kingman was a voracious reader, a wise armchair philosopher, an independent thinker and a great storyteller with a dry wit and a mischievous humor.

Kingman was predeceased by his father, Kingman Brewster Jr., and his mother, Mary Louise Phillips, also by sisters Constance and Deborah. He is survived by his wife of 48 years, Marcia; stepdaughters Michelle, Xena and Rachel and her husband, Dan Shook; son Kingman and his wife, Erin Hunt; brothers Alden and Riley; grandchildren Ada, Finn, Ingrid, Ansel and Bergen; and numerous cousins, nieces and nephews.

A celebration of Kingman's life will be held at the Meeting House on the Green in East Fairfield, Vt., on October 12, 2024, at 2 p.m.