Melody Newcombe

Melody M. (Norsgaard) Newcombe, of Mt. Tremper, NY, passed away peacefully on April 4, 2022 at The Thompson House in Rhinebeck, NY. A resident of Mt. Tremper for many years, Melody was born in New York City, NY on July 22, 1947, daughter of the late Conrad Campbell Norsgaard and Grace May (Homan) Norsgaard. She spent her childhood in Englewood, NJ and was very involved with her father in wildlife photography and conservation. Both contributed to the origins of Flat Rock Brook Nature Center in the early 70's.  Melody and her father also taught twice yearly week-long nature programs at Mohonk Mountain House and Preserve for many years.

Melody loved playing and singing music. She was especially fond of Jazz and loved to play with groups of friends as well as on the public stage. She loved to spend time with friends and socialize and held many fun “Chicken Nights” at her house. She was an avid master gardener and taught gardening and nature programs for most of her life throughout a variety of careers. She loved working in her massive garden, growing her own organic vegetables. One of her fondest joys was cooking the food grown from her own garden to share with family and friends. Her many other interests and pursuits ran from riding motorcycles, having a catering business, kayaking, working at nature centers around CT and being a DJ at a local radio station, to many more. She was a lover of all animals and in 1982 she founded and ran an organization called Wildlife Umbrella for 5 years that rescued and rehabilitated wildlife. She always had her own assortment of animals throughout her life as well, including dogs, cats, horses, chickens, snakes, and birds to name a few.

She was very involved in the local community, in 1989 she started a local CSA, she was also the vice president of the NY Chapter of the Northeast Organic Farmers Association. She was the president for many years and leader of the Shandaken Women’s Network, which expanded into the Ulster County Women’s Network (UCWN). She ran her own professional children's entertainment business doing clowning as Whoopsy Daisy, magic shows, face painting and balloon twisting for the last two decades.

She is survived by her daughters, Isadora Downes of Shokan, NY, and Heather Turner of Sutton, NH. She is also survived by her granddaughter, Sadie, and her spouse, Amos Newcombe of Kingston, NY.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to be sent to Flat Rock Brook Nature Center https://www.flatrockbrook.org or Mohonk Preserve https://www.mohonkpreserve.org.