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Desmond Boswell,
Hudson's Hermit, dead at 68

Desmond Boswell
HUDSON - Desmond Boswell, the man dubbed the Hermit
of Hudson by the Montreal media for his desire to live 'off the
grid', died Saturday at the Lakeshore General after a long battle
with chronic emphysema and other degenerative illnesses. He was
68.
His father, Harry Boswell, was a Royal Military College-educated
army officer whose Second World War exploits included parachuting
into Nazi-occupied Europe and blowing up military installations,
for which he received the Order of the British Empire.
Harry was serving with the British Army in Singapore when Desmond's
mother Phyllis Henshaw was killed in a car crash. Desmond was
just four.
His father remarried and had another family. Desmond lived with
his grandmother and inherited her home on Brisbane when she died.
Over the years, the house fell into disrepair and was eventually
torn down when Desmond refused to make repairs for lack of money.
Its contents, including valuable paintings, were either stolen
or sold; family members recall seeing them for sale in Montreal
galleries.
Drugs, tobacco and alcohol were constants in Desmond's life and
drew a steady stream of young Hudsonites who envied his carefree
lifestyle. But it didn't endear him to others, who would look
down their noses at the rake-thin bearded man on the bicycle
with the large milk carton on the back rack. He steadfastly refused
to move indoors, even if it meant heat and a welfare cheque.
That meant he would have to stop living 'off the grid,' hooked
to a system that had rejected him and that he had rejected. Instead,
he existed on money earned from scavenging bottles and junk.
He was dubbed the Hermit of Hudson when the town attemped to
evict him from the now vacant lot where his house once stood.
He had built a sort of yurt out of tarpaulins and other junk,
furnished it with old furniture and a discarded mattress, and
kept himself warm by feeding stray cats, which would come and
sleep on his mattress. He bathed naked in the stream that cut
across the property.
Hudson residents were divided. Some felt he should be left alone;
others wanted him run out of town. Finally, he was evicted and
the property expropriated by one of those he had trusted.
He could have moved indoors at that point. Instead, he lived
at the mercy of others and a town that didn't want him hanging
around. Eventually, he ended up in a ramshackle former dépanneur
on Bellevue which was eventually purchased by the town and torn
down to make way for a small park. He told a visitor it was a
palace compared to his previous lodgings, but it wasn't good
enough to prevent him from being evicted yet again.
His long-suffering family said his death was no surprise. "We'd
known for a long time that he was failing," said a relative.
She said the family had done their best to help him. "We
tried so hard over the years, but Desmond wouldn't listen."
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