BROOKLIN — At Christmas, a small group of Rob McCall’s friends stood outside a glass wall at his house where he laid in bed and sang carols to him.

McCall, a fiddler, naturalist, author and longtime First Congregational Church of Blue Hill pastor, died Friday after a lengthy illness.

“We stood there for quite some time singing and talking through the glass,” said Rob Shetterly of Brooksville. “He was at times singing along with us.”

McCall was born in 1944 in South Dakota, the son of a preacher. He grew up in Oregon and Illinois.

Shetterly painted McCall’s portrait for his “Americans Who Tell The Truth” series in 2018.

“I think he tried to be accommodating and kind to all people,” Shetterly said. “One of the great tools he used to accommodate people was humor. He was self-effacing. He saw wit and humor everywhere. That’s one of the things that made him easy to listen to and talk to was that humor. He was adamant in right and wrong in how to treat the Earth and how to treat his neighbors.”

McCall had a show on WERU, “Awanadjo Almanack,” for three decades.

Matt Murphy, the radio station’s manager, said, “Rob was a truly beloved member of the WERU family, and his voice was, to countless people, a warm embrace full of wisdom, wit, and compassion. ‘Awanadjo Almanack’ is one of the most iconic WERU programs ever to grace the airwaves, one that tremendously impacted the hearts, minds and lives of many, many listeners. Rob’s influence on community radio was immense.”

Selections of the Almanack were published by the Penobscot Bay Press for over 20 years.

The Almanack, in the late pastor’s words, was “devoted to feeling at home in nature and breaking down the wall of hostility between us and the rest of creation.”

Nat Barrows, publisher of the Penobscot Bay Press, dedicated an editorial in this week’s Blue Hill Packet to McCall.

“Rob was a profoundly spiritual person,” the publisher said. “He radiated positive energy and personal connectivity. His continuing message about the importance of and need for human connection to the natural world is one for us all.

“He clearly understood the need for us humans to care for and appreciate the natural world that sustains us all.”

To that end, McCall, who was pastor of the First Congregational Church of Blue Hill from 1986 to 2014, regularly led walks up Blue Hill Mountain.

Chrissy Allen, associate director of the Blue Hill Heritage Trust, said McCall’s proceeds from the newspaper column were always sent to the trust.

“Rob encouraged us to slow down and inspired a sense of wonder about the small changes in nature that often go overlooked in our daily hustle and bustle. He modeled stewardship for our community, environment and mountain,” Allen said. “And regardless of our ability or geographic proximity he brought us all along with him on his hundreds, if not thousands, of hikes up the mountain, sharing with us all the sights and sounds and happenings of this special place. Rob, through his intimate and thoughtful relationship with Blue Hill Mountain, taught us all valuable lessons about our own relationships with each other and our place.”

Blue Hill Mountain was the inspiration for McCall’s first book, “Small, Misty Mountain: The Awanadjo Almanack,” published in 2006 by Pushcart Press.

Publisher Bill Henderson also published McCall’s 2012 book, “Great Speckled Bird: Confessions of a Village Preacher” and most recently “Some Glad Morning, Holding Hope in Apocalyptic Times” (October 2020).

Henderson described McCall as “one of the really great men of our century.

They are “a call to a simple life and an appreciation of what you’ve got around you,” said Henderson. “The sky, the ocean, the incredible beauty of the whole peninsula. It’s holy. It’s divine. Appreciate it, love it and live the slow, good life. Don’t get carried away with nonsense.”

Henderson met McCall after building a house in Sedgwick and visiting the church.

“I walked in the door and liked him immediately,” said Henderson. “His sermons were wonderfully to the point. He didn’t waste a lot of words with a lot of noise. He was quiet, reserved, dignified and very, very smart — went to Harvard Divinity School.”

Another friend, Ross Greenlaw, first met McCall in 1970. Greenlaw is a banjo player and was asked to join a group of friends, including McCall, who had all met at Harvard Divinity School.

The friends were reunited in Maine some years later. McCall would eventually perform the marriage ceremony for Greenlaw and his wife, Beth Jackson.

“I happened to mention to Rob that I’d seen a bumper sticker in the Blue Hill Tradewinds parking lot that read “Don’t believe everything you think,” Greenlaw recalled. “Rob quickly responded without any pause: “But do believe some of the things you think.”

“He was a true and faithful friend to me and to many many others,” said Greenlaw. “A preacher who would rather listen than preach; folk artist; accomplished musician; old -fashioned; skeptical of technology; renaissance man; jack of all trades; if we went back in time, he’d be the very last person in Blue Hill to adopt the automobile in lieu of horse and buggy.”

Bill Schubeck and Heidi Daub of Blue Hill regularly played music with McCall and his wife, Becky, who is a singer. They met through the McCalls at a party Greenlaw had hosted in the mid-1980s.

“Rob would have gatherings at his house several times throughout the year,” said Daub. On Memorial Day there was always a music party after the parade. We’d all play on the porch or under that beautiful tree.”

“He was so kind and self-effacing,” said Schubeck. “Just a great listener.”

“He touched so many people by being able to embrace them in a lot of pivotal life passages,” Daub said. “Like a midwife he was with you in your times of great joy and of sorrow.”

“He was constantly seeking too,” she said. “Constantly curious, always something to observe and learn in the world.”

“I was just so impressed how he drew his upbringing in his Christian faith to all the world religions and native indigenous teachings. He married that so beautifully.”

To that end, words from the deceased himself, an excerpt from his almanack:

“Around here the spirits of the towns are mostly Christian. But the spirits of the forests are Algonquin; the spirits of the snow and ice are Inuit; the spirits of the mountains are Buddhist; the spirits of the big trees, rocks and waterfalls are Shinto; the spirits of the animals are Neolithic; and the spirits of the bays and islands are Celtic, Druid and Pagan. If you stay in town, Christianity might be all you need. But, if you wander far out beyond the towns, Christianity may not be enough.”

McCall is survived by his wife, Becky, their children and grandchildren.

Matt Murphy said a celebration of life for McCall will be announced later.