Beloved French Teacher Stephen Whitney Dies at 9

July 16, 2007 — Stephen Whitney, who taught French at Phillips Academy for 41 years, died at Kirkwood Corners, an assisted living facility in Lee, N.H., after a brief period of declining health. He was 95.

 Born in New Haven, Conn., in 1911, Mr. Whitney attended St. Paul’s School in Concord, N.H., graduated from Yale University in 1934, and earned an MA degree from Middlebury College in 1939. As an enlistee in the U.S. Air Force during World War II, he served in the officer training corps in the Office of Strategic Services on Santa Catalina Island in the Pacific.

He began his teaching career at Phillips Academy in 1936, after studying in France for two years. His contributions to the school were many and varied: assistant director of admissions, director of the school’s Summer Session, chair of the French department, social functions chairman, and coach of several “club” teams.  He also was well known as a raconteur and actor in PA theatre productions.

While a teacher at Andover, he was awarded the Palmes Académiques by the French government “for contribution to French culture”; the award most often is given to French citizens. When his young children attended Andover public schools, he was chairman of the PTA, and, with fellow French teacher James Grew, he pioneered a French-teaching project in the town’s elementary schools.

After his retirement in 1977, he and his wife retired to Rochester, N.H. In summer, they set out with a travel trailer to Montana, where they owned a small house in the community of Victor, near two of their children. Also while in retirement, he tutored in an adult reading program in New Hampshire.

His tenure at Andover was memorable to students and faculty alike who were touched by his humor, liveliness, and kindness. Natalie Schorr ’62, who currently teaches French at PA, was Mr. Whitney’s teaching assistant the first summer she ever taught. “He was a raconteur, a real gentleman, and didn’t have a mean bone in his body,” she said. “His natural authority, rapport with students, and a distinctive sense of humor made him a consummate teacher.” Tom Regan ’51, an Andover English teacher emeritus whom Mr. Whitney first hired to teach in the Summer Session, recalled, “He was very popular, a wonderful man.” Speaking of Mr. Whitney’s stint as social director, Regan said, “He always kept a close eye on me at the proms to make sure I didn’t dance too close.” Schorr said the combination of Whitney and Regan made for “two of the funniest teachers who ever set foot on PA soil.”

Mr. Whitney married Ethel Ranney Lang in 1941. One of her hobbies was teaching ballroom dancing, an activity shared with relish by her husband. “They used to make sure they had a few quarters in their pockets, jump in the car, and head for a place in North Reading that had a jukebox. There they would dance until their change ran out,” their son Dudley recounted. His father being in charge of the annual prom seemed like a natural, his son said: “He was a fabulous ballroom dancer.” Mr. Whitney and his wife, Ethel, who died in 1988, raised four children on the Andover campus.

Mr. Whitney is survived by his second wife, Anne Carr Whitney, who he married in 1989; his four children, Stephen Jr. '61, Dudley, Hannah '67, and Benjamin; four grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held on August 29, 2007 in Dover, N.H. His nephew, the Rt. Rev. Frank Tracy Griswold, former Bishop of the Episcopal Church, will officiate