Beloved husband, father, brother, grandfather, friend, teacher, Bill died peacefully June 7. Born and raised on the Philadelphia Main Line, Bill always romanticized about being “out West” and after successful stints teaching in Boston and New Hampshire, he came west to Seattle in 1982 and continued his teaching. Then worked for the National Park Service, including a time at City of Rocks in southern Idaho. He took up a third career as weather journalist and wrote for 20 years for the Methow Valley News where he made his second home in Winthrop, buying a place where he “could ski out the front door.”
From his youth Bill loved the outdoors and the mountains–hiking, snowshoeing, backpacking, skiing, canoeing, snakes and other creatures, trees and wildflowers–all were embraced with zest and vigor, qualities which became his trademark. But the qualities which most endeared him to others were his genuine interest in and respect for others, and his ability to convey this with warmth and sincerity.
In all his careers, he involved the outdoors, establishing and maintaining outing clubs for the boys he taught, extending their appreciation of nature and literature reciting “Walden” and the “Odyssey” on hikes and snowshoe trips thru the White Mountains and Presidential Range. It was frequently the boys’ first experience as outdoorsmen and often led to an enduring relationship with nature. More recently, he led canoe trips for several years to Lake Ozette as popular fundraisers for the Center for Wooden Boats replete with good whiskey and gourmet fare. And he continued his teaching on the slopes of Snoqualmie Summit encouraging students to love the outdoors via Nordic skiing classes for SAAS and North Seattle Comm. College.
Bill loved music, beginning with listening to Wagner’s ” Flying Dutchman” at home with his father. His tastes were eclectic to say the least, Woody Guthrie, Schumann, country western, folk, Gordon Bok, Phillip Morgan …. About this time he also made a brief appearance with the Seattle Symphony, promoting Schumann’s Manfred, thoroughly enjoying interacting with Gerard Schwarz. He also became a great supporter of the societies for the poet, Byron, as a member of the Byron Societies of America and England, giving papers on Byron and music(Schumann) and the paintings of JMW Turner and weather at conferences in Paris, U of Delaware, U of New Brunswick and Missoulongi, Greece .
It was a natural evolution from the romantic poet, Byron, to more wide-ranging poetry as he was slowed down with a stubborn foot injury, in the same foot damaged by frostbite on a winter camping trip. He used poetry abundantly in writing his enduring and endearing WeatherWatch column for the MV News.
Born in 1930, attended Haverford School, then Dartmouth, Class of 1952, followed by service in the U.S. Army, Counter Intelligence Corps, stationed in Japan where, newly promoted to Tech Sergeant, he was assigned to teach culture and history to army personnel. Upon discharge, he completed an MA in Education at Harvard, then joined the faculty at Noble and Greenough School near Boston. He moved on to Holderness School in New Hampshire, 1968 – 1982, where he directed the Outing Club and established a Visiting Author’s program and was honored in 2011 by a memorial in the new dormitory. He brought an enthusiasm to his teaching that infused and inspired those around him.
In 1956 he married Barbara Ruth Noyes, whom he met as a candystriper while in hospital while healing from a camping accident. Their four children, Robert, Edward, Peter, and Eleanor were born between 1958 and 1970. In summers between terms they all camped and hiked on epic journeys across the US and Canada. Bill and Barbara later divorced, and he relocated to Seattle, meeting Barbara Buchan and marrying in 1994 on the Isle of Skye, Scotland . He continued his teaching at Seattle Academy(SAAS) for nearly 5 years before his time with the National Park Service. He and Barbara II traveled extensively, and enjoyed escaping to Winthrop.
Bill is survived by his wife, Barbara Buchan and his children :Robert and his wife Ariel of Annapolis, MD; Edward and his wife, Ridgely of Katonah, NY; Peter and Heather of Seattle; Eleanor and her husband Tom McCarthy of Ithaca, NY; and grandchildren Elliot, Pippa, Sam, Martha, James, Liam, Jedric, Abigail, and Flynn; brothers, David of Philadelphia and wife Dinny, and Craig III of Annapolis; numerous nieces and nephews and friends.
Remembrances may be made to the Methow Conservancy, Winthrop, Washington or to the Keewaydin Foundation, Salisbury, Vermont, or simply give a flower or pay a compliment to someone special in Bill’s name. A celebration of Bill’s life is planned for July 21 at 1pm at St. Marks Cathedral 1245 10th Ave E, Seattle 98102. If you are planning to attend the celebration, please RSVP at https://www.facebook.com/events/327897007296192/ . Please leave a comment in the space below or on Facebook: William Whelen Biddle.
Messages
Katonah, NY
It is hard to put down what a person means to you, whether it is in words, numbers, or art. It is even harder to describe the empty space that is left vacant when that person is gone. I will always remember my Grandfather for his laugh, which started deep down in his belly and rose up to overwhelm a room and often continued far after what is normally deemed “appropriate”. Then there was his voice when he spoke the first sentence of an epic bedtime story. Always soft, light, and inviting. A barely audible whisper which I am sure was intentional as it always made us quite down, get in bed, and listen. Perhaps my favorite was Bill when he was making fun of you, or even better, someone else. Subtlety was a hallmark of his writing and speaking styles and was in no better form than when he was cracking jokes, a slight smile hidden behind a well groomed mustache.
There are many men in the world, there are fewer good men, and then there are the rarest breed of all – the great men. My grandfather was a great man. His kindness, enthusiasm for life, and passion for teaching in both conventional, and unconventional settings, has shaped me as I am sure it shaped many others before me.
- Pippa
Portland, OR
The first thing that comes to mind about Bill is that wonderful, enthusiastic, gravelly voice of his, always seeking the next adventure.
Second was his ability to pop up anywhere in one’s life: walking south on the beach at Neskowin, OR as I was walking north, a walk that led that evening to our meeting just published author David James Duncan; his sudden appearance at a meeting of the Northwest Association of Independent School at the Lakeside School, Bill closely resembling William Faulkner in looks.
Third, his many interests pursued, not just dreamed of: nature, books, students, family, canoes, and weather. A renaisance man was Bill.
Sid and Meg Eaton
Seattle WA
I came into Seattle Academy as a fresh from college teacher on the heels of Bill’s departure from SAAS, Although I had limited contact with him I took over many of the things he established at the school. He was legend to the founding students of Seattle Academy and spoken about for many years after he departed the school. He will best be remembered for carrying his boat into the early school auctions on his head, wearing skins in an attempt to garner as much money for the school’s auction as he could selling his trips.
Sequim, WA
Bill Biddle became part of our extended family when Barbara Buchan and he were wed in 1994. Bill elegantly quoted Lord Byron at our wedding reception on July 10, 2004. We will always remember his gentle ways, wit, command of the English language and his expertize on Scotch whiskey and Lord Byron. He will be missed.
Seattle
We plan to be at the Service at St. Mark’s for Bill Biddle
Seattle, WA
I met Bill late, only when he was a patient at Swedish where I’m a chaplain. He was always welcoming and appreciative, wanting to talk about the Bible. He had done some teaching of the Bible himself, and he shared with me a fascination with the Biblical record that was apparently a trademark of his approach to life. Blessings to you Barbara, and all of the family, as you go through this challenging transition.
Jackson, WY
I was one of Bill’s first students when he arrived at Nobles to teach fifth-class (eighth-grade) English in September, 1956. We were 13; he was 26, among the youngest faculty. I was immediately drawn to his energy and enthusiasm both in class and in life. When we discovered our mutual interest in nature and mountains, we became good friends, the closest friendship I had with any of the many excellent teachers at Nobles. Bill was my primary mentor from 1956-1961, always encouraging me to do my best and simply expecting my best effort. Plus he played no small part in my decision to go to Dartmouth, a great choice for me.
In early 1957, Bill and I and one other non-Nobles person set out on snowshoes for Crag Camp, high on the north flank of Mt Adams in New Hampshire. The snow was unusually deep, the trail difficult to find, and our snowshoe bindings kept failing. Finally we had to admit we were lost and had to bivouac under a small army poncho stretched to a pole between two trees. When we woke in the morning our fire pit had sunk 6 feet into the snow. When we returned in the spring, the pole between the trees was 10 feet off the ground!
Bill got both of us involved with a few eager winter climbers in the Appalachian Mountain Club led by Bob Collin, a cancer researcher. I was the youngest and Bill was probably the second youngest. We spent many winter weekends over the next few years climbing 4000 foot peaks throughout New Hampshire, sometimes together, sometimes apart. With Bill’s encouragement, I designed more effective snowshoe bindings made with leftover leather from Peter Limmer and Sons boot makers and ended up selling around 50 pairs over the next eight years.
In Fall, 1958, after the football/soccer season, Bill led 14 of us every afternoon chopping wood, clearing brush, and building a bench near a small pond along the Nobles Bridge-Street driveway. It was around that time that Bill and I lobbied to form the Nobles Outing Club with trips to the Presidentials in New Hampshire by spring 1960. Bill was the faculty adviser to the Outing Club until he left Nobles. He had a wonderful way of letting the students lead, expecting them to do it well, and gently coaching for improvement.
Dave Mittell, a classmate and life-long journalist recently put it this way in his classic pithy prose: “Bill, who meant a lot to a lot of boys who didn’t have a lot of teachers who meant a lot to them.” Many of us who were not the stars of the typical combative sports were drawn to Bill by his genuine excitement, his gentle style of drawing us out, of getting us to try harder in school and in nature. He wasn’t on some pedestal. He was just amongst us, helping us grow, learn, try, while having fun. He was the primary faculty member, and one of the few still living, to come to our 50th reunion in May 2011 and I think it meant as much to him as it did to so many of us.
I lost track of Bill over many decades as I moved west, developing my career, but thanks to Dave Mittell I caught up with him almost two decades ago and have stopped by to see him whenever passing through Seattle, including last December and this May. He lived a full life, meant a lot to so many students and others over so many years. My warmest wishes to his family including both wonderful Barbaras.
Lucky me to have known Bill even if it was for a short time. I feel honored and blessed to have spent time with both Bill and Barbara in Winthrop at Creekstone. I will always treasure the “cocktail hour poetry reading”. The image of Bill sitting in his chair with Lord Byron hanging on the wall in the backward is priceless. Thank you. Q
I forgot to mention that I will be at the services.
Lynnwood, WA
Bill is truly one of the extraordinary people to bless this Earth. He had a joie de vivre / zest for life that was contagious and he was a delight to be around. I am honored to have been able to be his friend. I will miss him. His spirit I believe is indominable.
I hope to be at the service.
Twisp, Wa
Bill is truly an inspiration to me. Over the last several years, I have come to know him and his wonderful family through their support and participation with our salmon recovery program here in the Methow. I always looked forward to his stories and our talks during my visits; about everything from Zen gardens to the weather. His enthusiasm and care for our efforts as well as for fish and wildlife in general were second to none and I always left with a smile on my face. Thanks Bill for the time we spent. You’ll always be an inspiration. I’ll make sure to keep a lookout for beavers..
Seattle, Washington
I have known Bill for decades. I graduated from Haverford School two years before Bill. I was in the class of 1946. I plan to attend the 1 PM celebration on Saturday, July 21 at St. Marks. I may bring my wife, Bunny, with me.
Seattle
As a deacon at St. Mark’s Cathedral, I came upon Bill late in his life. I first met him on a visit at Swedish after his heart surgery and then on and off during other hospital stays and rehab. Even in his weakened state, Bill retained his intellectual vigor and the wide-ranging curiosity of a “renaissance man,” a frequent and accurate description of him. I would bring him news from St. Mark’s, the Sunday readings and sermon summary or readings from the daily lectionary. He would always ask for “more commentary” and then grade its presentation. A true teacher and intellectual. In all of his activities, Bill blended his diverse passions–teaching, poetry and nature. That is a true renaissance man.
I meet many people late in their lives through my pastoral care work as a deacon and weekly chaplain’s service at Columbia Lutheran Home. Bill is a good reminder that so many of those in our midst who are diminished by age and illness possess marvelous histories and have lived remarkable lives. I am honored to be a participant in Bill’s memorial on July 21.
MA
Bill Biddle – Wild Bill, as we called him – was my English teacher for several years and the leader of the Outing Club at Noble and Greenough School 50+ years ago. I went on to a long career in education, and he came with me. He was in my classroom – many of his lessons became mine – as a novice English teacher. When I became head of a school and wanted to encourage younger colleagues to trust their natural enthusiasm, his example was there. He was a regular companion at teacher conferences I attended when the topic turned to “the teacher who meant the most to me” as an adolescent.
Nobles had many excellent and wonderfully memorable teachers in my day, and for me, Mr. Biddle was tops. His joy in teaching was infectious. It didn’t seem to matter what he was teaching—grammar, vocabulary, short stories, Shakespeare— he was as charged up about a dry definition of an unfamiliar word in last night’s homework as the witches’ chant in Macbeth. His enthusiasm was matched by his rigor. He gave me the confidence that I could write a decent paragraph: rewrite and rewrite. He celebrated classmates’ insights in stories or poems we were reading as if they were real discoveries. I remember submitting the final draft of an essay on the theme of courage in the short stories of Stephen Crane, and a few days later as I was walking past his classroom he called me in. He was teaching a class of younger boys, and he wanted me to read from my essay as an example of some point he was making about effective writing. That gesture meant the world.
In the buttoned-up world of Nobles in the late 1950’s, Wild Bill’s exuberant love of the outdoors was a bit un-cool. He was a runner and a hiker when most of the teachers excelled at the traditional, manly team sports. He helped us found the Nobles Outing Club, then led unforgettable trips to the White Mountains and Katahdin, full of adventure and fun, in all seasons. During the Christmas vacations of 1960 and ’61, he took a group of us climbing on Mt Adams with snowshoes and crampons, in wildly cold, windy weather. I can hear him gleefully reading sub-zero temperatures on his little thermometer or exclaiming over his hot cup of Constant Comment tea. But more, I can see now how generously he gave of himself on those trips: his knowledge of the mountains, his skills in camping and hiking, his ability to help each of us stretch our limits, his unstated conviction that these adventures were every bit as important to our growth as what he taught in English class. And we had a great time together!
Thank you, Bill.
Ted Blatchford,
Nobles 1962
Manchester, MA
I was a classmate of Ted Blatch’s above and one of those more quiet students that Wild Bill never knew he had an important influence in my life. In English class, his favorite expression of encouragement was “Good point! Excellent point!”, and although I did not get many of those directed at me, Bill’s enthusiasm was contagious. I enjoyed his classes tremendously and that comes from someone whose teachers would be surprised to learn that I actually enjoyed anything at school that was in a classroom.
What Ted does not mention above was that he was captain of our powerful single-winged football team (at least we were powerful in practice during the weeK). So, Ted was a jock, but still drawn to a non-teacher-coach of the traditional school sports, the man who found solace far away from campus in the mountains. Hiking was never much mentioned as a school activity, but eventually stories of weekend adventures with Bill began trickling in from Ted B. and Peter Ward, both of whom would have summer jobs working as “crew” in the famous AMC Lakes of the Clouds Hut a mile below the summit of Mt. Washington, NH. Several years later these stories began to turn into stories of my own as I became a school teacher and an Outdoor Program enthusiast leading trips into the White Mountains and beyond. Backpacking has become an important element of my life and I discovered what Bill Biddle was quietly trying to teach so long ago and which I have passed on successfully to my own three kids. So, finally here is my thanks to “Mr. Biddle” , one of my true mentors. Note worthy, too, is the fact that many schools now offer Outdoor Programs in their curriculum. It is great to discover that Bill took his passion of the outdoors with him wherever he went, spreading the gospel!
Washington, DC
I was a member of the class of 1964 at Noble and Greenough School, in Dedham Massachusetts. As it happened, my years there coincided almost exactly with the years that Bill Biddle served on the Nobles faculty.
I never thought of “Mr. Biddle” exactly as a mentor, but he had a very profound influence on my life. For me he provided avenues for personal growth and achievement while at Nobles that I am certain were extremely unusual in such places at that time, and certainly unique in my experience. Without them, my time there, as a non-cool non-athlete, would have been so much different, and certainly much less memorable.
I remember first becoming really aware of the Nobles Outing Club upon being introduced to the Club’s journals, in which each trip was described in great detail. Among these early memories is that of a sequence of entries, accompanied by clippings from the Boston Globe, memorializing some kind of dust-up in an exchange of letters-to-the editor between the then-student President, Peter Ward, and some other reader, in which the reader accused Peter of “bumptious certitude” – an expression new to me, but which I have never forgotten.
I do not recall what the issue was, but I’m sure that Bill enjoyed this exchange immensely and was proud of the confidence he had engendered in a bunch of suburban schoolboys venturing out into the wilds of the Whites. Later, it would be my honor to contribute to those journal entries, and my pride in completing some of our trips, many of them in the dead of winter, endures still.
Bill had such tremendous enthusiasm for life! And such energy to explore the out-of-doors and impart its wonders to us poor teen-agers, burdened as we were with homework, social angst, and parents who simply could not understand what impelled us to rise to the challenges that Bill presented to us as matters of fact, things that could be done and we would simply do them.
Silly me, I was looking so much forward to making sure that Bill was at our upcoming big reunion at Nobles. I could have contacted him to let him know how much I was looking forward to seeing him again after many years, but I didn’t. I feel a great sense of loss that I did not maintain contact with him as I should have. In retrospect, I can see that at Nobles he was offering examples of other paths in life that might be followed, paths that I perhaps should have considered more carefully, paths of joy and wisdom.
I hope to meet you again up on the ridge line, Bill.
Washington DC
As a 1969 graduate of Holderness School, Mr. Biddle (as students were required to address him) and I overlapped for a year before I headed off to college.
Perhaps it’s a bygone era or that Holderness was (and is) such a special place, or perhaps it’s that I was at such at impressional age, but Mr. Biddle and his fellow teachers made a huge and lasting impression on me.
They say that Character is Fate, and what people like Mr. Biddle represent and what they’re able to convey through example and through teaching, cannot be easily measured.
I send my condolences to Mr. Biddle’s family and hope that they take some consolation in knowing that he touched many people during his long and interesting life.
Longmeadow, Mass.
I will always be so grateful to Bill for letting me come to Holderness. He was the first person I met at Holderness, and made such a wonderful impression on me. I was so fond him, and was so sorry to hear of his passing. But there will always be a fond spot for him in my heart. My prayers go out to his family.
Arundel, West Sussex, UK
The Biddles were my “dorm parents” at Holderness, and Bill was the perfect person for someone new to the school: open, friendly and trusting. He made a lasting impression on me, as he did with so many people. He introduced us to the outdoors through the Outing Club, and led us on “Outward Bound”. You cannot repay such things, only say “thank you”. My condolences to his family. Bill was one of the greats. Thank you, Bill.