EAST MIDDLEBURY — Harry E. Colwell of East Middlebury died peacefully on Nov. 28, 2019, Thanksgiving Day. This was an appropriate day, as he was very thankful for the wonderful life he had led.
Harry (known to family and friends as Ted) was born in New Rochelle, N.Y., on Nov. 3, 1922, the son of Harry E. Colwell, Jr. and Lilian Lent Siebrecht Colwell. He was educated in the public schools of New Rochelle. His college years at Dartmouth were interrupted by service in the Air Force during World War II. During those years he traveled the United States serving in Florida, Colorado, Texas, Georgia, California, Ohio, and Kansas.
While stationed in Ohio he met Olive Harward Fulks, a dietician working on the base. They were married in October, 1945, in Salinas, Kan. After discharge they returned to Dartmouth where he got his degree in Philosophy in 1946. He considered the ministry and spent a semester at Princeton Theological Seminary.
In 1947 he joined the Chase National Bank, and, after training in the Credit Department, was assigned to the Aviation Department. His years at the bank were a time of great growth in the industry, and Ted enjoyed the challenge of a fast-changing business environment. In the course of his work he traveled to far-flung corners of the world including Micronesia, India, Australia, and Japan. After thirty-four years he took early retirement in 1981, at which time he was the Division Executive of the Aerospace Division.
The family lived in New Rochelle from 1947 to 1956, at which time they moved to nearby Pelham Manor, N.Y. In 1981 he and Olive moved to East Middlebury to be close to their daughter, Linda, and grandchildren. He was active throughout his life in a wide range of community organizations, including locally: Home Health and Hospice, Meals On Wheels, the Ilsley Library, the Small Holders, and Friends of the Arts. He was a member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) for over fifty years; he served in many capacities first at Scarsdale Friends Meeting and then at Middlebury Friends Meeting. He was devoted to social and environmental justice and peace.
An important factor in his life were the many summers spent at Indian Lake, N.Y., in the Adirondacks. In 2003 he wrote a history of Camp Sabael, an association of summer homes founded by his great grandfather in 1888. He was active as a hiker, skier, sailor, and tennis player nearly all of his life, as well as an omnivorous reader, with particular interest in economics, spiritual, and environmental matters.
Ted was predeceased by his wife Olive in 2009 and his son-in-law Jack Bouffard in 2016. He is survived by his three children, Linda Colwell Bouffard of Middlebury, Sarah Olive “Sally” Colwell and her husband Jeff Janacek of Stillwater, Minn., and Winslow Colwell and his wife Joanna of East Middlebury. He had seven grandchildren, Caroline, Jennifer, Elizabeth, Jonathan, David, Adam, and Wren, and two great grandchildren, Sofia and Ramona.
A gathering to remember and celebrate Ted will be held in mid-February.
He would like the world to remember:
Small is Beautiful.
Less is More.
Moderation in All Things.◊