Tue 11 Aug 2009
Farewell to Fred Stocking ‘36
Posted by Ronit under Alumni, Campus News, Faculty, In Memoriam at 10:00 am
UPDATE from Larry George: Reminding the community that the memorial service will be on August 16th at the Faculty House.
FUNERAL NOTICE — A memorial event for Mr. Stocking will be held on Sunday, Aug. 16, at the Williams Faculty House at the corner of Park and Main streets in Williamstown. This celebration of the great, good gift of life will begin at 11:30 a.m., and a reception will be held afterward at the same location.
Contributions can be made in his name to VNA & Hospice of Northern Berkshire, 535 Curran Memorial Highway, North Adams, MA 01247 or to the Quoddy Regional Land Trust Inc., U.S. Route 1, P.O. Box 49, Whiting, ME 04691-0049. Flynn & Dagnoli-Montagna Home for Funerals, West Chapels, is in charge of arrangements.
Obituary from iBerkshires.com, in toto:
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Fred Holly Stocking, 94, of North Street died Tuesday, July 21, 2009, at home. He was the Morris Professor of Rhetoric, emeritus, at Williams College.
Born in Detroit in 1915, son of William Redfield and Stella Holly Stocking, he went to high school there and graduated from Williams College with the class of 1936. He earned his doctorate from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor after World War II. He made his home in Williamstown, where his father grew up and his grandfather was minister at White Oaks Congregational Church.
Mr. Stocking taught at Williams for more than 40 years, retiring in 1983. Known for his charm and intellectual vitality, he taught many different courses; two favorites were Shakespeare and Victorian literature. He served Williams tirelessly in various capacities, such as secretary of the faculty, as a member of the Committee on Appointments and Promotions, and coach of student speakers at graduation. He spoke around the country to elementary and secondary school educators, to alumni and to colleagues in the humanities.
Over the years, he helped to build the 1753 house at Field Park, volunteered at Recording for the Blind, and he served on the governing board of the Williamstown Historical Society. After his retirement, he enjoyed learning how to paint, performing music with his wife, the former Carol Brawley, reading and engaging in animated discussions about politics and philosophy. He also enjoyed giving lectures on literature and art, taking photographs and participating in the cultural life of the seaside village of Lubec, Maine, where he spent his summers and built a family compound. His hunger for art and intelligent discourse was insatiable, right up to his final days, said family.
His married his first wife, the former Sarah Louise Noble, in 1938 and raised a family.
He married his second wife, the former Lois Wildes, in 1961.
Besides his wife, whom he married in 1980, he leaves three children, Sally Elizabeth Stocking of Chicopee, David Warner Stocking and his wife, Cynthia, of Noblesville, Ind., and Kathryn Holly Stocking-Koza and her husband, Frank Koza, of Windsor; five grandchildren, Elizabeth Holly Cacciola and her husband, Joseph, of Wrentham, John William Maconga and his wife, Marisa, of Wellesley, Philip Nathan Stocking and his wife, Sunita, of Mansfield, Sarah Louise Harvey and her husband, John, of Amherst, N.H., and Catherine Noble Stocking Whelan and her husband, Frank of Fishers, Ind; 11 great-grandchildren, Kaitlyn and Christopher Cacciola, Mark Harvey, Carson, Thatcher and Sage Maconga, Charles and Zachary Stocking, Jessica, James and John Whelan, and five stepchildren, Karen Hunter, Susan Rodman, Lisa Brawley, Hunter Brawley and Bruce Brawley.
(photo copyright iBerkshires.com)
From Larry George:
There is an online guest book here. It will be open until 8/26/09. It has a few comments in it already, which anyone can view. Readers can leave a comment there and I hope that the family will see them.
The best way to send a message to the family would be to send an old-fashioned letter. I’m sure that the President’s Office would see that it went to the right place, if the author clearly indicated that it was for Fred’s family.
[post attribution changed with permission, link to guestbook added, moved to top by Ronit]
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5 Responses to “Farewell to Fred Stocking ‘36”
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September 21st, 2009 at 12:30 pm
[...] este artículo sobre una reportera que cuenta la manera en que fue influenciada por Fred Stocking su maestro de Shakespeare en Williams [...]
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Henry Bass says:
So sorry to hear of the death of Fred Stocking. Too bad it is not easier to post a comment on his death. Fred Stocking was my faculty advisor back in ‘53 plus 4. He was assigned to Lehman West which had two of the most left JAs and many of the students Fred Copeland guessed might be to the left of the then very conservative Williams students.
I never foramlly consulted him for advice. My JAs were more than adequate for advice being head and shoulders above most of the JAs. They actually wrote for COMMENT, the literary magazine, I tried to sell going room to room. While many of the JA’s dismissed with me hostility when I knocked on their doors saying the modern poetry and short stories in COMMENT were crap.
But, Fred Stocking continued to stop me on campus and chat for 4 years always having interesting things to say and to encourage me for my work on the lecture committee and debate team. He always had a pleasant smile. And though he
spoke with great diplomacy he obviously had a radical streak that was not that common at Williams. And he certainly effectively used literature as a liberating force.
lgeorge says:
There is an online guest book here: http://www.legacy.com/gb2/default.aspx?bookid=47375088317
It will be open until 8/26/09. It has a few comments in it already, which anyone can view. Readers can leave a comment there and I hope that the family will see them.
The best way to send a message to the family would be to send an old-fashioned letter. I’m sure that the President’s Office would see that it went to the right place, if the author clearly indicated that it was for Fred’s family.
Larry George says:
Here, in toto, is Interim President Wagner’s memorial to Prof. Stocking:
July 22, 2009
To the Williams Community,
The College has lost one of its oldest and best sons with the death yesterday of Fred Stocking, Morris Professor of Rhetoric, Emeritus.
Few had deeper roots in the local soil. His grandfather, Class of 1869, was minister of the White Oaks Church. His father grew up here and graduated in the Class of 1905. Fred, raised in Detroit, came to Williams as a freshman in the fall of 1932. After graduating in 1936 and graduate school at Michigan, he joined the faculty in 1940, retiring in 1983.
Highly visible on campus and in town (always in bow tie, often in cape) Fred was a delightful teacher and as supportive a colleague as one could hope for.
His writing focused not only on his scholarship in Victorian literature, history, and culture but, as a frequent contributor to local newspapers, on the matters of the day.
All of this — teaching, writing, colleagueship — were marked by by a rare combination of erudition, warmth, and wit.
Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.
A memorial service will be held at a later date.
Best regards,
Bill Wagner,
Interim President
A Memorial Service for Fred Stocking is scheduled for Sunday, August 16, at 11:30 a.m. at the Faculty House, to be followed by a reception. Remembrances can be submitted at http://www.legacy.com/gb2/default.aspx?bookid=47375088317.
lgeorge says:
Imagine a family history that spanned nearly 150 years at Williams.
And I’ll long remember that cape, and the quick smile. Williams has, indeed, lost one of her best sons.