Daniel Bliss Leavitt died peacefully on July 8, 2018, in Concord, N.H., at the age of 95. He was born Feb. 25th, 1923, in Beirut, Lebanon, to Margaret (Bliss) Leavitt and Leslie Westbrook Leavitt.
Dan and his siblings and cousins grew up on the campus of the American University of Beirut, founded by their great-grandfather, Daniel Bliss, in a community that welcomed all religions and nationalities. He recalled an idyllic childhood of exploring caves, camping in the cedars of Lebanon, collecting fossils, and playing hide-and-seek ("sardines") in Crusader castles. His family spent summers in the mountain village of Ainab, where supplies arrived by donkey.
At 16, he and five classmates set sail for prep school in the U.S. just as Germany invaded Poland. In exchange for giving up their staterooms to ex-pats desperate to return home ahead of the war, the young students were offered jobs in the ship's laundry. By the time they reached the U.S., the blockade was firm, and Dan would not see his parents again for seven years. Being thrust into adulthood from a sheltered home life was formative. A "third-culture kid," neither American nor Lebanese, he could relate to the feelings of being an outsider.
Dan attended Vermont Academy, received his B.A from Amherst College, and his Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry from Andover Newton Theological School.
In W.W.II, he served in the U.S. Navy as a navigation and communications officer on an LST in the western Pacific. Alone, on night watch, he was moved by the splendor of the night sky and his infinitesimal place in the cosmos. His ship was among the first to enter Nagasaki harbor after the atomic bomb, and he never forgot the devastation or the terrified children he tried to befriend.
Dan met his future wife, Lois, at a religious conference on Lake Sebago, Maine, when she was a sophomore at Mt. Holyoke. He admired the way she hit a baseball, as well as her beauty and brains. They corresponded while Dan was at sea and married in 1947. Lois and Dan were a fun-loving and devoted couple. They enjoyed skiing and tennis, travel and adventure. In his nineties, when asked to define heaven, Dan replied, "Being married to a wonderful woman for 68 years."
Dan served U.C.C. (United Church of Christ) parishes in Wilton, Maine, and in Gardner, Longmeadow, and Framingham, Mass. He also held U.C.C. leadership positions at the regional, state, and national level, and interim pastorates in Keene, Amherst, and Jaffrey, N.H. During the social unrest of the 1960s, he was willing to take unpopular stands on Civil Rights and the Vietnam War. In the 1970s, he and Lois served as chaplain and teacher for the U.C.C. Board for World Ministries in Mt. Silinda, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), during the country's struggle for independence.
Dan was a beloved pastor who touched many lives. He married hundreds of couples, including his own offspring, and was known for his caring and compassion. He had the right balance of humor and gravitas and an excellent memory for weaving life experience into his sermons. His memoir, Cogwheeling with History, dedicated to his grandchildren, links personal stories to international events of his day.
Dan was a fun father and grandfather. In his nineties he could still recite stories in Arabic. He loved the night sky, Gilbert and Sullivan, Webb Lake, corny limericks, and hiking Mt. Tumbledown. He taught his children the names of the constellations, how to sail, read maps, and keep a global perspective.
Daniel was the beloved husband of the late Lois Stowe Leavitt and loving father of Nancy Leavitt-Reibel of Norwich, Vt., (husband Charles); Jean Westbrook Leavitt of Doylestown, Pa.; and Richard G. Leavitt of Amherst, N.H. (wife Deborah). He was especially proud of his grandchildren, Angus Chaney (wife Molly), Timothy Leavitt, Joanna Finch, Daniel Finch, Jacob Reibel, Andrew Leavitt, Amanda Finch, and great-granddaughters, Ella and Meghan Chaney. He is survived by a sister, Helen Campbell, of Paxton, Mass.; predeceased by siblings Margaret Peters and Howard Leavitt; and by grand-daughter Joanna and nephew Ken Leavitt.
The Leavitt family is grateful to the Havenwood-Heritage Heights staff for their skilled and compassionate care of Dan and Lois over many years.
A service in celebration of Dan's life will be held at 1:00 pm on Saturday, August 25, 2018, at First Church in Jaffrey UCC (16 Laban Ainsworth Way, Jaffrey, N.H.), followed by a family service of committal at the Old Burying Ground. Memorial contributions in his honor may be made to UNHCR for Syrian Refugee Relief (http://www.unhcr.org/en-us/syria-emergency.html), or to the Havenwood-Heritage Heights Residents' Fund, Heritage Heights, 33 Christian Ave., Concord NH 03301(www.hhhinfo.com/support-us).
Published by Legacy Remembers on Jul. 8, 2018.
Dan and his siblings and cousins grew up on the campus of the American University of Beirut, founded by their great-grandfather, Daniel Bliss, in a community that welcomed all religions and nationalities. He recalled an idyllic childhood of exploring caves, camping in the cedars of Lebanon, collecting fossils, and playing hide-and-seek ("sardines") in Crusader castles. His family spent summers in the mountain village of Ainab, where supplies arrived by donkey.
At 16, he and five classmates set sail for prep school in the U.S. just as Germany invaded Poland. In exchange for giving up their staterooms to ex-pats desperate to return home ahead of the war, the young students were offered jobs in the ship's laundry. By the time they reached the U.S., the blockade was firm, and Dan would not see his parents again for seven years. Being thrust into adulthood from a sheltered home life was formative. A "third-culture kid," neither American nor Lebanese, he could relate to the feelings of being an outsider.
Dan attended Vermont Academy, received his B.A from Amherst College, and his Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry from Andover Newton Theological School.
In W.W.II, he served in the U.S. Navy as a navigation and communications officer on an LST in the western Pacific. Alone, on night watch, he was moved by the splendor of the night sky and his infinitesimal place in the cosmos. His ship was among the first to enter Nagasaki harbor after the atomic bomb, and he never forgot the devastation or the terrified children he tried to befriend.
Dan met his future wife, Lois, at a religious conference on Lake Sebago, Maine, when she was a sophomore at Mt. Holyoke. He admired the way she hit a baseball, as well as her beauty and brains. They corresponded while Dan was at sea and married in 1947. Lois and Dan were a fun-loving and devoted couple. They enjoyed skiing and tennis, travel and adventure. In his nineties, when asked to define heaven, Dan replied, "Being married to a wonderful woman for 68 years."
Dan served U.C.C. (United Church of Christ) parishes in Wilton, Maine, and in Gardner, Longmeadow, and Framingham, Mass. He also held U.C.C. leadership positions at the regional, state, and national level, and interim pastorates in Keene, Amherst, and Jaffrey, N.H. During the social unrest of the 1960s, he was willing to take unpopular stands on Civil Rights and the Vietnam War. In the 1970s, he and Lois served as chaplain and teacher for the U.C.C. Board for World Ministries in Mt. Silinda, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), during the country's struggle for independence.
Dan was a beloved pastor who touched many lives. He married hundreds of couples, including his own offspring, and was known for his caring and compassion. He had the right balance of humor and gravitas and an excellent memory for weaving life experience into his sermons. His memoir, Cogwheeling with History, dedicated to his grandchildren, links personal stories to international events of his day.
Dan was a fun father and grandfather. In his nineties he could still recite stories in Arabic. He loved the night sky, Gilbert and Sullivan, Webb Lake, corny limericks, and hiking Mt. Tumbledown. He taught his children the names of the constellations, how to sail, read maps, and keep a global perspective.
Daniel was the beloved husband of the late Lois Stowe Leavitt and loving father of Nancy Leavitt-Reibel of Norwich, Vt., (husband Charles); Jean Westbrook Leavitt of Doylestown, Pa.; and Richard G. Leavitt of Amherst, N.H. (wife Deborah). He was especially proud of his grandchildren, Angus Chaney (wife Molly), Timothy Leavitt, Joanna Finch, Daniel Finch, Jacob Reibel, Andrew Leavitt, Amanda Finch, and great-granddaughters, Ella and Meghan Chaney. He is survived by a sister, Helen Campbell, of Paxton, Mass.; predeceased by siblings Margaret Peters and Howard Leavitt; and by grand-daughter Joanna and nephew Ken Leavitt.
The Leavitt family is grateful to the Havenwood-Heritage Heights staff for their skilled and compassionate care of Dan and Lois over many years.
A service in celebration of Dan's life will be held at 1:00 pm on Saturday, August 25, 2018, at First Church in Jaffrey UCC (16 Laban Ainsworth Way, Jaffrey, N.H.), followed by a family service of committal at the Old Burying Ground. Memorial contributions in his honor may be made to UNHCR for Syrian Refugee Relief (http://www.unhcr.org/en-us/syria-emergency.html), or to the Havenwood-Heritage Heights Residents' Fund, Heritage Heights, 33 Christian Ave., Concord NH 03301(www.hhhinfo.com/support-us).
Published by Legacy Remembers on Jul. 8, 2018.
Daniel Bliss Leavitt died peacefully on July 8, 2018, in Concord, N.H., at the age of 95. He was born Feb. 25th, 1923, in Beirut, Lebanon, to Margaret (Bliss) Leavitt and Leslie Westbrook Leavitt.
Dan and his siblings and cousins grew up on the campus of the American University of Beirut, founded by their great-grandfather, Daniel Bliss, in a community that welcomed all religions and nationalities. He recalled an idyllic childhood of exploring caves, camping in the cedars of Lebanon, collecting fossils, and playing hide-and-seek ("sardines") in Crusader castles. His family spent summers in the mountain village of Ainab, where supplies arrived by donkey.
At 16, he and five classmates set sail for prep school in the U.S. just as Germany invaded Poland. In exchange for giving up their staterooms to ex-pats desperate to return home ahead of the war, the young students were offered jobs in the ship's laundry. By the time they reached the U.S., the blockade was firm, and Dan would not see his parents again for seven years. Being thrust into adulthood from a sheltered home life was formative. A "third-culture kid," neither American nor Lebanese, he could relate to the feelings of being an outsider.
Dan attended Vermont Academy, received his B.A from Amherst College, and his Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry from Andover Newton Theological School.
In W.W.II, he served in the U.S. Navy as a navigation and communications officer on an LST in the western Pacific. Alone, on night watch, he was moved by the splendor of the night sky and his infinitesimal place in the cosmos. His ship was among the first to enter Nagasaki harbor after the atomic bomb, and he never forgot the devastation or the terrified children he tried to befriend.
Dan met his future wife, Lois, at a religious conference on Lake Sebago, Maine, when she was a sophomore at Mt. Holyoke. He admired the way she hit a baseball, as well as her beauty and brains. They corresponded while Dan was at sea and married in 1947. Lois and Dan were a fun-loving and devoted couple. They enjoyed skiing and tennis, travel and adventure. In his nineties, when asked to define heaven, Dan replied, "Being married to a wonderful woman for 68 years."
Dan served U.C.C. (United Church of Christ) parishes in Wilton, Maine, and in Gardner, Longmeadow, and Framingham, Mass. He also held U.C.C. leadership positions at the regional, state, and national level, and interim pastorates in Keene, Amherst, and Jaffrey, N.H. During the social unrest of the 1960s, he was willing to take unpopular stands on Civil Rights and the Vietnam War. In the 1970s, he and Lois served as chaplain and teacher for the U.C.C. Board for World Ministries in Mt. Silinda, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), during the country's struggle for independence.
Dan was a beloved pastor who touched many lives. He married hundreds of couples, including his own offspring, and was known for his caring and compassion. He had the right balance of humor and gravitas and an excellent memory for weaving life experience into his sermons. His memoir, Cogwheeling with History, dedicated to his grandchildren, links personal stories to international events of his day.
Dan was a fun father and grandfather. In his nineties he could still recite stories in Arabic. He loved the night sky, Gilbert and Sullivan, Webb Lake, corny limericks, and hiking Mt. Tumbledown. He taught his children the names of the constellations, how to sail, read maps, and keep a global perspective.
Daniel was the beloved husband of the late Lois Stowe Leavitt and loving father of Nancy Leavitt-Reibel of Norwich, Vt., (husband Charles); Jean Westbrook Leavitt of Doylestown, Pa.; and Richard G. Leavitt of Amherst, N.H. (wife Deborah). He was especially proud of his grandchildren, Angus Chaney (wife Molly), Timothy Leavitt, Joanna Finch, Daniel Finch, Jacob Reibel, Andrew Leavitt, Amanda Finch, and great-granddaughters, Ella and Meghan Chaney. He is survived by a sister, Helen Campbell, of Paxton, Mass.; predeceased by siblings Margaret Peters and Howard Leavitt; and by grand-daughter Joanna and nephew Ken Leavitt.
The Leavitt family is grateful to the Havenwood-Heritage Heights staff for their skilled and compassionate care of Dan and Lois over many years.
A service in celebration of Dan's life will be held at 1:00 pm on Saturday, August 25, 2018, at First Church in Jaffrey UCC (16 Laban Ainsworth Way, Jaffrey, N.H.), followed by a family service of committal at the Old Burying Ground. Memorial contributions in his honor may be made to UNHCR for Syrian Refugee Relief (http://www.unhcr.org/en-us/syria-emergency.html), or to the Havenwood-Heritage Heights Residents' Fund, Heritage Heights, 33 Christian Ave., Concord NH 03301(www.hhhinfo.com/support-us).
Published by Legacy Remembers on Jul. 8, 2018.
Dan and his siblings and cousins grew up on the campus of the American University of Beirut, founded by their great-grandfather, Daniel Bliss, in a community that welcomed all religions and nationalities. He recalled an idyllic childhood of exploring caves, camping in the cedars of Lebanon, collecting fossils, and playing hide-and-seek ("sardines") in Crusader castles. His family spent summers in the mountain village of Ainab, where supplies arrived by donkey.
At 16, he and five classmates set sail for prep school in the U.S. just as Germany invaded Poland. In exchange for giving up their staterooms to ex-pats desperate to return home ahead of the war, the young students were offered jobs in the ship's laundry. By the time they reached the U.S., the blockade was firm, and Dan would not see his parents again for seven years. Being thrust into adulthood from a sheltered home life was formative. A "third-culture kid," neither American nor Lebanese, he could relate to the feelings of being an outsider.
Dan attended Vermont Academy, received his B.A from Amherst College, and his Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry from Andover Newton Theological School.
In W.W.II, he served in the U.S. Navy as a navigation and communications officer on an LST in the western Pacific. Alone, on night watch, he was moved by the splendor of the night sky and his infinitesimal place in the cosmos. His ship was among the first to enter Nagasaki harbor after the atomic bomb, and he never forgot the devastation or the terrified children he tried to befriend.
Dan met his future wife, Lois, at a religious conference on Lake Sebago, Maine, when she was a sophomore at Mt. Holyoke. He admired the way she hit a baseball, as well as her beauty and brains. They corresponded while Dan was at sea and married in 1947. Lois and Dan were a fun-loving and devoted couple. They enjoyed skiing and tennis, travel and adventure. In his nineties, when asked to define heaven, Dan replied, "Being married to a wonderful woman for 68 years."
Dan served U.C.C. (United Church of Christ) parishes in Wilton, Maine, and in Gardner, Longmeadow, and Framingham, Mass. He also held U.C.C. leadership positions at the regional, state, and national level, and interim pastorates in Keene, Amherst, and Jaffrey, N.H. During the social unrest of the 1960s, he was willing to take unpopular stands on Civil Rights and the Vietnam War. In the 1970s, he and Lois served as chaplain and teacher for the U.C.C. Board for World Ministries in Mt. Silinda, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), during the country's struggle for independence.
Dan was a beloved pastor who touched many lives. He married hundreds of couples, including his own offspring, and was known for his caring and compassion. He had the right balance of humor and gravitas and an excellent memory for weaving life experience into his sermons. His memoir, Cogwheeling with History, dedicated to his grandchildren, links personal stories to international events of his day.
Dan was a fun father and grandfather. In his nineties he could still recite stories in Arabic. He loved the night sky, Gilbert and Sullivan, Webb Lake, corny limericks, and hiking Mt. Tumbledown. He taught his children the names of the constellations, how to sail, read maps, and keep a global perspective.
Daniel was the beloved husband of the late Lois Stowe Leavitt and loving father of Nancy Leavitt-Reibel of Norwich, Vt., (husband Charles); Jean Westbrook Leavitt of Doylestown, Pa.; and Richard G. Leavitt of Amherst, N.H. (wife Deborah). He was especially proud of his grandchildren, Angus Chaney (wife Molly), Timothy Leavitt, Joanna Finch, Daniel Finch, Jacob Reibel, Andrew Leavitt, Amanda Finch, and great-granddaughters, Ella and Meghan Chaney. He is survived by a sister, Helen Campbell, of Paxton, Mass.; predeceased by siblings Margaret Peters and Howard Leavitt; and by grand-daughter Joanna and nephew Ken Leavitt.
The Leavitt family is grateful to the Havenwood-Heritage Heights staff for their skilled and compassionate care of Dan and Lois over many years.
A service in celebration of Dan's life will be held at 1:00 pm on Saturday, August 25, 2018, at First Church in Jaffrey UCC (16 Laban Ainsworth Way, Jaffrey, N.H.), followed by a family service of committal at the Old Burying Ground. Memorial contributions in his honor may be made to UNHCR for Syrian Refugee Relief (http://www.unhcr.org/en-us/syria-emergency.html), or to the Havenwood-Heritage Heights Residents' Fund, Heritage Heights, 33 Christian Ave., Concord NH 03301(www.hhhinfo.com/support-us).
Published by Legacy Remembers on Jul. 8, 2018.
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