Published in the Rutland Herald, Rutland, VT, December 30, 2005:
Bertha Perkins Frothingham died in Springfield Hospital, Springfield, Vt., on December 21, 2005, her 94th birthday, after a heart attack.
Bert, as she was known, had lived for many years in Windsor, Vt. She was born in Plainfield, NJ, first of the five daughters of Maxwell Evarts Perkins, the editor, and Louise Saunders Perkins, a writer whose work included the play, "The Knave of Hearts," illustrated by Maxfield Parrish. Bert grew up in New Canaan, Connecticut, and New York City. She graduated from the Chapin School and attended Smith College and Radcliffe College.
In recent years she worked on editing and publishing her parents' letters and works: Father to Daughter: The Family Letters of Maxwell Perkins co-edited by Louise Perkins King and Ruth King Porter (Empty Bowl, Port Townsend, Washington, 1995). The book has also appeared in a Chinese translation. Her most recent projects were the publication of The Collected Poems of Louise Saunders (Awede, Windsor, Vt., 2003) and The Collected Stories of Louise Saunders (Awede, 2004).
She was a member of a distinguished literary family known for its civic involvement; a cousin was Archibald Cox, the special prosecutor dismissed by President Nixon during Watergate. Her great-grandfather, William M. Evarts, was a senator from New York and secretary of state under Rutherford B. Hayes. In the 1890s, the Evarts family introduced the sculptor, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, to the Windsor area, and his home and studio in nearby Cornish, N.H., became the center of the Cornish Colony, the artists' community.
Bert grew up at 63 Park Street in New Canaan, Conn., in the large white house on the corner of Seminary and Park, now known as the Maxwell Perkins house, a Connecticut Literary Landmark. But to him, it was first and foremost the perfect place to raise five daughters. And while Bert sometimes told amusing anecdotes about her father's association with Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald or Thomas Wolfe (who would lift her son, Ned, onto his shoulders to retrieve rubber-tipped arrows the boy shot onto the high ceiling of the living room of the Perkins' townhouse in Manhattan), to her the house wasn't a shrine; it was a well-loved and well-used home. Here she and her husband, John Gerrish Frothingham of New Canaan, a pediatrician beloved by generations of children, whom she married in 1933, and raised two children, Ned who died in l955, and Jane. Bert's mother lived in an apartment in the house and "Doc" Frothingham, who died in 1968, had his office there.
In Bert and Doc's time, the house was an important part of New Canaan life. On Christmas Eve they held an open house for carolers on God's Acre; on Memorial Day, a crowd watched the parade from the steps. In the summer, Fresh Air Fund children came to stay and eventually three of them moved in so they could attend New Canaan schools. One Christmas Eve a young couple with nowhere to go, the architect, Victor Christ-Janer, and his wife, appeared on the steps and were invited to stay. Along with parties and celebrations, many people shared the love and respect of books, writers and reading in the house at 63 Park Street.
Active in many town organizations, Bert was chairman of the New Canaan chapter of the Red Cross where she was a nurse's aide and developed volunteer programs, and a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
In 1972 she moved to Vermont to live year-round in Windsor at Runnemede Lodge, a house her family had owned since the 1850s. Like her father, she and her sisters had spent summers there as a child. The first entry in the Runnemede Guest Book is dated 1907 and the last entry was the day they closed the house in 2005.
The Perkins and Evarts families had a tradition of civic generosity in Windsor; William M. Evarts gave the town water rights on his land following an outbreak of typhoid fever. In the l980s the Evarts family donated Paradise Park to the community of Windsor in Evarts' memory.
Bert was a member of St Paul's Episcopal Church in Windsor. She was a generous supporter of the Windsor library and founded the Friends of the Windsor Library, as well as its volunteer program. She opened her house to the public for many fundraising events. She was given Historic Windsor's Preservation Award in 1996 and the Library established the Bertha Frothingham Award for Outstanding Service. Her birthday was a town holiday celebrated by many people. She adored Windsor but she never lost her interest in New Canaan and often asked visitors for the latest news.
Her friend, John Dryfhout of Cornish, the former curator of the Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site, said, "She was, as I said and many others have as well - the most generous and liberal person I think that I have ever met."
She is a 5th generation descendant of Roger Sherman, Signer of the Declaration of Independence according to [email protected]
cremated at Valley Crematory, White River Junction, Vermont.
buried 2/13/2006.
Bertha Perkins Frothingham died in Springfield Hospital, Springfield, Vt., on December 21, 2005, her 94th birthday, after a heart attack.
Bert, as she was known, had lived for many years in Windsor, Vt. She was born in Plainfield, NJ, first of the five daughters of Maxwell Evarts Perkins, the editor, and Louise Saunders Perkins, a writer whose work included the play, "The Knave of Hearts," illustrated by Maxfield Parrish. Bert grew up in New Canaan, Connecticut, and New York City. She graduated from the Chapin School and attended Smith College and Radcliffe College.
In recent years she worked on editing and publishing her parents' letters and works: Father to Daughter: The Family Letters of Maxwell Perkins co-edited by Louise Perkins King and Ruth King Porter (Empty Bowl, Port Townsend, Washington, 1995). The book has also appeared in a Chinese translation. Her most recent projects were the publication of The Collected Poems of Louise Saunders (Awede, Windsor, Vt., 2003) and The Collected Stories of Louise Saunders (Awede, 2004).
She was a member of a distinguished literary family known for its civic involvement; a cousin was Archibald Cox, the special prosecutor dismissed by President Nixon during Watergate. Her great-grandfather, William M. Evarts, was a senator from New York and secretary of state under Rutherford B. Hayes. In the 1890s, the Evarts family introduced the sculptor, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, to the Windsor area, and his home and studio in nearby Cornish, N.H., became the center of the Cornish Colony, the artists' community.
Bert grew up at 63 Park Street in New Canaan, Conn., in the large white house on the corner of Seminary and Park, now known as the Maxwell Perkins house, a Connecticut Literary Landmark. But to him, it was first and foremost the perfect place to raise five daughters. And while Bert sometimes told amusing anecdotes about her father's association with Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald or Thomas Wolfe (who would lift her son, Ned, onto his shoulders to retrieve rubber-tipped arrows the boy shot onto the high ceiling of the living room of the Perkins' townhouse in Manhattan), to her the house wasn't a shrine; it was a well-loved and well-used home. Here she and her husband, John Gerrish Frothingham of New Canaan, a pediatrician beloved by generations of children, whom she married in 1933, and raised two children, Ned who died in l955, and Jane. Bert's mother lived in an apartment in the house and "Doc" Frothingham, who died in 1968, had his office there.
In Bert and Doc's time, the house was an important part of New Canaan life. On Christmas Eve they held an open house for carolers on God's Acre; on Memorial Day, a crowd watched the parade from the steps. In the summer, Fresh Air Fund children came to stay and eventually three of them moved in so they could attend New Canaan schools. One Christmas Eve a young couple with nowhere to go, the architect, Victor Christ-Janer, and his wife, appeared on the steps and were invited to stay. Along with parties and celebrations, many people shared the love and respect of books, writers and reading in the house at 63 Park Street.
Active in many town organizations, Bert was chairman of the New Canaan chapter of the Red Cross where she was a nurse's aide and developed volunteer programs, and a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
In 1972 she moved to Vermont to live year-round in Windsor at Runnemede Lodge, a house her family had owned since the 1850s. Like her father, she and her sisters had spent summers there as a child. The first entry in the Runnemede Guest Book is dated 1907 and the last entry was the day they closed the house in 2005.
The Perkins and Evarts families had a tradition of civic generosity in Windsor; William M. Evarts gave the town water rights on his land following an outbreak of typhoid fever. In the l980s the Evarts family donated Paradise Park to the community of Windsor in Evarts' memory.
Bert was a member of St Paul's Episcopal Church in Windsor. She was a generous supporter of the Windsor library and founded the Friends of the Windsor Library, as well as its volunteer program. She opened her house to the public for many fundraising events. She was given Historic Windsor's Preservation Award in 1996 and the Library established the Bertha Frothingham Award for Outstanding Service. Her birthday was a town holiday celebrated by many people. She adored Windsor but she never lost her interest in New Canaan and often asked visitors for the latest news.
Her friend, John Dryfhout of Cornish, the former curator of the Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site, said, "She was, as I said and many others have as well - the most generous and liberal person I think that I have ever met."
She is a 5th generation descendant of Roger Sherman, Signer of the Declaration of Independence according to [email protected]
cremated at Valley Crematory, White River Junction, Vermont.
buried 2/13/2006.
Published in the Rutland Herald, Rutland, VT, December 30, 2005:
Bertha Perkins Frothingham died in Springfield Hospital, Springfield, Vt., on December 21, 2005, her 94th birthday, after a heart attack.
Bert, as she was known, had lived for many years in Windsor, Vt. She was born in Plainfield, NJ, first of the five daughters of Maxwell Evarts Perkins, the editor, and Louise Saunders Perkins, a writer whose work included the play, "The Knave of Hearts," illustrated by Maxfield Parrish. Bert grew up in New Canaan, Connecticut, and New York City. She graduated from the Chapin School and attended Smith College and Radcliffe College.
In recent years she worked on editing and publishing her parents' letters and works: Father to Daughter: The Family Letters of Maxwell Perkins co-edited by Louise Perkins King and Ruth King Porter (Empty Bowl, Port Townsend, Washington, 1995). The book has also appeared in a Chinese translation. Her most recent projects were the publication of The Collected Poems of Louise Saunders (Awede, Windsor, Vt., 2003) and The Collected Stories of Louise Saunders (Awede, 2004).
She was a member of a distinguished literary family known for its civic involvement; a cousin was Archibald Cox, the special prosecutor dismissed by President Nixon during Watergate. Her great-grandfather, William M. Evarts, was a senator from New York and secretary of state under Rutherford B. Hayes. In the 1890s, the Evarts family introduced the sculptor, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, to the Windsor area, and his home and studio in nearby Cornish, N.H., became the center of the Cornish Colony, the artists' community.
Bert grew up at 63 Park Street in New Canaan, Conn., in the large white house on the corner of Seminary and Park, now known as the Maxwell Perkins house, a Connecticut Literary Landmark. But to him, it was first and foremost the perfect place to raise five daughters. And while Bert sometimes told amusing anecdotes about her father's association with Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald or Thomas Wolfe (who would lift her son, Ned, onto his shoulders to retrieve rubber-tipped arrows the boy shot onto the high ceiling of the living room of the Perkins' townhouse in Manhattan), to her the house wasn't a shrine; it was a well-loved and well-used home. Here she and her husband, John Gerrish Frothingham of New Canaan, a pediatrician beloved by generations of children, whom she married in 1933, and raised two children, Ned who died in l955, and Jane. Bert's mother lived in an apartment in the house and "Doc" Frothingham, who died in 1968, had his office there.
In Bert and Doc's time, the house was an important part of New Canaan life. On Christmas Eve they held an open house for carolers on God's Acre; on Memorial Day, a crowd watched the parade from the steps. In the summer, Fresh Air Fund children came to stay and eventually three of them moved in so they could attend New Canaan schools. One Christmas Eve a young couple with nowhere to go, the architect, Victor Christ-Janer, and his wife, appeared on the steps and were invited to stay. Along with parties and celebrations, many people shared the love and respect of books, writers and reading in the house at 63 Park Street.
Active in many town organizations, Bert was chairman of the New Canaan chapter of the Red Cross where she was a nurse's aide and developed volunteer programs, and a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
In 1972 she moved to Vermont to live year-round in Windsor at Runnemede Lodge, a house her family had owned since the 1850s. Like her father, she and her sisters had spent summers there as a child. The first entry in the Runnemede Guest Book is dated 1907 and the last entry was the day they closed the house in 2005.
The Perkins and Evarts families had a tradition of civic generosity in Windsor; William M. Evarts gave the town water rights on his land following an outbreak of typhoid fever. In the l980s the Evarts family donated Paradise Park to the community of Windsor in Evarts' memory.
Bert was a member of St Paul's Episcopal Church in Windsor. She was a generous supporter of the Windsor library and founded the Friends of the Windsor Library, as well as its volunteer program. She opened her house to the public for many fundraising events. She was given Historic Windsor's Preservation Award in 1996 and the Library established the Bertha Frothingham Award for Outstanding Service. Her birthday was a town holiday celebrated by many people. She adored Windsor but she never lost her interest in New Canaan and often asked visitors for the latest news.
Her friend, John Dryfhout of Cornish, the former curator of the Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site, said, "She was, as I said and many others have as well - the most generous and liberal person I think that I have ever met."
She is a 5th generation descendant of Roger Sherman, Signer of the Declaration of Independence according to [email protected]
cremated at Valley Crematory, White River Junction, Vermont.
buried 2/13/2006.
Bertha Perkins Frothingham died in Springfield Hospital, Springfield, Vt., on December 21, 2005, her 94th birthday, after a heart attack.
Bert, as she was known, had lived for many years in Windsor, Vt. She was born in Plainfield, NJ, first of the five daughters of Maxwell Evarts Perkins, the editor, and Louise Saunders Perkins, a writer whose work included the play, "The Knave of Hearts," illustrated by Maxfield Parrish. Bert grew up in New Canaan, Connecticut, and New York City. She graduated from the Chapin School and attended Smith College and Radcliffe College.
In recent years she worked on editing and publishing her parents' letters and works: Father to Daughter: The Family Letters of Maxwell Perkins co-edited by Louise Perkins King and Ruth King Porter (Empty Bowl, Port Townsend, Washington, 1995). The book has also appeared in a Chinese translation. Her most recent projects were the publication of The Collected Poems of Louise Saunders (Awede, Windsor, Vt., 2003) and The Collected Stories of Louise Saunders (Awede, 2004).
She was a member of a distinguished literary family known for its civic involvement; a cousin was Archibald Cox, the special prosecutor dismissed by President Nixon during Watergate. Her great-grandfather, William M. Evarts, was a senator from New York and secretary of state under Rutherford B. Hayes. In the 1890s, the Evarts family introduced the sculptor, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, to the Windsor area, and his home and studio in nearby Cornish, N.H., became the center of the Cornish Colony, the artists' community.
Bert grew up at 63 Park Street in New Canaan, Conn., in the large white house on the corner of Seminary and Park, now known as the Maxwell Perkins house, a Connecticut Literary Landmark. But to him, it was first and foremost the perfect place to raise five daughters. And while Bert sometimes told amusing anecdotes about her father's association with Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald or Thomas Wolfe (who would lift her son, Ned, onto his shoulders to retrieve rubber-tipped arrows the boy shot onto the high ceiling of the living room of the Perkins' townhouse in Manhattan), to her the house wasn't a shrine; it was a well-loved and well-used home. Here she and her husband, John Gerrish Frothingham of New Canaan, a pediatrician beloved by generations of children, whom she married in 1933, and raised two children, Ned who died in l955, and Jane. Bert's mother lived in an apartment in the house and "Doc" Frothingham, who died in 1968, had his office there.
In Bert and Doc's time, the house was an important part of New Canaan life. On Christmas Eve they held an open house for carolers on God's Acre; on Memorial Day, a crowd watched the parade from the steps. In the summer, Fresh Air Fund children came to stay and eventually three of them moved in so they could attend New Canaan schools. One Christmas Eve a young couple with nowhere to go, the architect, Victor Christ-Janer, and his wife, appeared on the steps and were invited to stay. Along with parties and celebrations, many people shared the love and respect of books, writers and reading in the house at 63 Park Street.
Active in many town organizations, Bert was chairman of the New Canaan chapter of the Red Cross where she was a nurse's aide and developed volunteer programs, and a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
In 1972 she moved to Vermont to live year-round in Windsor at Runnemede Lodge, a house her family had owned since the 1850s. Like her father, she and her sisters had spent summers there as a child. The first entry in the Runnemede Guest Book is dated 1907 and the last entry was the day they closed the house in 2005.
The Perkins and Evarts families had a tradition of civic generosity in Windsor; William M. Evarts gave the town water rights on his land following an outbreak of typhoid fever. In the l980s the Evarts family donated Paradise Park to the community of Windsor in Evarts' memory.
Bert was a member of St Paul's Episcopal Church in Windsor. She was a generous supporter of the Windsor library and founded the Friends of the Windsor Library, as well as its volunteer program. She opened her house to the public for many fundraising events. She was given Historic Windsor's Preservation Award in 1996 and the Library established the Bertha Frothingham Award for Outstanding Service. Her birthday was a town holiday celebrated by many people. She adored Windsor but she never lost her interest in New Canaan and often asked visitors for the latest news.
Her friend, John Dryfhout of Cornish, the former curator of the Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site, said, "She was, as I said and many others have as well - the most generous and liberal person I think that I have ever met."
She is a 5th generation descendant of Roger Sherman, Signer of the Declaration of Independence according to [email protected]
cremated at Valley Crematory, White River Junction, Vermont.
buried 2/13/2006.
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