Ellen Kingsbury Viereck

Teacher and artist Ellen Kingsbury Viereck, a resident of Shaftsbury since 1954, died at her home on Dec. 6, having been in hospice care. She was 96 years old. Born in Boston, May 4, 1928, the second of three daughters of Frederick S. Kingsbury and Jocelyn Felicia Doughty, she was educated at the Thomas School in Rowayton, Conn., founded by her great aunt, Mabel Thomas. She graduated from Vassar College, class of 1949. She and Philip R. Viereck were married at her family home in Rowayton on Dec. 28, 1948. The following summer, after completing her degree, they set off for Alaska, where Phil had previously worked summers while attending Dartmouth College. For two years they were employed by the Alaska Native Service as teachers in Nome and on remote King Island in the Bering Sea, the winter village of Inupiat seal hunters, population about 150. They returned to New England in 1950, where both earned master's degrees in education at Plymouth State College in N.H. They returned to live in Cordova, AK, for two years, and in 1954 moved to Shaftsbury where Phil was employed as a teacher in Bennington public schools. Ellen helped run the Bennington College Early Learning Center, tutored reading students and taught at Pine Cobble School in Williamstown, Mass., in addition to her career teaching in Bennington Public Schools. Ellen was an accomplished painter in oils and later took up watercolors, both studying and teaching art throughout her long life. She had occasional shows of her work and was known for giving many paintings to friends. She illustrated her husband's five books for children, which included Eskimo Island, a story based on their King Island experience; Independence Must Be Won, about Revolutionary War action in and around Vermont; and The Summer I Was Lost, as well as the non-fiction The New Land, which annotated original journal extracts from the earliest explorers of the Northeast Coast. In retirement, she traveled to many places including the Rocky Mountains, Morocco, and the Gaspé Peninsula, painting as she went. In politics Ellen was a progressive Democrat, an active wilderness advocate, and a great admirer of Senator Bernie Sanders. Having ridden horses throughout her life, she always watched the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes and kept her own horse right up to her death. She was predeceased by her husband, a daughter, Margaret (Meg), and sisters Jocelyn K. Moreland and Ann K. Resch. Survivors include daughter Jennifer Olaranna Viereck of Abiquiu, N.M., son Timothy Doughty Viereck of Ojo Caliente, N.M., and daughter Pamela Viereck Bates of Durango, Co., as well as several nieces and nephews, and numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren. A Celebration of Ellen’s Life will be held at the family home in Shaftsbury in the spring (date to be announced).