Longtime educator had a noble career and a happy life
Born the fourth of six children by Dorothy Winsor Bisbee and Elliot Walter Bisbee in Concord, Mass., Ethan was well educated at home alongside his five siblings: Ricky, Alice, John, Joyce and Tom. He attended the Fenn School and graduated from the Middlesex School in 1946. He continued his studies at Harvard University, receiving his AB in government cum laude in 1950 and AM in history in 1961. Typically and thankfully, he repaid these gifts many times over, teaching diligently at Milton Academy from 1953 to 1993. Ethan married Mary Susan Gongaware on September 10, 1955, and they were delighted to raise Ann Scheffler, Liz Bisbee and Fred Bisbee. Arriving just before the Great Depression and too young for service in the Second World War, Ethan was definitive of his generation. He valued thrift, reserve, responsibility and community, believing that citizenship is a job, not a grant. Though born in the flatlands of Massachusetts, his heart surely belongs to his family home, Fisher Hill, in Vermont. This is where so much family history, and little else, takes place. Most summer evenings would find him there "holding court," if not literally grasping a tennis racquet or croquet mallet, then perhaps a drink on his lovely terraced porch. Summer days were well spent, as Ethan could leave few tasks untried and fewer unfinished, and he was brave enough to share them. Whether Ethan was putting up firewood or vegetables, or advancing a trench, argument or stonewall, the hours passed easily and richly in his cheerful presence. At Milton Academy, Ethan started somewhat green, with great colleagues, and learned the job on the job. He never stopped learning, and so excelled. He taught history, both U.S. and world; brought current events into discussion; and tried to draw out the reluctant speaker or student as a worthy equal. Always a coach, long an adviser, he went on to teach economics and to chair the history department. Committed to the notion that one must "earn his keep" and trusting himself enough to think he had something to offer, Ethan contributed much. He sought opportunities to meet students he might never teach, attending a tea, lecture or performance; supervising a film; proctoring an exam; or simply timing his crossing of the street. Amazingly, looking back, Ethan and Sue even housed students, outnumbered at times. Ethan loved his wonderful office with its doors opening to the…
Longtime educator had a noble career and a happy life
Born the fourth of six children by Dorothy Winsor Bisbee and Elliot Walter Bisbee in Concord, Mass., Ethan was well educated at home alongside his five siblings: Ricky, Alice, John, Joyce and Tom. He attended the Fenn School and graduated from the Middlesex School in 1946. He continued his studies at Harvard University, receiving his AB in government cum laude in 1950 and AM in history in 1961. Typically and thankfully, he repaid these gifts many times over, teaching diligently at Milton Academy from 1953 to 1993. Ethan married Mary Susan Gongaware on September 10, 1955, and they were delighted to raise Ann Scheffler, Liz Bisbee and Fred Bisbee. Arriving just before the Great Depression and too young for service in the Second World War, Ethan was definitive of his generation. He valued thrift, reserve, responsibility and community, believing that citizenship is a job, not a grant. Though born in the flatlands of Massachusetts, his heart surely belongs to his family home, Fisher Hill, in Vermont. This is where so much family history, and little else, takes place. Most summer evenings would find him there "holding court," if not literally grasping a tennis racquet or croquet mallet, then perhaps a drink on his lovely terraced porch. Summer days were well spent, as Ethan could leave few tasks untried and fewer unfinished, and he was brave enough to share them. Whether Ethan was putting up firewood or vegetables, or advancing a trench, argument or stonewall, the hours passed easily and richly in his cheerful presence. At Milton Academy, Ethan started somewhat green, with great colleagues, and learned the job on the job. He never stopped learning, and so excelled. He taught history, both U.S. and world; brought current events into discussion; and tried to draw out the reluctant speaker or student as a worthy equal. Always a coach, long an adviser, he went on to teach economics and to chair the history department. Committed to the notion that one must "earn his keep" and trusting himself enough to think he had something to offer, Ethan contributed much. He sought opportunities to meet students he might never teach, attending a tea, lecture or performance; supervising a film; proctoring an exam; or simply timing his crossing of the street. Amazingly, looking back, Ethan and Sue even housed students, outnumbered at times. Ethan loved his wonderful office with its doors opening to the…
