WILLIAM SHEFFIELD COWLES, JR.
William Sheffield Cowles, Jr. (Bill) died at the age of 98 on the 31st of July 2021. He died peacefully at his home overlooking the Pecos River in Rowe, New Mexico.
He was born on the 18th of March 1923 in Hartford, Connecticut, to W. Sheffield Cowles, Sr. (Shef) and Margaret K. Cowles (Bobbie). His grandmother was Anna Roosevelt Cowles, sister of President Theodore Roosevelt.
Bill grew up in New York City, though he spent the ages of 5 to 7 in London where his father had been sent for work. He attended St. Bernard's School in New York City, Groton School in Massachusetts, and Yale, where he majored in Philosophy, class of 1945.
He married the late Virginia Lloyd-Smith (Ginny) while in the Navy gunnery school in Washington, D.C. During World War II, Bill served as a gunnery officer and navigator on the destroyer USS Stevenson during the assault on Okinawa, and the final occupation of the Japanese mainland.
After the war, Bill earned a degree in architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, then moved to Shelburne, Vermont with his wife and the first three of their children. Over the next three years, three more children would be born.
Bill had a successful general practice of architecture in Shelburne, Vermont, including designing buildings for Sugarbush Valley Ski Area, the Medical Center Hospital of Vermont, and the Experiment in International Living.
Bill's public career included an appointment as Secretary of the Vermont Agency of Human Services, and as chairman of the Vermont Environmental Board. He was the first to serve in each post.
He and Ginny learned to fly in the 1950's, and flew their single engine airplane throughout North America, as well as on trips to Africa via Europe and to Venezuela.
Bill also bought an old apple orchard in the 1950's next to his initial 18 acres on Lake Champlain. He ran Shelburne Orchards as a commercial operation; it continues to be operated by his son.
In 1976, Ginny and Bill purchased most of the island of Pine Cay in the Turks and Caicos Islands, BWI, which they developed as an environmentally and socially responsible resort. While running the Meridian Club Hotel, they also built homes for landowners and sponsored a non-profit organization to study and preserve the offshore reefs.
Never ones to sit still, in 1984, Bill and Ginny moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico. They built Los Trigos Ranch in Rowe, where Ginny raised Norwegian Fjord horses while Bill served on many non-profit boards, including the School for Advanced Research, Cornerstones Community Partnerships, the National Dance Institute of New Mexico, the Santa Fe Conservation Trust, and EGIS (Elders Getting Information and Services) which he helped start.
Bill's wife, Ginny, died in 2006, his eldest daughter, Cedar, died in 2008, and his son Robert died in 2014. He is survived by a daughter and three sons; nine grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
Bill's strong commitment to the environment and to the welfare of the communities in which he and Ginny lived, along with his architectural vision, were an inspiration to many. He rarely started a conversation with the word "I" but rather turned his well-informed and wide-ranging curiosity toward the people and world around him.
Edited - full version Published by Santa Fe New Mexican from Aug. 7 to Aug. 8, 2021.
William Sheffield Cowles, Jr. (Bill) died at the age of 98 on the 31st of July 2021. He died peacefully at his home overlooking the Pecos River in Rowe, New Mexico.
He was born on the 18th of March 1923 in Hartford, Connecticut, to W. Sheffield Cowles, Sr. (Shef) and Margaret K. Cowles (Bobbie). His grandmother was Anna Roosevelt Cowles, sister of President Theodore Roosevelt.
Bill grew up in New York City, though he spent the ages of 5 to 7 in London where his father had been sent for work. He attended St. Bernard's School in New York City, Groton School in Massachusetts, and Yale, where he majored in Philosophy, class of 1945.
He married the late Virginia Lloyd-Smith (Ginny) while in the Navy gunnery school in Washington, D.C. During World War II, Bill served as a gunnery officer and navigator on the destroyer USS Stevenson during the assault on Okinawa, and the final occupation of the Japanese mainland.
After the war, Bill earned a degree in architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, then moved to Shelburne, Vermont with his wife and the first three of their children. Over the next three years, three more children would be born.
Bill had a successful general practice of architecture in Shelburne, Vermont, including designing buildings for Sugarbush Valley Ski Area, the Medical Center Hospital of Vermont, and the Experiment in International Living.
Bill's public career included an appointment as Secretary of the Vermont Agency of Human Services, and as chairman of the Vermont Environmental Board. He was the first to serve in each post.
He and Ginny learned to fly in the 1950's, and flew their single engine airplane throughout North America, as well as on trips to Africa via Europe and to Venezuela.
Bill also bought an old apple orchard in the 1950's next to his initial 18 acres on Lake Champlain. He ran Shelburne Orchards as a commercial operation; it continues to be operated by his son.
In 1976, Ginny and Bill purchased most of the island of Pine Cay in the Turks and Caicos Islands, BWI, which they developed as an environmentally and socially responsible resort. While running the Meridian Club Hotel, they also built homes for landowners and sponsored a non-profit organization to study and preserve the offshore reefs.
Never ones to sit still, in 1984, Bill and Ginny moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico. They built Los Trigos Ranch in Rowe, where Ginny raised Norwegian Fjord horses while Bill served on many non-profit boards, including the School for Advanced Research, Cornerstones Community Partnerships, the National Dance Institute of New Mexico, the Santa Fe Conservation Trust, and EGIS (Elders Getting Information and Services) which he helped start.
Bill's wife, Ginny, died in 2006, his eldest daughter, Cedar, died in 2008, and his son Robert died in 2014. He is survived by a daughter and three sons; nine grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
Bill's strong commitment to the environment and to the welfare of the communities in which he and Ginny lived, along with his architectural vision, were an inspiration to many. He rarely started a conversation with the word "I" but rather turned his well-informed and wide-ranging curiosity toward the people and world around him.
Edited - full version Published by Santa Fe New Mexican from Aug. 7 to Aug. 8, 2021.
WILLIAM SHEFFIELD COWLES, JR.
William Sheffield Cowles, Jr. (Bill) died at the age of 98 on the 31st of July 2021. He died peacefully at his home overlooking the Pecos River in Rowe, New Mexico.
He was born on the 18th of March 1923 in Hartford, Connecticut, to W. Sheffield Cowles, Sr. (Shef) and Margaret K. Cowles (Bobbie). His grandmother was Anna Roosevelt Cowles, sister of President Theodore Roosevelt.
Bill grew up in New York City, though he spent the ages of 5 to 7 in London where his father had been sent for work. He attended St. Bernard's School in New York City, Groton School in Massachusetts, and Yale, where he majored in Philosophy, class of 1945.
He married the late Virginia Lloyd-Smith (Ginny) while in the Navy gunnery school in Washington, D.C. During World War II, Bill served as a gunnery officer and navigator on the destroyer USS Stevenson during the assault on Okinawa, and the final occupation of the Japanese mainland.
After the war, Bill earned a degree in architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, then moved to Shelburne, Vermont with his wife and the first three of their children. Over the next three years, three more children would be born.
Bill had a successful general practice of architecture in Shelburne, Vermont, including designing buildings for Sugarbush Valley Ski Area, the Medical Center Hospital of Vermont, and the Experiment in International Living.
Bill's public career included an appointment as Secretary of the Vermont Agency of Human Services, and as chairman of the Vermont Environmental Board. He was the first to serve in each post.
He and Ginny learned to fly in the 1950's, and flew their single engine airplane throughout North America, as well as on trips to Africa via Europe and to Venezuela.
Bill also bought an old apple orchard in the 1950's next to his initial 18 acres on Lake Champlain. He ran Shelburne Orchards as a commercial operation; it continues to be operated by his son.
In 1976, Ginny and Bill purchased most of the island of Pine Cay in the Turks and Caicos Islands, BWI, which they developed as an environmentally and socially responsible resort. While running the Meridian Club Hotel, they also built homes for landowners and sponsored a non-profit organization to study and preserve the offshore reefs.
Never ones to sit still, in 1984, Bill and Ginny moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico. They built Los Trigos Ranch in Rowe, where Ginny raised Norwegian Fjord horses while Bill served on many non-profit boards, including the School for Advanced Research, Cornerstones Community Partnerships, the National Dance Institute of New Mexico, the Santa Fe Conservation Trust, and EGIS (Elders Getting Information and Services) which he helped start.
Bill's wife, Ginny, died in 2006, his eldest daughter, Cedar, died in 2008, and his son Robert died in 2014. He is survived by a daughter and three sons; nine grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
Bill's strong commitment to the environment and to the welfare of the communities in which he and Ginny lived, along with his architectural vision, were an inspiration to many. He rarely started a conversation with the word "I" but rather turned his well-informed and wide-ranging curiosity toward the people and world around him.
Edited - full version Published by Santa Fe New Mexican from Aug. 7 to Aug. 8, 2021.
William Sheffield Cowles, Jr. (Bill) died at the age of 98 on the 31st of July 2021. He died peacefully at his home overlooking the Pecos River in Rowe, New Mexico.
He was born on the 18th of March 1923 in Hartford, Connecticut, to W. Sheffield Cowles, Sr. (Shef) and Margaret K. Cowles (Bobbie). His grandmother was Anna Roosevelt Cowles, sister of President Theodore Roosevelt.
Bill grew up in New York City, though he spent the ages of 5 to 7 in London where his father had been sent for work. He attended St. Bernard's School in New York City, Groton School in Massachusetts, and Yale, where he majored in Philosophy, class of 1945.
He married the late Virginia Lloyd-Smith (Ginny) while in the Navy gunnery school in Washington, D.C. During World War II, Bill served as a gunnery officer and navigator on the destroyer USS Stevenson during the assault on Okinawa, and the final occupation of the Japanese mainland.
After the war, Bill earned a degree in architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, then moved to Shelburne, Vermont with his wife and the first three of their children. Over the next three years, three more children would be born.
Bill had a successful general practice of architecture in Shelburne, Vermont, including designing buildings for Sugarbush Valley Ski Area, the Medical Center Hospital of Vermont, and the Experiment in International Living.
Bill's public career included an appointment as Secretary of the Vermont Agency of Human Services, and as chairman of the Vermont Environmental Board. He was the first to serve in each post.
He and Ginny learned to fly in the 1950's, and flew their single engine airplane throughout North America, as well as on trips to Africa via Europe and to Venezuela.
Bill also bought an old apple orchard in the 1950's next to his initial 18 acres on Lake Champlain. He ran Shelburne Orchards as a commercial operation; it continues to be operated by his son.
In 1976, Ginny and Bill purchased most of the island of Pine Cay in the Turks and Caicos Islands, BWI, which they developed as an environmentally and socially responsible resort. While running the Meridian Club Hotel, they also built homes for landowners and sponsored a non-profit organization to study and preserve the offshore reefs.
Never ones to sit still, in 1984, Bill and Ginny moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico. They built Los Trigos Ranch in Rowe, where Ginny raised Norwegian Fjord horses while Bill served on many non-profit boards, including the School for Advanced Research, Cornerstones Community Partnerships, the National Dance Institute of New Mexico, the Santa Fe Conservation Trust, and EGIS (Elders Getting Information and Services) which he helped start.
Bill's wife, Ginny, died in 2006, his eldest daughter, Cedar, died in 2008, and his son Robert died in 2014. He is survived by a daughter and three sons; nine grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
Bill's strong commitment to the environment and to the welfare of the communities in which he and Ginny lived, along with his architectural vision, were an inspiration to many. He rarely started a conversation with the word "I" but rather turned his well-informed and wide-ranging curiosity toward the people and world around him.
Edited - full version Published by Santa Fe New Mexican from Aug. 7 to Aug. 8, 2021.
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