MEREDITH ---- Stephen T. Whitney, 82, of Upper New Hampton Road, passed away at his home on Wednesday, November 22, 2023.
Stephen was born on July 4, 1941, in New York City, NY, the son of John and Grace (Holden) Whitney.
Stephen enjoyed life to the fullest, characterized by a vast array of pursuits and pastimes. He had a keen intellect and a scholar’s ability to study a subject he was deeply interested in.
Stephen was a ranked chess player, audiophile, and accomplished Early Music enthusiast. He relished transposing sheet music and practicing these scores on the soprano and tenor recorder with friends at their homes. He enjoyed performing with his friends at local events and churches. Stephen also took great pleasure in attending events held by the Boston Early Music Festival (BEMF) and the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA).
As a young man, he received his Bachelor of Arts from Johns Hopkins University in 1965. He also attended classes at the Claremont School of Theology and earned several advanced degrees; he studied to be an ordained Episcopal minister at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, earning his Master of Divinity in 1968, before finally earning his Master of Social Work degree at New York University (NYU) in 1972.
Stephen worked for a number of years as a social worker in California and New Hampshire. Ethics, morality, and the pursuit of truth and meaning were core for him throughout his life.
He was an avid and wide-ranging reader but especially enjoyed the Science Fiction genre, particularly those books that explored moral questions, the essence of the soul, and the existence of God. He had a deep, almost spiritual love of food and recognized the significant communal impact that breaking bread amongst friends and family could bring. Throughout the decades, he found great contentment sharing a bottle of wine over a meal with friends Kathi Sheer and Paul Hubert at their home in Ashland, New Hampshire.
Stephen loved being in nature and his compassion and care for animals was well known by his close friends. He was an early computer enthusiast and taught himself how to assemble circuit boards and write software code back in the 70’s and 80’s. As a young man he lived by the beach in Surfside, California, and enthusiastically engaged in body boarding and snorkeling.
A thoroughly authentic, unaffected, and genuine person, he forged lasting and deep friendships that he maintained throughout his life. In more recent years he embraced the pastime of bird watching- becoming an avid birder and member of the National Audubon Society, participating in the local chapter’s Christmas Bird Count with great fervor.
As Stephen said on more than one occasion, he never spent a day bored in his life. He lived his life with an almost childlike wonder and the word that might best describe how he experienced life could simply be “delight”.
Stephen is survived by his daughter Margaret “Meg” Whitney, his son Christopher “Chris” Whitney, his daughter-in-law Heather Whitney, grandchildren, Benjamin, Theodore and Grayson Whitney, and his sister Helen Whitney. In addition to his parents, Stephen is predeceased by his beloved wife Janet (Silver) Whitney, his daughter Mary, and his first wife Suzanne Whitney.
There will be no calling hours.
A Funeral Service will be held on Tuesday, December 5, 2023, at 10:00am, at the First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ (UCC), 4 Highland Street, Meredith, NH 03253. For those that wish to attend remotely via Zoom please visit their website FCCMeredith.com
Burial will be held on Wednesday, December 6, 2023 at 1:30pm, at Spring Grove Cemetery, in Darien, CT.
Wilkinson-Beane-Simoneau-Paquette Funeral Home & Cremation Services/603Cremations.com, 164 Pleasant St., Laconia, NH, 03246, is assisting the family with arrangements. For more information and to view an online memorial, please visit wilkinsonbeane.com.