Obituary

Arthur S. Bolster Jr.

Tue, 11/13/2018 - 12:45pm

Arthur Stanley Bolster Jr., 96, passed away on Oct. 16 at the Hospice Compassionate Care Facility in Richmond, Kentucky.

Known by his middle name, Stan was born in Bismark, North Dakota on Jan. 30, 1922, and was raised in Nashua, New Hampshire. He married Elizabeth Barker Winkfield in October 1949 and they were married until her death in 2016.

Dr. Bolster was a prominent educator, and an American historian. He was a graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard University Graduate School. After serving as a naval officer on the Alchiba and the Whitley in the Pacific during World War II, he began his teaching career in the public schools, teaching American history for several years in Grosse Pointe, Michigan and Pelham, New York, before working from 1958-1982 as a clinical professor of education in the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University, while simultaneously teaching middle school and high school in the Newton, Massachusetts public schools, his “clinic.” In his retirement years in Maine, Stan volunteered as a guide at a lighthouse and colonial fort, as a hospital worker, and as a board member for a local arts festival. In South Florida, he served as a docent at a local science museum.

Stan is survived by his son, Stephen Clark Bolster and his wife Sandra Spearen Bolster, Berea, Kentucky; daughter-in-law, Leslie Cheney Bolster (son Greg Bolster deceased), Walpole, Maine;  grandchildren, Evan Bolster, Berea, Kentucky, Todd and wife Emilie Bolster, Carmel, Indian; Katherine Bolster, Rockport, Massachusetts, Chad Bolster, Bristol, Maine; Matthew Bolster, Waldoboro, Maine; and great-grandchildren, Haylee, Sylvie and Ian Bolster, Carmel, Indiana.

A Service of Celebration for his life is scheduled on Dec. 15 in Berea, Kentucky, and at the Boothbay Harbor Congregational Church in Maine next summer. Donations in his name can be made to Dartmouth College, the Hospice Compassionate Care Center in Richmond, Kentucky, or the Bristol Public Library in Bristol, Maine.

Family members can be contacted through Lakes Funeral Home in Berea, Kentucky which is handling arrangements. (www.lakesfuneralhome.com)