Vibert, William Monteith

William Monteith Vibert of Granby, CT, beloved husband of Patricia (Parker) Vibert, passed away on June 10, 2022, from causes related to Alzheimer’s disease, just four days shy of his 93rd birthday.

Born on June 14, 1929, in Unionville, CT, Bill was the sixth of seven children of Robert King Vibert, Sr. and Marjorie (Monteith) Vibert. He grew up in Unionville, attended Farmington Public Schools until 1945, then transferred to the Loomis School, graduating in 1948. At Loomis, he played varsity football, basketball, and baseball, and received the Evelyn Longman Batchelder Prize for Sportsmanship at graduation. He went on to Trinity College in Hartford, CT, studied history, and played football all four years. Bill was proud to have been a member of the undefeated 1949 team. He still holds three Trinity College individual game records related to most extra points made by kicking. Just before the start of their senior

years in college (Trinity and Uconn), on September 1, 1951, Bill married Patricia Parker of Avon, who caught his eye three years earlier when he delivered her family’s mail during his school vacation rural carrier job with the post office.

Two days after his graduation in 1952 with a B.A. in History, Bill and Pat drove to Long Beach, CA, for him to complete training at the U.S. Navy’s Officer Candidate School. He was assigned duty as the Operations Officer on the USS Strickland, DER 333, stationed in Newport, RI. In 1954, he joined the reserves, retiring after 20 years with the rank of Lieutenant Commander.

After active duty, Bill went to the University of Iowa in Iowa City, IA, to earn a Master’s in Modern European History

in 1956. From September 1955 until June 1969, he taught history at the John Burroughs School in St. Louis, MO, eventually heading the history department, and coached football and baseball. He made lifelong friends there and in particular enjoyed canoeing on the Ozarks’ Current River and chaperoning high school ski trips to Aspen, CO. After 14 years of long road trips between St. Louis and Connecticut to visit family, Bill and Pat returned to Connecticut and a new teaching position with their three children (born in Newport, RI; Iowa City, IA; and Kirkwood, MO) in 1969. Bill joined the faculty of the Westledge School in West Simsbury, CT, newly opened one year earlier in 1968. He continued to teach history, was director of studies, and then director of the school from 1972 to 1976.

After 21 years of teaching, Bill embarked next on a second career as a realtor, from 1976 until his retirement. He began with the Barrows Company, which merged into Merrill Lynch Realty, which became Prudential Connecticut Realty, over time managing offices in Granby, Simsbury, and West Hartford. During his real estate career, he served as Board Chairman of the Greater Hartford Multiple Listing Service in 1990; President of the Greater Hartford Association of Realtors in 1994; and President of the Connecticut Association of Realtors in 2000.

Bill was also active in Granby, where he lived for over 52 years. For a combined 14 years, Bill was an elected member of two Granby town government boards: from 1973 through 1981, he served on the Granby Board of Education, the last four years as Chairman, and from 1983 through 1989, he was on the Granby Board of Selectmen. Bill served as President and Treasurer of the Salmon Brook Historical Society in Granby for a number of terms, and was a member for 50 years. His other areas of activity included: President of the Old Newgate Prison and Copper Mine, Inc.; President and Vice-president of the Friends of Old New-gate; Chairman of the 250th Anniversary Celebration

Committee for the First Congregational Church, Granby, CT; Member of the Farmington Valley Visitors Association Board; President of the Historic Sites of Connecticut’s Farmington Valley, Inc.; and Treasurer of the Hillside Cemetery Association in Unionville.

As evidenced by his education, teaching career, and many of his volunteer activities, Bill loved history and sharing it with others. Just after returning to Connecticut in 1969, he authored Three Centuries of Simsbury, 1670 – 1970, published by the Simsbury Tercentenary Committee in 1970. In later years, he volunteered at the Farmington Room at the Farmington Public Library, assisting people searching for historical information associated with Farmington and the Farmington Valley. He was most recently working on a history of Unionville with a focus on the people who brought about the transformations, as he would say, that the village has experienced over time, before his illness closed that door. Bill valued his family’s historical connection to Unionville, which began in the 1870s with both sets of grandparents. One of his favorite stories and bragging right was about how his mother, Marjorie Monteith (daughter of Professor H.R. Monteith), went from the Unionville schools to become captain of the first women’s

basketball team at the Connecticut Agricultural College (predecessor to the University of Connecticut) in 1902 at age 17.

Beyond all his accomplishments, Bill was kind, thoughtful, funny, and always willing to help anyone. He loved and was proud of his family and his family loved and was proud of him. He quietly supported and encouraged his children at every turn and made a lifetime of great dad memories, from endless catches in the front yard to his unflagging interest in what they were doing. He was thrilled when he became a grandfather and enjoyed having a new generation of four individuals to have fun with and watch grow. It was a wonderful moment when he met his first great-grandchild, born in 2019, for the first time.

Bill is survived by his wife of almost 71 years, Patricia Parker Vibert; his three children, Mark Vibert (Betsy) of South Salem, NY, Carrie Vibert of West Hartford, and Todd Vibert (Lisa) of Granby; four grandchildren, Matthew Vibert (Chelsea) of Denver, CO, Bethany Yurek (John) of Jersey City, NJ, Spencer Vibert of Granby, and Taylorann Vibert of Granby; and one great-grandchild, Henry Monteith Vibert, of Denver, CO. He is also survived by numerous nieces and nephews, and many friends. He was predeceased by his sister, Isabel Gilchrist (Vibert) Benton; and his five

brothers: Ruthven Monteith Vibert, Robert King Vibert, Jr., Peter Loomis Vibert, John Witherspoon Vibert, and Thomas Monteith Vibert.

There will be a celebration of life for Bill at a time and place to be set in the near future. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Bill’s memory to the Salmon Brook Historical Society (P.O. Box 840, Granby, CT, 06035); the Unionville

Museum (12 School St., Unionville, CT, 06085); or the Alzheimer’s Association - CT Chapter (200 Executive Blvd., Suite 4B, Southington, CT 06489). Hayes-huling & Carmon Funeral Home in Granby has care of the arrangements. For online condolences please visit, www.carmonfuneralhome.com.