BRATTLEBORO — Donald Vern Webster, 82, of Brattleboro - an educator and school administrator, a former state representative and government official, a longtime activist in state activities in the Democratic Party, and a former owner of a local radio station - died peacefully in his home on July 12, after several months of declining health.
“He's the father you would have wanted if you grew up without yours,” his daughter-in-law, Aurea Hernandez-Webster, wrote in a Facebook post visible to Webster's friends. “Gentle, fiercely honorable, smart, with a song on his lips and causes to support forever. He hugged his kids and wife daily and inspired goodness and better from all. I will love him forever.”
Don Webster was born to Rev. Max Harris Webster and Mary Small Webster on June 9, 1936 in Westfield, Vt., and grew up in Burlington. He and his siblings, Harris Webster of Montpelier and Susan Chamberlain of Piedmont, Calif., were both raised in Burlington, “where their parents' commitment to the Social Gospel and concern for issues of equality and justice shaped the three of them into adults who cared deeply for those same values,” according to an obituary released by Webster's family.
His career “was varied and followed a winding path guided by several lifelong passions: a valuing of strong educational options for people of all backgrounds, a drive towards social justice fostered by wise, compassionate, and progressive policy work, a dedication to Vermont and Brattleboro, his love for his family and his deep respect for young people, and the joy he found in music and baseball,” his family added.
He earned a bachelor's degree in political science in 1958 from Oberlin College and two master's degrees: the first, in teaching, from New York University in 1959 and the second, from University of Massachusetts at Amherst, in political science in 1966.
He began his career teaching high school social studies in Burlington and Stowe.
He spent four summers working at Camp Pemigewassett in New Hampshire, a place that remained close to his heart as he became a parent and grandparent of campers there. He explored his love of theater in those days by starring in local productions of musicals such as The Music Man , My Fair Lady, and Guys and Dolls, along with several Gilbert and Sullivan operettas at Camp Pemi.
He also enlisted in the Vermont Air National Guard, serving for two years in the early 1960s.
In the late 1960s, he was a professor of political science at Hamilton College. Later in his career, after sojourns in other fields, he returned to education, chairing the Brattleboro Union High School board in the era when they oversaw the building of a science wing, and serving on the state Board of Education. He then went on to become an assistant superintendent in the Southwest Vermont Supervisory Union and superintendent of schools for the Rutland Central Supervisory Union.
Service in government
According to his family, Webster “believed strongly in the power of good government and good policy to shape a strong society in which the needs of all are addressed.”
After teaching about these values to his students at Hamilton College, he was drawn back to Vermont in 1969 by the Vermont Democratic Party, which hired him as its chairman. He worked for the party in several capacities before becoming campaign manager for Tom Salmon, who was elected governor in 1972.
Webster was named secretary of development and community affairs in 1972, and during his four years in that role he engaged in some of the work of which he remained most proud, his family writes: developing the Vermont Housing Finance Agency, overseeing the elimination of billboards from the Vermont landscape, and directing the statewide recovery efforts following the historically destructive floods of 1973.
In his later years, his drive for equality and justice led him to become more of an activist, and he and his brother Harris traveled together to Occupy Wall Street, local protests, and political rallies, bringing grandchildren along so they could experience free speech and democracy in action.
Later, he would be elected to the Vermont Legislature, serving as Brattleboro's District 3 Representative from 2000 to 2002. In 2012, he would serve as campaign manager for his son-in-law, Tristan Toleno, who has since served as state representative for Brattleboro's Windham-3 district.
In love with Brattleboro
In 1978, Webster formed a partnership to buy WKVT, a radio station in Brattleboro, and he and his family moved from South Burlington.
He served as general manager for the station for five years, and his position “led him to fall in love with the community through covering politics, sports, and local culture,” his family writes.
Webster served as a representative to Brattleboro's Town Meeting for many years, led Building a Better Brattleboro (now the Downtown Business Alliance) in the organization's early days, served on the Windham Regional Commission, and worked with SmartGrowth Vermont and Brattleboro Area Affordable Housing.
His passion for the vitality of Brattleboro's downtown was one driver of his decision to open Riverview Café in his retirement, a partnership in which he was joined by son-in-law, Tristan Toleno, as chef-manager, along with his sister Susan Chamberlain and brother-in-law John Chalik as original partners.
The family ran the restaurant, now the Whetstone Station, for 11 years.
'Hand in hand through life'
Don met his wife-to-be, Beverly Stackpole, in 1961, and they were married in Johnson on Aug. 25, 1962.
“They were together nearly every day of that 56 year span and remained deeply in love, walking hand in hand through life,” his family writes. 'Don always appreciated that Beverly's trust and sense of adventure allowed him to pursue his wandering path through career and life.”
Together, they had four children: Carrie, now of Jaffrey, N.H.; Andrew, of Edison, N.J.; Jacob, of New Orleans; and Susan, of Brattleboro.
His love for his family grew to embrace his children's spouses, whom he loved very dearly: Aurea Hernández-Webster, Michelle Legault, and Tristan Toleno. He celebrated and enjoyed his nine grandchildren: Rachel and Adrienne Kennedy; Max, Julian, Tomás, Nick, and Leila Hernández-Webster; and Owen and Malcolm Toleno.
“He attended as many of their sporting events, artistic endeavors, and other milestones as possible, and took great joy in doing so,” his family writes. “He engaged all of them in thinking deeply about the values that guided his life, and encouraged them to live life fully and courageously.”
In addition to his immediate family, Webster also leaves his brothers-in-law, David Stackpole and John Chalik, “and many loving nephews and nieces for whom he was an engaging and caring uncle,” his family writes.
“Don was a lifelong, passionate fan of the Cincinnati Reds, which tried his patience greatly in his last several decades, and a lover of music of all kinds, occasionally lending his tenor voice to local choral groups, and, long ago, to the Oberlin concert choirs and a little-known vocal quartet called The Lettermen,” his family continues. “He played first base for Oberlin's baseball team, for an Air Force traveling team, and in local men's softball leagues well into his retirement years, where his earlier nickname 'Sweet Swing' continued to be apt.”
Webster was also an active member of Centre Congregational Church UCC and of the noon Rotary Club in Brattleboro.
A memorial service will be held Sunday, Aug. 12, at 2 p.m., at Centre Congregational Church on Main Street in Brattleboro, with Rev. Scott Couper officiating.
Memorial donations may be made to Centre Congregational Church, UCC, 193 Main St, Brattleboro, VT 05301 or to Brattleboro Area Affordable Housing, P.O. Box 1284, Brattleboro, VT 05302. Messages of condolence for the family may be left in an online guestbook at atamaniuk.com.