Basil W. Standish Jr.

He was born in Peoria, Illinois, on November 10, 1937, the son of the late Basil W. Standish, Sr. and Doris Kennedy Standish. After leaving Peoria and then living in Boston for a few years, Bill’s parents returned to their native Eastern Connecticut, and Bill grew up in Norwich, attended local schools there (Broad Street, Laurel Hill, and Huntington), and graduated from Norwich Free Academy with the Class of 1955. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Connecticut and his Sixth Year of Graduate Study Certificate from the University of Hartford. He held State of Connecticut teacher certification for grades seven through twelve in English, history and social studies, and guidance and counseling.

He was an educator in the Ledyard school system for forty years. At the age of twenty-one, in 1959, he began his career there as a seventh-grade teacher at the Ledyard Center School. When Ledyard High School opened in 1963, he transferred to that school and taught English there until 1970. From 1970 until his retirement in 1997, he was a guidance counselor at Ledyard High School. During the 1997–1998 and 1998–1999 school years, he worked as a long-term substitute in the guidance offices of Ledyard High School and Ledyard Middle School.

Bill married Judith Dowe, like Bill, a member of the first faculty of Ledyard High School, on August 14, 1966, at the Branch Mills Union Church in Judy’s hometown of Palermo, Maine. Bill and Judy enjoyed forty-five and one-half years of marriage before she died of cancer on March 6, 2012.

He liked traveling by automobile and had driven through every state in the USA except Alaska and Hawaii, as well as through the Maritime Provinces of Canada and much of Mexico. He also liked public speaking and often served as master of ceremonies or guest speaker at Ledyard High School faculty social events.

He was strongly interested in athletics as a player, coach, and fan, beginning with his membership as a child in the Norwich YMCA, where he participated in activities like swimming and basketball. In his youth, he played recreational and organized basketball and baseball and later was a basketball and slow-pitch softball player on several teams in the region through his middle-age years, after which he golfed frequently. At the age of fifteen, he began sponsoring and coaching basketball and baseball teams in Norwich youth leagues and later was an assistant boys’ basketball coach at Ledyard High School for ten years. He was an avid Red Sox and Celtics fan and also closely followed men’s and women’s high school and college basketball.

Bill is survived by his brothers, Myles (Mike) and his wife, Angela, of Pensacola, Florida, and Raymond and his wife, Maureen, of Stafford Springs; his brother-in-law, William Satchell, of Palermo, Maine; several cousins; three generations of nieces and nephews; and his dear companion, Sandra Haun of Somers.

In addition to his wife and parents, Bill was predeceased by his brother, Robert; his sister-in-law, Janice Satchell; and his niece, Laura Satchell.

At Bill’s request, there will be no calling hours or funeral service, and burial in the family plot in Preston City Cemetery will occur at the family’s convenience. Anyone who may want to honor Bill’s memory can consider making a donation to the Judy and Bill Standish Memorial Scholarship Award, in care of Ledyard High School, 24 Gallup Hill Road, Ledyard, CT 06339.

Church and Allen Funeral Services, 136 Sachem Street, Norwich, CT 06360, is managing arrangements.