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ObituariesIn Remembrance: Peter M. Webster ’54, ’57MA Died on March 18 2020 View full imagePeter Mighels Webster passed away in York, Maine, on March 18, 2020, four months shy of his 88th birthday. Peter came from a long line of Yalies which includes his grandfather Harry M. Verrill (1889 Sheffield and 1891 Law), whose uncle Addison Emery Verrill (A.M. 1867) was professor of zoology at Yale. A slew of Verrills graduated from Yale, as did Peter’s brother David Webster (Class of ’51). After earning his bachelor’s degree in Russian history at the University of Texas (Austin), Peter served in the Marine Corps in Korea, returning to Yale to receive his master’s degree in education. He joined the National Security Agency in Washington, DC, and from there went into the foreign service where he was liaison to the Turkish Ministry of Education in Ankara, Turkey, for two years. However, his calling was in academia and he returned to the US to live and teach at the Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. In 1968 he was appointed headmaster of Staten Island Academy in New York where he spent eight years before taking the helm at Tabor Academy in Marion, Massachusetts. Peter began his tenure at Tabor by revamping the administrative structure, introducing modern admissions, college counseling, and advancement operations. He worked diligently to improve the quality of academics and bring increased financial stability to the school. Though challenging at times, Peter oversaw a period of great change and accomplishment for Tabor. His successful implementation of the daunting task of reintroducing coeducation is arguably the most significant of his achievements. Peter described his more personal vision for Tabor simply as “an Athenian balance of arts, academics and athletics.” He retired to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1988 and spent 27 years at 1 Webster Way before moving back to his birth state of Maine in 2015. Loving husband to Natalie for over 60 years, he is survived by her, their daughter Pamela, son Peter Jr., four grandchildren, and his brother John. —Submitted by the family. |
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I knew his brother John V. Webster. We were close friends at UNH back in the day. We visited his grandfather's summer retreat at what was then St. Joseph College for young ladies run by the Sisters of Mercy at the time. they didn't want to let us in, but John explained that he had visited before when it was his maternal grandfather's summer place. I never met Peter...I think there must have been a fallout years before. Whatever happened, it's all water over the dam, as we used to say. Rest in peace, Peter.....