| Notes |
- Morning Sentinel, 22 Oct 2010
Charles Walker Bassett
WATERVILLE -- Charles Walker Bassett, 78, of 9 Martin Ave., Waterville, died on Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2010, at a local hospice facility after a long illness.
He was born in Aberdeen, S.D., on July 7, 1932, the son of Wilfred W. and Angela (Jewett) Bassett. He grew up in Aberdeen and held bachelor's (1954) and master's (1956) degrees in English from the University of South Dakota in Vermillion. He received his doctorate in English in 1964 from the University of Kansas, where he was a university fellow.
Bassett began his teaching career as instructor of English at the University of Pennsylvania in 1964, becoming while there assistant executive secretary of the American Studies Association and a Research Fellow. He moved to Colby College in 1969 to teach American literature and American studies, assuming the directorship of Colby's American Studies Program in 1971, a post he held for 25 years. He was also chairman of the Colby English department in the 1980s. Bassett was appointed Dana Professor of American Studies in 1983, and then in 1994 Lee Family Professor of English and American Studies at Colby, a rank he held until his retirement in 1999.
His teaching and research focused on modern American fiction, and he was one of the country's few academic experts on the American novelist and playwright John O'Hara; much of his published scholarship concerned O'Hara, although his work encompassed areas from American studies theory to political science. He was also an authority on the development of American studies programs at American colleges, for which he won the first Mary C. Turpie Award (1994) from the American Studies Association. Bassett also held several offices with the New England American Studies Association, the Modern Language Association, the American Association of University Professors and Phi Beta Kappa. He served on the Maine Humanities Council for six years.
Bassett's first love was teaching, and for many years he instructed large classes in American fiction and the American short story, as well as team-teaching with other Colby faculty in American studies. He was the first recipient of the Senior Class Teaching Award (1993) at Colby (since renamed the Senior Class Charles W. Bassett Teaching Award) and of the first Colby Alumni Association Award for service to Colby alumni (1997). He traveled extensively to speak to Colby alumni clubs across the country. He was also an avid Colby soccer fan who missed few matches on Mayflower Hill.
In 1956, he married Carol Hoffer Bassett, who died in 1995. He is survived by a son and daughter-in-law, David F. Bassett and Patty Koo Bassett of Philadelphia; a daughter and son-in-law, Elizabeth A. Bassett and George Wolters of Portland, Ore.; and three grandchildren.
A Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 23, at Sacred Heart Church in Waterville, followed by a private burial in St. Francis Catholic Cemetery. A memorial service will be held at a later date on the Colby campus. Services are under the direction of the Redington Funeral Home, 5 Park St., Waterville. At the request of the family, there will be no visiting hours.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Charles W. Bassett Fund for American Studies, c/o Office of Donor Relations, Colby College, 4345 Mayflower Hill, Waterville, ME 04901.
Morning Sentinel, October 23, 2010
Professor Bassett?s funeral today
WATERVILLE -- Colby College is mourning the death of former longtime professor of English and American studies Charles W. Bassett.
Bassett died Tuesday, Oct. 19, in Waterville.
In a letter to the community, President William D. Adams pointed to Bassett's many contributions to Colby.
"I hardly need to tell anyone receiving this message what a profound impact he had on the College, on his students, and on his colleagues. It is entirely fitting that an award given each year by the senior class to a member of Colby's faculty, an award that celebrates outstanding teaching, is named for Charlie," Adams wrote.
"He will be remembered by many Colby alumni as the finest teacher they encountered on Mayflower Hill."
Bassett, whose Colby career began in 1969, retired in 2000 as Lee Family Professor of English and American Studies but continued to teach part-time in the Integrated Studies Program for another half-decade.
His column, "I'm Never Going to Retire," appeared occasionally in the student newspaper, The Colby Echo, and he hosted a jazz and swing program on the college radio station WMHB.
A funeral will be at 9 a.m., today, at Sacred Heart Church on Pleasant Street in Waterville, followed by a reception at Colby, beneath a tent near the soccer field, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Adams' announcement said that in lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Charles W. Bassett Fund for American Studies, 4345 Mayflower Hill, Colby College, Waterville, ME 04901 or at www.colby.edu/memorialgifts.
|
Bassett Family Association Database
1932 - 2010 (78 years)
d. Between 1933 and 1934, Aberdeen, South Dakota