Joel E. Lorden

1927 - 2020

Mr. Joel E. Lorden, of West Hartford, CT died peacefully and surrounded by family on July 11, 2020 at the age of 92. Joel will be greatly missed by his surviving wife of 64 years, Winifred M Lorden, his six children, and ten grandchildren. Joel was born on October 26, 1927 in Turners Falls, Massachusetts to parents Earl and Marion Lorden. Joel attended Turners Falls High School, graduating in 1945. He was in the Pro-Merito Honor Society and voted best athlete by his classmates. Joel played football, basketball and baseball for four years at Turners Falls High School, and played on the baseball team that won the Massachusetts state championship in 1942, the championship game being played at Fenway Park. Joel enlisted in the Army following high school, and served with the 1st Calvary in the South Pacific during World War II. When Japan surrendered, Joel became part of the peace keeping force stationed in Japan. After the war, Joel attended Columbia University, graduating in 1951 with a B.A. and M.A. in mathematics. Joel played both football and baseball for Columbia, and was on the field October 26, 1947 when Columbia beat #1 ranked Army 21-20, ending Army's 32 game winning streak. Sports Illustrated lists that game among the 100 best college football games ever played. Following his graduation from Columbia University, Joel taught and coached at Bridgton Academy in Bridgton, ME where he met and fell in love with Winifred Merrill, who would later become his wife of 64 years. Joel and Winnie were married on August 28, 1955. Joel would also teach and coach at The Gilman School in Baltimore, MD before accepting a position as a math teacher and head football coach at Kingswood School in West Hartford, CT in 1961. Joel officially "retired" from Kingswood-Oxford School in 2003. Over the course of his 42 years of service to Kingswood-Oxford, Joel became one of its most respected and beloved teachers, coaches and tutors. After "retiring", Joel continued to tutor Kingswood-Oxford students, as well as other students from West Hartford and surrounding towns. Joel also mentored countless young lives through his 12 plus years coaching in the West Hartford Youth Baseball League. Among his many accomplishments, Joel was inducted into the New England Prep School Football Coaches Hall of Fame in 2004. He served as Senior Faculty Master mentoring new teachers at Kingswood-Oxford. At Joel's 2003 retirement ceremony, then Head of School Lee Levinson summed up Joel's career by saying; "He was never torn by ambition while being ambitious, never appeared as something he was not. He stood for common sense and common decency. He spoke the common tongue. He held to the old guidelines; hard work, do your best, speak the truth, assume no airs, have no fear. He was not, and had never been, a simple man, an ordinary man. Those are the words of historian David McCullough, sharing his conclusions about Harry Truman. Joel Lorden, despite his attempts to have us think otherwise, is not a simple or ordinary man." At Joel Lorden's request, no public service will be held at this time. In lieu of flowers please consider making a donation to the Joel Lorden Scholarship Fund at Kingswood Oxford School.