Stephen L. Congdon

The memorial service for Stephen L. Congdon will be held at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church (67 East St, Pittsfield, Massachusetts) at 11:00 AM on May 27, 2017. The family invites you to come and share your memories of Stephen and to enjoy some of the organ music he loved so much.

Stephen taught General and Organic Chemistry at Berkshire Community College between 1964 and 1998 to several generations of nursing and pharmacy students and also taught some of the first computer programming classes. He was well-known for riding his bike or moped to work in all types of weather during his 34 years at BCC.

A Jack-of-all-trades, Stephen built a large addition to his house, maintained a 3000 square foot organic garden that supplied much of the family's food, raised bees for honey, made his own maple syrup, built book cases that covered most of the walls in the house, baked his own bread, and split many cords of wood to heat his house, even into his 80s.

Stephen had broad interests, including the origins of the English language, Christian history, far eastern culture, geology, poetry, astronomy and space science, botany, and classical music (especially J.S. Bach). He taught himself to read Norwegian and Icelandic simply because he was interested. Stephen was a member of several local concert choirs, was an occasional organ repairman, and served on the Richmond Library Board for several decades (as well as making many of the bookcases).

Stephen was a strong advocate for alternative energy and conservation. He made large solar-powered cooker and a solar-powered food drier to supplement the family's more conventional food preparation. Stephen was one of the first people to install solar electric panels in Berkshire County.

Stephen always loved traveling and the outdoors. He hiked the Long Trail, part of the Appalachian trail, the Lye Brook wilderness, and the mountains around Arlington, both alone and with his friend Pete McCabe and his colleague Pat Bybee. He traveled to England and Norway, sailed the coast of Maine with his wife Lenore, hiked a Mt. St. Helens lava tube, and canoed the Battenkill River in Arlington.

Stephen passed away July 22, 2016 leaving behind a son and daughter.