Person:Stillman Westbrook (2)

Though growing up he was known as "Stillman," from his colleagues in World War II and thereafter he was known to his adult friends as "Westy."

He graduated from Kingswood School, Deerfield Academy, and Williams College, actually graduating after World War II with the Class of 1942. When the war began in 1942, he joined the U.S. Army and spent over a year in training in this country. By late 1943 he was a Lieutenant serving in an anti-aircraft company in the South Pacific spending all his time in Fiji, New Guinea, and the Philippines. Late in the war he was very sick, but claimed he was always well behind the front lines, never having heard a shot fired in anger. He left the army in 1946 with the rank of Captain.

Because both his parents died during the war, he returned to the Slimmon home in Hartford, CT, finished college and considered a journalistic career. Ultimately, he worked in the Marine Department of the Aetna at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Looking for closer proximity to the water and more independence in his work, in 1954 he became a partner in the insurance agency of Lewis, Hopkins and Williamson in Chester, Pennsylvania, moving the family to Wallingford, PA. In 1963, the family moved to Swarthmore, PA. He was involved in Kiwanis and other civic activities in Chester, but he spent most of his extra time on family matters or sailing.

He was a gentle, quiet, but robust and good-humored man: he conveyed a deep, present silence listening to those speaking with him, and his deep laughter could resonate through the opened windows of summer across a building and parking lot. His increasing respiratory health problems restricted his mobility but not his strong sense of responsibility and commitment to frequent family contact. Doing his best to avoid parties and organizations, he enjoyed reading the latest non-fiction books, playing a good game of bridge and visiting with his good friends. His idea of a good time was to be off sailing with these friends, or, during the off-season, pouring over charts, eventually papering a room’s wall with them, planning the next summer's activities.

References

• Collens, Clarence Lyman. Collins Memorial (Hartford, CT 1959)
• Dunham, Ethel Collins, Samuel G. and Alice Collins Dunham, their descendants and antecedents (Washington, DC 1955)

1. ↑ Collens, Clarence Lyman. Collins Memorial. (Hartford, CT: (self published), 1959)
   p. 178.
2. ↑ Death Certificates.

   Westbrook file

3. ↑ Cedar Hill Cemetery.

   Austin Dunham plot