Dear WRG: Jan Whitaker sent me the URL for this and I thought it was so interesting I copied it for everyone. Allan Stephen Whitney, 95; taught French at Phillips Academy, Andover By Gloria Negri, Globe Staff | July 28, 2007 In the legendary French classes Stephen Whitney taught at Phillips Academy, Andover, for four decades, he was always Monsieur Whitney, and his students were addressed in French versions of their names. Mr. Whitney's class was total immersion, no books or homework the first year, said his former student, Richard Howe (Ricard Comment, in the class), who is now associate director of alumni affairs at Andover. "After the first 15 minutes, no English was spoken," he said. Mr. Whitney had a "flair for the dramatic," Howe said, enhanced by his ability to mimic a variety of French accents, as well as a very good Maine one. Mr. Whitney, who was awarded the Palmes Academiques by the French government for contribution to French culture during his teaching career, an honor usually given to French citizens, died July 3 of cardiac arrest at Kirkwood Corners in Lee, N.H., an assisted living facility not far from his home in Barrington, N.H. He was 95. Mr. Whitney taught at Andover from 1936 until he retired in 1977. "Steve was an especially generous senior faculty member who identified younger colleagues' talent and potential and encouraged our opportunities for professional development," Rebecca Sykes, associate head of school at Andover, said in an e-mail. "He took pride in his mentoring." Mr. Whitney's wife, Anne, recalled attending Andover's reunions and listening to students tell him that they would never have survived the tough first-year academic demands of Andover if it had not been for the joy of his French class. One former student is often quoted at the academy as describing Mr. Whitney's French class as "the best show east of the Mississippi." Mr. Whitney reached younger generations of students when he and other Andover instructors volunteered to teach the method of speaking French before reading it in the town's elementary schools. The program advancing this method was known as FLES, for foreign language in the elementary school. Hale Sturges of Boston taught French at Andover with Mr. Whitney for 11 years and succeeded him as chairman of the department. "Steve had high standards but was not inflexible," Sturges said. "He was an integral part of that movement that was important in teaching foreign languages around the country from around 1952 to 1962 where elementary school children learned to speak the language first." Mr. Whitney received the Palmes Academiques award partly for his work introducing French in the elementary schools as well as for teaching at Andover, according to his son Dudley of Windsor, Vt., after he was recommended to the French consulate by the chairman of the French department. His father proudly wore the award's palm leaf insignia in his lapel, Dudley said. As a teacher, Sturges said, Mr. Whitney was "very fair and very tolerant." "He had a sense of humor that made him unafraid to appear eccentric," he said. "He was able to teach the least able student and teach him well." Other colleagues, such as Natalie Schorr, recalled him as "a perfect gentleman." Tom Regan was first a student then a colleague of Mr. Whitney's at Phillips, where he taught English and coached the school's hockey teams with him. Regan and Mr. Whitney became surf-casting buddies, indulging in a passion of Mr. Whitney's at his special place on Plum Island. Mr. Whitney so loved to fish "he would even talk to them," said Regan, who now lives in Coto de Cava, Calif. "Steve was a character, whether fishing, coaching, or teaching," Regan said. "He was a great raconteur." Mr. Whitney was born in New Haven to Stephen and Pauline (Webster) Whitney. He always loved the French language, which his wife said he learned as a child from an Alsatian governess. A lifelong Francophile, he spoke the language so well that on a trip to France with his wife, a taxi driver asked him in French about life in the United States, thinking he was addressing a fellow countryman returning from a visit there. After graduating from St. Paul's School in Concord, N.H., and from Yale University in 1934, Mr. Whitney studied in France for several years. He received a master's degree from Middlebury College in 1939. During World War II, he enlisted in the Army Air Forces and served in the officer training corps on Catalina Island in the Pacific. He then went on to serve in the Army Air Force Office of Strategic Services. Though he spoke little of his clandestine experiences, Mr. Whitney "became a very fine lock-picker as a result of it," according to his son Dudley. Mr. Whitney began teaching at Phillips Academy in 1936 and over the years served as the school's director of admissions, summer session director, and chairman of the French department. He also coached several of its athletic teams. In 1941, he married Ethel Ranney Lang. The couple loved to dance. "Once they put us kids to bed," said Dudley, "they would go to a roadhouse in North Reading and dance to jukebox music." Ethel died in 1988. The following year, Mr. Whitney married Anne Carr, who said they met during the "passing the peace" handshake at an Episcopal church in Rochester, N.H. The couple moved into her family farmhouse in Barrington, N.H. After his retirement at 65, Mr. Whitney remained active, volunteering to teach adults English, getting up at 3 a.m. to fish for sea bass off Plum Island, and taking trips to Montana to visit his children, according to his daughter, Hannah, of Victor, Mont. Tall, erect, and fit, Mr. Whitney continued doing situps until he was 90, said his son Stephen Jr. of Butte, Mont. "He was doing deep knee bends at parties bordering on his 90s," said Stephen. Three years ago, he was still shooting basketballs. Whenever asked how he was feeling, Mr. Whitney would always reply, "Never better," said his wife. He said that until the end, she said. In addition to his wife, daughter, and two sons, Mr. Whitney leaves another son, Benjamin of Worcester, Vt.; a sister, Hannah Eugenia Hotchkiss of Greenwich, Conn., four grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. Aug. 29 at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Dover, N.H. ************************************** Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL at http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour