Our dear friend Charles “Tod” Benjamin Houghtlin died in the early morning of March 14, 2020. His wife, Helen Burton, was with him.
Born and raised in Evanston, Tod majored in History at Amherst, joined Delta Kappa Epsilon, and made friends across the campus. Working with a breakfast crew at Valentine Hall, he developed deep, lifelong friendships. In recent years four of that Valentine “gang” met for dinners nearly every month and made bike trips together to Canada, Cape Cod, and Berlin. The trips were joyous, aided by Tod’s seemingly supernatural historical knowledge and also his love of music.
A person of great faith, Tod received a Master of Divinity from Yale in 1968 and was ordained in the United Church of Christ in 1976. He and his first wife, Vera Jones, moved to Concord, MA, where he was teacher and chaplain at the Middlesex School. In 1980, Tod became chaplain and teacher at the Collegiate School in New York City; he remained there until his retirement in 2007.
Tod and Helen then moved to New Lebanon, NY. There he was a parishioner and an occasional minister at the Canaan Congregational Church, a worshipper at Immaculate Conception Church in New Lebanon, as well as at St James in Chatham, NY.
Tod was a human being of extraordinary kindness, gentleness, and caring interest in others. He had a stunningly good memory for detail, and his sense of humor was both sophisticated and goofy.
Tod is survived by his wife Helen; daughters Vannesa Houghtlin, Jessica Burton and Christine Cottrell, sons James Houghtlin and Allen Burton; and 13 grandchildren: Elodie, Elisa, Sylvie, Annie, Tommy, Gabi, Daven, Betsy, Gus, Charlie, Angus, Ella and John.
The morning after Tod died, Helen wrote, “God rest his sweet soul. Amen.”
Hans Bergmann ’63