Christine Vassar Tall, 93, passed away on Dec. 10, 2020, at her home in Morgantown, with her son, Stephen, and her daughter, Catherine, by her side. She died as she had lived, with clarity, focus, ease and grace. In her very last days, when she could no longer speak, her children could easily imagine her saying, “We sure are learning a lot” and “Aren’t we lucky?” Christine learned from every experience and was grateful for every opportunity. She was born in London, England, on July 2, 1927.
She was a student at the London School for Girls until she was evacuated from Great Britain to America in 1940 at the age of 13. She was part of the large contingent of English children who were sent away from London to the English countryside, Canada and America to escape the London Blitz. She was sent to live with the family of Henry Noble MacCracken, the then president of Vassar College, because she was related (second cousin four times removed) to Matthew Vassar, the founder of Vassar College. With the MacCrackens’ loving care, she blossomed; in 1944, she was the valedictorian of the senior class of Arlington High School, Poughkeepsie, N.Y. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa, at 19, from Vassar College in 1947, and then earned a master’s degree in economics from Columbia University. She became a citizen of the United States circa 1956 and started her career as a social worker (she was more interested in the people behind the numbers) in the Connecticut State Department of Public Welfare in New Haven, Conn.
In 1960, she met Anthony Donaldson “Don” Tall; they were married at Vassar College in 1961. In 1968 they moved to a comfortable house in Cheshire, Conn., with their young children, and lived there for 44 years until 2012, when they moved to Morgantown to live near their daughter Catherine and her family. While raising her family in Cheshire, Christine obtained a master’s degree in social work from the University of Connecticut. She had a rewarding 20-year career as a social worker for the State of Connecticut with a focus on child and maternal health. Christine and Don were deeply devoted to their children and involved them in their ideas, interests, and concerns, which included camping, canoeing, orienteering, community service and current events. Christine read the New York Times from front to back daily and enjoyed discussing local, national and world events with her family every evening throughout her life.
Throughout her years in Cheshire, Christine was active in her neighborhood, town and state. Christine loved her home on Braemar Drive and her Cheshire community. Her community involvements were constant and too numerous to list individually, but her devoted service to the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut and to Vassar College are notable. As a member of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, she held many different lay leadership positions locally and regionally. She also had a lifelong devotion to Vassar College, serving through her local Vassar alumni club as well as an officer for her class. Throughout her 80s, she served as class president and class correspondent, only at the age of 90 deciding that it was time to retire from her leadership positions. During Christine’s
25 years of retirement in Connecticut, she travelled extensively in Europe with her husband, and together they also attended many ElderHostels in America each year.
When home, she swam most mornings at the Cheshire community pool and quilted for several hours every afternoon while listening to All Things Considered. In addition, she compiled her family’s letters exchanged during World War II and published a book titled, “London War Letters of a Separated Family 1940 to 1945.” When she moved to the Heritage Point retirement community in Morgantown, Christine immersed herself in its social activities and governance. One of her first forays into the community was to initiate the Great Decisions program developed by the Foreign Policy Association. She also loved participating in committees and enjoyed serving as president of the Resident Council for two years — she was affectionately called “Chief.” She remained physically active until her death. In addition to daily exercise classes, she walked every day outside without fail. Her Heritage Point friends admired her devotion to health and fitness and remember her for it.
Christine is remembered by family and her many friends as fiercely intelligent, purposeful, dignified, generous and kind — an impressive woman. She loved to take care of others — feeding them her amazing homemade soups and cooking “three squares” a day all her life, maintaining lifelong friendships beginning with fellow Vassar faculty children or serving the greater good. Her 11-year-old youngest grandchild remembers her grandmother’s creativity the most. Christine was always making and giving homemade cards, decorations, and quilts to her family and friends as an expression of her love. Even in her last two weeks, she was talking about the Christmas card she wanted to send to the extended family, and she marveled after a Thanksgiving Zoom call from her hospital bed at what a kind and generous family she had. She is the exemplar for her family of kindness and generosity. Most of all she loved her adopted country and was angered whenever its democratic ideals were threatened. At the age of 16, as a senior in high school in 1944, she wrote an essay titled, “United Americans.” Her words are still relevant today. “Today we are fighting a war because the Americans and British have come to love this freedom so much that we will not willingly give it up. This freedom has become one of the symbols of the American way of life: people going into an old New England church to worship, other people sitting around a table discussing, the children of the melting pot of the world going to school together, the hundreds of papers published weekly, and everything else that indicates that Americans are tolerant of other people’s ideas, creed, and race. … Yes, this is the way I see the United Americans — trying hard to be tolerant of each other, always willing to point out the mistakes of the other party, always full of hope for the better age which is sure to come.”
Christine is preceded in death by her husband, Anthony Donaldson Tall; her parents, Katherine (Willmot) Vassar and Walter Stanley Vassar; and her older brother, Philip. She is survived by her daughter, Catherine Tall (husband Jim Siekmeier), of Morgantown; her son, Stephen Tall (wife Anne), of Lee, N.H.; her grandchildren, Christopher, Sam, Emily, Charlie and Claire; and her beloved English cousins, Frances Lofthouse and Elizabeth Lee and their families.
A celebration of her life will be held at Heritage Point in Morgantown once it is safe to gather in large numbers. A smaller gathering for close family and friends will be held in Connecticut during the summer. Christine was devoted to many worthy causes throughout her life. If you would like to make a donation in her memory, the following organizations were dear to her heart: the local Democratic Party, National Public Radio and the local PBS station. Hastings Funeral Home/Omega Crematory is entrusted with arrangements.
Condolences:
www.hastingsfuneralhome.com
