Willem Lange

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Willem Lange (born 1935) is an American author, newspaper columnist, and television presenter.

Contents

Early life and education

Willem Lange was born in Albany, New York, in 1935. [1] He became fluent in sign language at an early age; his parents were deaf. In 1950, he began to attend a prep school in New England in lieu of attending a reformatory in his home state of New York. [2] [3]

In 1962, Lange earned a BA after nine years from the College of Wooster. During the nine years it took for him to graduate, Lange worked a number of jobs, including as a construction worker, announcer for bobsled races, factory worker, taxi driver, bartender, and cowboy, among other jobs. [2]

Career

Following his graduation, Lange settled in northern New York State and became a high school English teacher. During his summers upstate, he served as an Outward Bound USA instructor. [2]

From 1968 to 1972, Lange was the director of the Dartmouth Outward Bound Center. Thereafter, he spent thirty-five years working as a general contractor in Hanover, New Hampshire. [2]

In 1981, Lange created A Yankee Notebook, a syndicated newspaper column that he writes that is published across New England. He has also worked as a commentator for Vermont Public Radio and has served 18 seasons as host of Windows to the Wild, an outdoor recreation television program aired on New Hampshire Public Television. [4] [2] [5]

A Christmas Carol

Since 1975, Lange has read A Christmas Carol to a television audience during Christmastime. [6] [7] He uses the original prompter script used by Charles Dickens for a 1867–68 tour of the United States. [6]

Lange had first heard the version in 1953 while at college, where the version was traditionally performed in the college's chapel prior to students going home for Christmas break. [6] Lange began performing it in his home, eventually moving to St. Thomas Church in Hanover, New Hampshire, when audiences outgrew the space. [6]

Favor Johnson: A Christmas Story

Every Christmas Eve since 1994, public radio stations in Vermont air Lange’s Favor Johnson: A Christmas Story. [8] [9]

Favor Johnson is a Vermont farmer who lives by himself with his dog Hercules and farm animals. One Christmas Eve, his dog’s life is saved by his physician new neighbor, who brings Johnson a fruitcake the next morning when he comes to check on his patient. This inspires Johnson to start a tradition of delivering homemade fruitcakes house-to-house to his neighbors each Christmas Eve. [8] [9] [10] [11] Lange told Vermont Public Radio that Favor Johnson was based on a true series of events when a neighbor's dog was accidentally shot by rabbit hunters on Christmas Eve and another neighbor, a physician, saved the dog's life, and the dog's owner, who had been an army cook, started baking fruitcakes for his neighbors. [12]

The story was published as a picture book in 2009 by Bunker Hill Publishing with illustrations by Bert Dodson. [11]

Awards and honors

For Lange's work on Windows to the Wild, he won a Boston/New England Emmy award for "Outstanding Program Host". [4]

In 2021, Franklin Pierce University awarded Lange with the Fitzwater Medallion for Leadership in Public Communication. [13]

Personal life

In 1959, Lange married his wife Ida. Together they had three children. [2] Ida died in 2018. [14] He lives in East Montpelier, Vermont. [15]

Books

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References

  1. ↑ "Will Lange Defies Age on Windows to the Wild". March 17, 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Willem Lange bio". Vermont Stage.
  3. ↑ "Walking with Willem". August 13, 2019.
  4. 1 2 "NHPTV RECEIVES TWO BOSTON/NEW ENGLAND EMMY® AWARDS FOR WINDOWS TO THE WILD". New Hampshire PBS. June 3, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Adventurer Willem Lange opens 'Windows to the Wild' -- and gets people off their couches". February 18, 2023.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Faignant, Janelle (December 10, 2022). "'A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story': Willem Lange as Charles Dickens". Rutland Herald .
  7. ↑ Adams, Jordan. "Once Again, Willem Lange's Annual Reading of 'A Christmas Carol' Brings Comfort and Joy". Seven Days.
  8. 1 2 "Lange, Katz making local appearances". December 15, 2010.
  9. 1 2 "Listen to Willem Lange's classic Vermont Christmas folktale, 'Favor Johnson'". November 16, 2023.
  10. ↑ "Favor Johnson". Vermont Public. December 24, 2013. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
  11. 1 2 Shaw, Heather (August 16, 2009). "Review of Favor Johnson". Foreword Reviews . Retrieved December 16, 2023.
  12. ↑ Lindholm, Jane (December 20, 2007). "VT Edition Interview: Willem Lange on the origins of Favor Johnson". Vermont Public Radio . Retrieved December 16, 2023.
  13. ↑ "Franklin Pierce University Honors Willem Lange, David Tirrell-Wysocki with Fitzwater Medallion". www.franklinpierce.edu.
  14. ↑ "Valley News".
  15. ↑ "Willem Lange". Vermont Public Radio.
  16. ↑ "The White-Footed Mouse by Willem Lange".
  17. ↑ "Books & Authors: With pen and perspective, Lange tackles marriage". Rutland Herald. June 7, 2003.

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