Willem Lange
Willem Lange (born 1935) is an American author, newspaper columnist, and television presenter.
Early life and education
[edit]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
[edit]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
[edit]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
[edit]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
[edit]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
[edit]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
[edit]- Words from the Wild (Bauhan Publishing, 2015)
- The White-Footed Mouse (Bunker Hill Publishing, 2012)[16]
- A Dream of Dragons (Bunker Hill Publishing, 2011)
- Favor Johnson: A Christmas Story (Bunker Hill Publishing, 2009)
- Intermittent Bliss: Reflections on a Long Love Affair (University Press of New England, 2003)[17]
- John and Tom (Vermont Folklife Center, 2001)
- Okay, Let's Try It Again (University Press of New England, 1999)
- Tales from the Edge of the Woods (University Press of New England, 1998)
References
[edit]- ^ "Will Lange Defies Age on Windows to the Wild". March 17, 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f "Willem Lange bio". Vermont Stage.
- ^ "Walking with Willem". August 13, 2019.
- ^ a b "NHPTV RECEIVES TWO BOSTON/NEW ENGLAND EMMY® AWARDS FOR WINDOWS TO THE WILD". New Hampshire PBS. June 3, 2015.
- ^ "Adventurer Willem Lange opens 'Windows to the Wild' -- and gets people off their couches". February 18, 2023.
- ^ a b c d Faignant, Janelle (December 10, 2022). "'A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story': Willem Lange as Charles Dickens". Rutland Herald.
- ^ Adams, Jordan. "Once Again, Willem Lange's Annual Reading of 'A Christmas Carol' Brings Comfort and Joy". Seven Days.
- ^ a b "Lange, Katz making local appearances". December 15, 2010.
- ^ a b "Listen to Willem Lange's classic Vermont Christmas folktale, 'Favor Johnson'". November 16, 2023.
- ^ "Favor Johnson". Vermont Public. December 24, 2013. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
- ^ a b Shaw, Heather (August 16, 2009). "Review of Favor Johnson". Foreword Reviews. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
- ^ Lindholm, Jane (December 20, 2007). "VT Edition Interview: Willem Lange on the origins of Favor Johnson". Vermont Public Radio. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
- ^ "Franklin Pierce University Honors Willem Lange, David Tirrell-Wysocki with Fitzwater Medallion". www.franklinpierce.edu.
- ^ "Valley News".
- ^ "Willem Lange". Vermont Public Radio.
- ^ "The White-Footed Mouse by Willem Lange".
- ^ "Books & Authors: With pen and perspective, Lange tackles marriage". Rutland Herald. June 7, 2003.