William S. Coperthwaite (September 19, 1930 – November 26, 2013), a native of

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

, U.S., pioneered

yurt A yurt (from the Turkic languages) or ger ( Mongolian) is a portable, round tent covered and insulated with skins or felt and traditionally used as a dwelling by several distinct nomadic groups in the steppes and mountains of Central Asia. ...

building in the United States. For his book ''A Handmade Life: In Search of Simplicity'', he received the

Nautilus Book Award The nautilus (, ) is a pelagic marine mollusc of the cephalopod family Nautilidae. The nautilus is the sole extant family of the superfamily Nautilaceae and of its smaller but near equal suborder, Nautilina. It comprises six living species in t ...

Childhood and family

William Coperthwaite was born in

Monticello, Maine Monticello is a town in Aroostook County, Maine, United States on the northern branch of the Meduxnekeag River. The population was 737 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Originally known as Wellington Township, it was settled in 1830 b ...

, the son of William Sherman Coperthwaite Sr. and Lillian Coperthwaite. He had three sisters and was the youngest of the four children. Within a few years the family relocated to South Portland, where his father continued jobs as a carpenter, stableman, blacksmith and farmer. He graduated from South Portland High School in 1949, being active on the school paper, varsity track, and serving as representative to the Maine Student Legislature. He was awarded a State of Maine Competitive Scholarship.

Education

William Coperthwaite attended

Bowdoin College Bowdoin College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. When Bowdoin was chartered in 1794, Maine was still a part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The college offers 34 majors and 36 minors, as well as several joint eng ...

Brunswick, Maine Brunswick is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 21,756 at the 2020 United States Census. Part of the Portland-South Portland-Biddeford metropolitan area, Brunswick is home to Bowdoin College, the Bowdoin Intern ...

, where he majored in art history. His extra-curricular activities included track and pole vaulting, and he served as vice-president of the Outing Club. He later enrolled in the innovative Putney Graduate School of Teacher Education (

Antioch University New England Antioch University New England is a private graduate school located in Keene, New Hampshire, United States. It is part of the Antioch University system, a private, non-profit, 501(c)(3) institution that includes campuses in Seattle, Washington; L ...

) Master's degree program and in 1972 was awarded a Ph.D in education from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. Coperthwaite's Harvard research examined the process of instructing groups of students on yurt construction. His dissertation was on native Alaskan culture. One of the many yurts he built leading student groups (in 1976 on the new campus of World College West in Marin County, California) became the subject of a student-composed song; "Yurt Fever". Its final verse concluded with "...a person can stray all over the place, but a Yurt is always a round".

Philosophy and lifestyle

"Those who guide us, who inspire us, having gone our way before, are now partners with us in building a better world. Any success we have is theirs as well as ours. To copy or imitate them should be only the beginning--the apprentice stage of life. It is fine to think, 'what will a Shaker do? What would Scott Nearing have said? What would Gandhi have thought?' These are good exercises for the mind, a way of weighing ideas and contemplated actions, valuable so long as we do not follow anyone blindly.

"Only by standing on their shoulders can we build a better world, but we should use the wise as advisers, not masters."

“Each of us tries to live in the best way we know how. I want to contribute to the problems of the world as little as possible. I really believe we must find simpler ways to live or society will collapse.”

William Coperthwaite is the subject of "Mr. Coperthwaite: A Life in the Maine Woods," a series of four observational films by the anthropologist and filmmaker Anna Grimshaw. "The four films chart Coperthwaite’s life as it unfolds over the course of a year. They explore the changing character of work through the seasons and the distinctive temporality of specific tasks."

Death

William Coperthwaite died on November 26, 2013 in a single-car accident, when high winds and freezing rain created hazardous driving conditions, on his way to celebrate Thanksgiving with friends

References

External links

William S. Coperthwaite • 1930-2013

Yurt Foundation

Full Circle Living William Coperthwaite and His Yurts

Living the Simple Life: William Coperthwaite
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coperthwaite, William Harvard Graduate School of Education alumni Bowdoin College alumni People from Aroostook County, Maine 2013 deaths 1930 births Antioch University New England alumni Simple living advocates Road incident deaths in Maine