Alden Guild
Alden Guild, 87, of Montpelier, VT, peacefully passed away the afternoon of January 13, 2017 at his winter home in Southern Pines, North Carolina with his loving family by his side. Born in Boston, Massachusetts on July 3, 1929, he was the youngest son of Howard Redwood Guild, Jr, and Francis Warren Guild. Alden had a love of history and always appreciated that his family, of English descent, settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1636. His early education was at the Roxbury Latin School in West Roxbury, MA and he spent his high school years at Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, NH graduating as salutatorian in 1948. He attended Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH where he was a member of Theta Chi fraternity. Mid-way though his junior year, Alden enlisted in the U.S. Airforce (December 1950 September 1953) and served honorably in Korea while attaining the rank of Staff Sargent. Alden returned to Dartmouth and graduated in 1955 as a member of the class of 1952 with a BA History as well as Junior Phi Beta Kappa, Senior Fellow, and Magna Cum Laude honors. Alden moved to the mid-west, earning his law degree in 1957 at the University of Chicago Law School where he was a Woodrow Wilson Scholar, a member of the Law Review and recipient of Order of the Coif. On September 14, 1957 Alden married the love of his life, Ruth Ineta Creighton of Lebanon, NH at the United Church of Christ on the Dartmouth campus. They met four years earlier when Ruth was on the administrative staff for Dartmouth's Student Health Services. Ruth and Alden spent the next 60 years raising their daughter and actively engaging with the community in Montpelier, VT.Alden was an attorney with National Life Insurance Company of Vermont for 33 years, where he rose to become Senior Vice President and General Counsel. During this time, he was instrumental in creating the company's first portfolio of mutual fund investments. He was a member of the Association for Advanced Life Underwriting and American Bar Association and was consistently recognized by Marquis Who's Who in America for his professional achievements. Alden authored three books: Stock Purchase Agreements (1960); Professional Partnership Purchase Agreements (1961); and Business Partnership Agreements (1962). The last of three editions of the trilogy was printed in 1974. Following his retirement from the corporate world in 1990, Alden was "Of Counsel" with McKee, Giuliani & Cleveland in Montpelier, VT until 2010.The community in which he lived was important to Alden. As such he was a life-long member of the VFW, American Legion, Scottish Rite Masons, Fraternal Order of Elks, and Vermont Historical Society. He was Chairman of the Central Vermont Red Cross Blood Drive in the early 1960's, Trustee of The T.W.Wood Art Gallery from 1962 -1971, and was named an Incorporator Emeritus of Northfield Savings Bank in 2002. Alden received the Junior Chamber of Commerce Distinguish Service Award in recognition of his service to the Central Vermont community. The educational community was also important to Alden. He served as a Trustee of Kimball Union Academy from 1972-1974 and President of the Dartmouth College Alumni Association from 1975-1978. In 1987 he received the Dartmouth Alumni Award for decades of support and service given to the College. And what began as a trustee appointment to Vermont College in Montpelier in 1967, continued with a trustee appointment to Norwich University in Northfield, VT (1972-1996) following the merger, of which he proposed, with Vermont College. In 1977 Alden received an honorary Doctorate of Laws from Vermont College of Norwich University and was named a Trustee Emeritus of Norwich University in 1996. A great source of enjoyment was Alden's 50-year association with the Lake Mansfield Trout Club in Stowe, VT. Alden, Ruth, and their daughter Heather formed treasured friendships and fond memories with members from all reaches of the country, and even the world. Friends from the "the Club" were truly part of his extended family.Members of Alden's surviving family include his devoted wife Ruth; daughter Heather Louise Guild of Seven Lakes, NC; Cousin Virginia Guild Watkin, of Washington, DC; sister-in-law Charlotte Guild, of Leominster, MA; nephew Nathanial Guild of Concord MA; nephew Jonathon Guild of Sterling, MA; niece Deborah Guild Hebron of Bozeman, MT; and several great nieces and nephews. Alden was pre-deceased by his beloved brother Dr. Warren R. Guild who passed away in 1985.Alden's memorial service will take place on Saturday, May 20th at 10:30 am at Norwich University's White Chapel in Northfield followed by the rendering of military honors at the Norwich University Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Prevent Child Abuse Vermont or Central Vermont Home Health & Hospice.
