Theodore R. Kneeland

MILLERTON — The world lost an exceptional educator and all-around good guy when Theodore (Ted) R. Kneeland passed away at the Sharon Center for Health and Rehabilitation on Sept. 5, 2025, following a three-decade-long battle with heart disease.

Born May 14, 1947, in Buffalo, New York, Ted always credited his parents, Eleanor Sengpiel Kneeland and Theodore R. Kneeland Sr., for sending him to Cheverus High School in Portland, Maine, where as a scholar-athlete he played all the classic sports, was a member of the 1965 New England championship debating team, and learned to love learning and ideas.

Inspired by football superstar Jim Brown, Ted attended Syracuse University where “across a crowded room” of some 2,000 freshmen, he first spotted the love of his life, partner in all things, and adoring wife, Carol.

Following graduation in 1969, they married in a candlelight ceremony. The romance continued for one day short of 56 years with flowers, candy, mutual respect, a loving family, and a conversation that never ended.

The teacher whom students nicknamed “Zeus” spent three years teaching at Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania before beginning a 29-year career at Trinity-Pawling School in Pawling, New York. There, frustrated by his inability to reach a few students whom he knew had potential, he followed the suggestion of Headmaster Philips Smith and Dean of Faculty John Lloyd Owen and began to search for answers to the problem.

The quest quickly resulted in his development of the innovative Language Retraining Program, designed to help bright dyslexic students reach their full potential as they learned to read, write, and think.

At a time when few believed those students could be taught, Ted followed his credo of “Just Take Care of the Kids,” freely sharing the program throughout the country and with educators who came to the school from as far away as Hong Kong and the British Isles.

Early on, an IBM executive grateful for the help Ted had given to his son, arranged for the school to receive one of the first six Local Area Networks in the country. Ted was designated an IBM fellow, brainstorming monthly with developers on ways in which computers could facilitate education and aid in reading and writing.

Zeus was polyonymously known as “Boomer,” as his prowess on the faculty softball team was as impressive as in the classroom. He loved mentoring young colleagues and believed that every encounter on campus was a teachable opportunity.

Bridging the Town/Gown Divide, Ted retired as coach of his New England championship golf team to volunteer for his son’s teams at Brewster’s Melrose School and in Pawling. During his summers on the shores of Lake Champlain in Shoreham, Vermont, he volunteered for Hook Kids on Golf, providing instruction and handmade clubs for area youngsters.

In his early 50s, Ted was diagnosed with potentially deadly heart problems. He was lucky enough to receive a newly developed treatment from Dr. Harvey Kramer of Southbury, Connecticut, who was and continues to be a firm believer in the importance of keeping up with the latest advances in the field.

Despite his challenges, Ted continued to teach, returning in 2001 to his family’s ancestral home in “hardscrabble Maine,” where he spent 11 years at Fryeburg Academy as Dean of Faculty and Director of Studies with his brother in education, Headmaster Daniel Lee. They cut the dropout rate to “nearly nothing,” raising the number of students who progressed to “the next level” to “nearly everyone,” with many students becoming the first in their families to attend college — most on scholarship.

Ted coordinated with faculty at the middle school in order to better prepare students for The Academy’s challenging program, which he strengthened with the addition of multiple Advanced Placement (AP) classes.

Again “Taking Care of the Kids,” this lifelong educator collaborated with Maine community colleges, actively promoted the idea of free tuition, and arranged for students to take courses and get a jumpstart on credits while still at The Academy.

His health declining, Ted was given a dire prognosis. But good fortune once again intervened, taking him to the Cleveland Clinic — the number one heart hospital in the world. There he was treated by top physicians Walid Saliba and Randall Starling.

Coincidentally, Starling helped author the lifesaving paper that prompted Dr. Kramer’s treatment many years earlier.

Against all odds, the cutting-edge treatments in Cleveland brought Ted two dozen more years as he courageously volunteered as a guinea pig for experimental procedures that have since helped others all over the world.

With all he did, Ted’s first priority was always his family. When Carol was incapacitated by a drunk driver, Ted expanded his Daddy Duties to include everything from gourmet PB & J’s to puddle-jumping lessons, forming an unbreakable bond with their toddler son, Douglas. For the next four years, Ted helped Carol navigated the then non-handicap-accessible world, ensuring that she could freely enjoy life and that they could continue teaching as a team.

When the two retired from Maine in 2012, they moved to Millerton to be close to their expanding family. There, Ted wrote the column “Bleacher Views” for The Millerton News and cheered on Hotchkiss teams coached by his beloved son, best friend, golf buddy and Latin mentor, Doug.

He treasured time with his deeply cherished grandsons, Teddy and Henry Kneeland, who brought a bright light to his world as he listened to their adventures, ate their Play Doh spaghetti, and watched proudly as they developed into thoughtful and loving young men. Helping Teddy to design a first baseman’s mitt as he moved into that legacy position and meeting the challenge of keeping up with Henry’s chess prowess gave him immeasurable joy.

Ted also loved and is survived by his dear sister-in-law, Karen Carson of Medina, Ohio; his niece Leslie Putnam of New York; his niece Holly and her husband Edward Tasz of Burgettstown, Pennsylvania; and his nephews, Eddie and Connor Tasz, also of Burgettstown.

He was predeceased by his parents, his brother, William Kneeland, and his brother-in-law and good friend, Curtis Carson.
Ted’s life will be among those celebrated at the Alumni Weekend Memorial Service on Oct. 4 at Trinity Pawling.

In all, Ted was grateful for a life well lived and for all of those who enriched and enabled it. Should you choose to, he would be delighted to know that you would, in whatever way possible, be “Taking Care of the Kids.”

Kenny Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.