Sturtevant Hobbs

STURTEVANT HOBBS, of Westwood, died peacefully at his home on January 13, 2012. He was 87 years of age, and was formerly a publisher, having been the Vice president in charge of sales, at D.C Heath and Co., a prominent Boston Publisher of textbooks, and then president of his own firm, Independent School Press, located in Wellesley, which specialized in text books by independent school authors. With his particular interests and talents, he was certainly in the right business. He truly enjoyed using words, savoring them. He enjoyed the cadence and rhythm of language, and was an accomplished public speaker. He had a great speaking voice and an accent of that was a beautiful combination of American and British speech due to four years growing up in England as a boy.
Though born in Boston, the product of two extensive Boston families (his maternal grandfather, Eugene Noble Foss, had been governor of Massachusetts from 1910-1914), he never really lived in the Boston area until he was an adult. When he was small child, his mother moved to California where she met an Englishman, Henry Forester. She married Henry when Sturtevant was six years old, and a few years later, the family moved to Norfolk in England where they
pursued a country way of life. At this time, Sturtevant attended Stowe School, Buckinghamshire.
Although the American family returned to this country at the start of World War II, returning on a blacked out ship, and Henry Forester went to France with the British Expeditionary Force, Sturt never forgot England and it had a tremendous influence on his life. He was a devotee of Winston Churchill and as a teenager, practiced Churchill's gestures and speeches. He was so good at it, that in his 86th year, he gave a really convincing imitation of Churchill, dressed
appropriately for the part, including a bowler hat and cigar, in front of a large audience.
The American family settled in Marion, Massachusetts where Sturtevant attended Tabor Academy, from which he graduated in 1942, the Valedictorian of his class, and entered Harvard University as a member of the class of 1946. But, as a loyal American, after two school terms, Sturtevant enlisted in the Army of the United States. He served in New Guinea and the Philippines and achieved the rank of Staff Sergeant. Upon return from the Pacific, he married his wife of 65 years, Christina Thorn. Upon his graduation from Harvard in 1948, he took a job with D. C. Heath, as the Sales Representative to the New York City's public high schools. So Sturt and Chris Hobbs moved to New York where they spent nine glorious years. Still in their early twenties, when they moved there, they took full advantage of the wonders of New York, "the glitter and the glamour" and especially, the theatre district where they saw every show in town from the back of the second balcony. Their two sons, Geoffrey Whitman Hobbs, and Ian Sturtevant Hobbs were born in New York. Sturt moved up the ladder at Heath's New York office, and in 1957 he was called back to the home office in Boston, and then his Boston roots reclaimed him.
Sturt Hobbs enjoyed tennis and golf, and was proficient in both. He played in many golf tournaments throughout his life and was a member of the United States Seniors Golf Association. He and his wife traveled extensively (to at least 55 countries), and Sturtevant played golf in as many countries as he could. He loved the theatre and the movies. At Fox Hill Village, where he spent his later years, he was head of the movie committee and wrote his own reviews that were widely read, even by people who didn't go to the movies. He had a zest for living; life was meant to be enjoyed; and his subtle humor, friendly manner, and good spirits were truly infectious.
He was survived by his wife of 65 years, Christina Thom Hobbs, and a son, Geoffrey Whitman Hobbs of Marietta, GA, and five grandchildren, Rana Lee Hobbs of San Francisco, Morgan Emery Hobbs of Chicago, IL, Tessera DeBlois Hobbs of Killington, VT, Jackson DeBlois Hobbs of Cambridge, MA, and Forester Stuart Hobbs of Barrington, RI. A second son, Ian Sturtevant Hobbs predeceased him. A Memorial Service will be held Saturday, January 28,2012 at 11:OOam at Fox Hill Village, 10 Longwood Drive, Westwood, MA with a reception following. Please no flowers. Contribution to the Massachusetts Audubon Society, Broadmoor Sanctuary, or to the American Cancer Society would be very greatly appreciated.

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