William Coperthwaite

William Coperthwaite was born in Monticello, Maine,[4] 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.[5][6] 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.[7] He was awarded a State of Maine Competitive Scholarship.[7]

William Coperthwaite attended Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, where he majored in art history.[8] His extra-curricular activities included track and pole vaulting,[4][9] and he served as vice-president of the Outing Club.[10] He later enrolled in the innovative Putney Graduate School of Teacher Education (Antioch University New England) Master's degree program[8] and in 1972 was awarded a Ph.D in education from Harvard University.[4] Coperthwaite's Harvard research examined the process of instructing groups of students on yurt construction.[2] His dissertation was on native Alaskan culture.[6] 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".

"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."[11]

“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.”[6]

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."[12][13]

William Coperthwaite died on November 26, 2013[14] in a single-car accident, when high winds and freezing rain created hazardous driving conditions, on his way to celebrate Thanksgiving with friends[15]

• William S. Coperthwaite • 1930-2013
• Mr Coperthwaite: a life in the Maine woods
• Yurt Foundation
• Full Circle Living William Coperthwaite and His Yurts
• Living the Simple Life: William Coperthwaite