Pomfret, Vermont - Franklin Billings Fields, 92, died on the 7th of July 2016 at Mount Ascutney Hospital under hospice care.

Frank was born on June 2nd 1924 in New York City, the second son of Curtis P. Fields and Elizabeth Swift (Billings) Fields. He enjoyed a life-long connection to Woodstock, his first visit being at the age of three weeks. He lived in Greenwich, Connecticut during his childhood and teenage years, after which his family moved to New Haven. After graduating from the Wooster School in Danbury, Connecticut, Frank was drafted into the U.S. Army. He trained at Camp Roberts and Camp Cook in California before serving with the 63rd Armored Infantry Battalion in General Patton's 11th Armored Division in the European theatre of operations. He was awarded the Combat Infantryman's Badge and the Bronze Star Medal before being discharged in 1945.

With a B.A. in English Literature, Frank graduated from Yale in 1949. After a brief business career with Norton, Lilly & Company (shipping) in New York and Philadelphia, he returned to Yale where he earned an M.A. in Architecture in 1956. Throughout his professional life he worked in architectural offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts and in New Haven, Wallingford, West Hartford and Hartford Connecticut. Upon retirement in 1989 Frank moved to Vermont and has lived since then in Pomfret.

Frank and his first wife, Jean Dinsmore, had two sons, Christopher Vail Fields and Franklin Noble Billings Fields. He married Gerry (Hartpence) Hermann in 1978, at which point his family grew to include three step-daughters, Derika, Tamsen and Eliza,

Music has been Frank's primary avocation. He sang with the New Haven Chorale, the Hartford Symphony Chorale, Chorus of the Upper Valley (Dartmouth), the Bach Study Group and the Saint James Choir. More recently he has been singing with WrenSong in Woodstock.

Frank was a member of the New York and Philadelphia Yale Clubs. He was also a member of the Round Table in Woodstock and the Lakota Club in Barnard. Since retiring from architecture, Frank has thrived on working on the Pomfret farm with his John Deere tractor. He has also continued his interest in photography and railroad and maritime history. He particularly enjoyed the many vacations he and Gerry have spent in Europe, often returning to Meiringen in the Bernese Oberland in Switzerland.

He is survived by his wife Gerry; his son Franklin and his wife Valerie in Pleasant Hill, California; his step-daughters Eliza Hermann and her husband Mark Adams in Berkhamsted, England, and Tamsen Schurman in Taos, New Mexico; three grandchildren, Devin Billings Fields, Hannah and William Schurman, and nieces and nephews, and his aunt, Polly Billings and his sister-in-law, Vera Fields.

He was predeceased by his elder son Christopher and his step-daughter Derika B. (Hermann) Avery; his sister Mary Catherine (Fields) Taylor and his brother Curtis P. Fields Jr.; and his uncle Franklin S. Billings.

There will be a reception for his friends on Labor Day, September 5th, 2016. Further details will be forthcoming. The Knight Funeral Home in White River Jct., VT assisted with arrangements.

Donations honoring Frank's memory may be sent to Mt Ascutney Hospital and Health Center,
289 County Road, Windsor, VT 05089, designated for the Hospice Program.